The best Yakuza games of all time, ranked

Given Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio just won't stop releasing them, it's no easy task to rank the best Yakuza games. Between the original Yakuza games and the Like a Dragon entries, every adventure is fantastic. I mean, with stellar localization, great writing, and modern versions of classic games finding new life on PC and the Switch 2 recently, the popularity of the ongoing Japanese franchise is very well deserved here.

Not to mention how different each Yakuza game is, with minigames, quirky side stories, and pop culture references guiding you through gripping and emotional crime drama. With Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties having recently released as well (read our Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties review for more on that gem) and plenty more new games to keep track of, there's never been a better time to hop into the glorious world of Yakuza. And that is where we come in.

This list highlights the must-plays of the series. While I love all the Yakuza outings, I'm limiting myself to just 10 entries here, and it's been almost as challenging as trying to go fist-to-fist with a boss fight when you've forgotten to stock up on Staminan X. So, read on to find my ranking of the best Yakuza games of all time, so far at least.

The best Yakuza games to play right now, starting with...

10.  Yakuza 4

Before you break a bicycle in two, clobbering me, yes, this is the only entry from the games that were PS3 gen-exclusive on this list. Where Yakuza 3 told an incredibly heartfelt story centering Kiryu, and Yakuza 5 explosively layered together a massive, multi-POV narrative, Yakuza 4 sits squarely in between. Which is all to say its ambition is well-judged, and it wrangles its various heroes – a first for the series – very well. Kiryu is joined by an oddly selfless loan shark called Shun Akiyama, an ill-tempered ex-con called Taiga Saejima, and a dirty cop called Masayoshi Tanimura. Firing on all cylinders, this well-honed sword of a game deserves more recognition.

Learn more in our Yakuza 4 review, where we said: "it drastically bucks tradition".

9. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

There's no secret about it, I love Goro Majima. It speaks to the high quality of all Yakuza games that having him drift his pirate ship up to our door to whisk us away on a swashbuckling adventure still only lands here. Suffering from amnesia, Majima is hunting down treasure, the crew system breathing new life into side activities from which you recruit them, and evolving on Like A Dragon Gaiden's large-scale battles massively in the process. Though this ultimately feels like a spinoff full of fan service, it's great at delivering that, while Yakuza's emotional core still shines through in key moments.

Read more in our Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii review, where we called it the "most worthwhile spinoff game to date."

8. Like a Dragon: Ishin! (Remake)

Almost like a TV drama, this historical fiction period piece casts fan favorite Yakuza characters as figures from Japan's Bakamatsu period. Kiryu 'plays' Sakamoto Ryoma, who joins up with the Shinsengumi in order to covertly track down his adoptive father's killer. Style switching for the real-time brawls here are fantastic, with Swordsman, Gunman, Brawler, and Wild Dancer twisting the Yakuza combat into something that manages to feel fresh. It's only let down by an odd structure and the occasional moment that makes this loving remaster's PS3 origins clear.

"A kick-ass Yakuza game in samurai clothes" – we loved this one in our Like a Dragon: Ishin review, and I fully agree with our rating even today.

7. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

A direct sequel to the softly rebooted seventh game, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, this Hawaiian-set epic quest builds on the switch from real-time brawl to turn-based RPG combat. New star Ichiban Kasuga just loves Dragon Quest that much, you see. More dynamic than ever, at times, it now manages to feel just as slick as the series' previous combat systems. The new setting is fantastic, the sunny vibes of Honolulu palpable, and features some of the best sidequests to date. Kiryu returns to co-star, eventually splitting the plot threads into something of a muddle, while also acting as yet another goodbye as he potentially hands the series over to Kasuga, just as he did in Yakuza: LAD, and LAD: Gaiden.

We also called this "one of the best RPGs [we've] played in years" in our Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth review.

