Summary
WithLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthreleasing later this month, now is the perfect time for fans to revisit the entire series, or newcomers to get caught up before the next game’s launch. However, this is a long-running series with several expansive games packed with content, so finding time to finish them all beforeLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthreleases may end up being quite the challenge. Players wanting to attempt to tackle every game in the series will need to know how long they can expect to dedicate time to playing these games to fully catch up with the series' story.
TheLike a Dragonseries is one that places a heavy emphasis on its characters and narrative, meaning it’s a good idea for players to be familiar with the franchise before jumping intoInfinite Wealthto get the most out of the game. While developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has stated thatLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthwill be the longest gamein the series, there are a few other entries that can take players upwards of 30 hours to beat. As such, players intent on finishing the entire series beforeInfinite Wealth’s release should start sooner rather than later.
11.5 Hours
HowLongToBeat
Like a Dragon: Ishin!is a non-canon spin-off gameset in a fictional version of Japan’s Bakumatsu Era and is not necessary to play in order to understand the plot ofLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. However, fans of the rest of the series should definitely give it a play, because it is still an excellent game!
To beat the entireLike a Dragonseries available on modern platforms, players will need to invest roughly 240.5 hours, or just over 10 full days' worth of time to finish all available games. This includes finishing some of the longest titles in the series, likeYakuza 0, which clocks in at approximately 31.5 