6. Judgment

That's right, one of the best Yakuza games… isn't even a Yakuza game? Set in the same universe and even sharing the same Kamurucho map to explore, Judgment shifts your perspective of Yakuza by having you play disgraced lawyer turned private detective Takayuki Yagami. Operating in the grey area of the law, he still has to deal with yakuza aplenty, and this fresh take manages to shift gears to truly embrace crime mystery dramas with a twisting, turning, and truly devastating plot. This also allowed the games to return to real-time combat, Tak's mastery of multiple martial arts allowing him to echo Yakuza 0's swathe of styles.

For more on this game, you can read our full Judgment review, which highlights one of my personal favorite features: all the great side content as well.

5. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Tragedy can strike unexpectedly, and here it does, reeling in the unspooling Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 back into a story that focuses deeply on Kazuma Kiryu once again, and his relationship with his found family. This time, when Haruka is injured in a grim hit-and-run, he finds himself thrust into caring for his new grandson, Haruto, while juggling tracking down the baby's father and on the hunt for revenge. The Dragon Engine here completely overhauls combat into something I feel is much more dynamic, which does mean some options are stripped back from previous games. What results, though, is one of the series' most focused, memorable, and emotional adventures to date, closing the book on many chapters that came before.

Learn more in our Yakuza 6 review, where we called it "a much more sedated and restrained chapter".

4. Yakuza Kiwami

Leveraging Yakuza 0's engine and assets to revisit the very first game in the series is a smart choice, and many smart tweaks and additions make this one of the most impressive and ambitious remakes we've ever seen. Building on the success of Yakuza 0, a ton of elements have been adjusted just so in order to retroactively make this feel like a follow-up to that prequel, while still retaining what made the original so memorable in the first place. Majima, for instance, really comes into his own here, whereas originally he was a much simpler antagonist, and even the Yakuza 0 pocket racer minigame gets a continuation. Full of heart, you can see how it spawned the enduring Yakuza phenomenon that followed. It's now on the Switch 2 system!

3. Yakuza Kiwami 2

A Dragon Engine remake of the original PS2 sequel, this applies and builds on the combat refresh introduced in Yakuza 6, refining and deepening what felt perhaps a tad barebones there. Likewise, the story itself remains one of the series' best of all time. Where the original Yakuza set the stage, this follow-up is allowed to take those pieces and run with them, thrusting Kiryu into another crime caper while having him buttheads with a rival 'dragon' in Ryuji Goda. A villain more complex than he first appears, he becomes a true nemesis and rival to Kiryu, made all the more powerful in that he has never returned. Some may have quibbles about the port, which does strip back the odd thing from the PS2 original. My personal opinion? Play both – you deserve it.

2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

After seven games and following Kazuma Kiryu it was time for a change. What if this time, in Yakuza: Like a Dragon (given the number '7' in Japan), a brand new character took the lead? Enter Ichiban Kasuga – a yakuza with a heart of gold, removed from time after falsely serving many years in prison. In all seriousness, he's a world apart from the stoic Kiryu, always running his mouth while earnestly making unlikely friends. Which is why a shift to turn-based combat and a party system oddly feels perfectly natural. Kasuga's story, as he explores a new location, ends up feeling like one of the most epic and moving ones that I've experienced in the series to date, let down only by how, towards the end, it becomes tangled with a few too many returning plot elements. Even so, Kasuga manages the unlikely accomplishment of outshining a previously beloved former protagonist. We need more Kasuga!

Check out our Yakuza: Like a Dragon review for more details.

1. Yakuza 0

Once again, we're ending at the beginning. Few prequels manage to feel as vital as Yakuza 0. Set amidst the backdrop of Japan's '80s economic boom, the plot manages to make even real estate feel gripping, while giving a reason for cash to fly out of pummelled foes. A younger Kiryu is joined here by an equally young Majima, who play out an interconnected storyline in different cities without ever meeting. A lengthy adventure, incredible dungeon-style sequences meet the most in-depth real-time fighting in the series as both heroes juggle multiple fighting styles they can swap between as they please, including, of course, breakdancing. You could ask for no better introduction into the world and tone of Yakuza as a whole than in this campy, emotional, and dramatic '80s romp.

You can learn more in our Yakuza 0 review, where we called it "The best and most accessible story in the series yet".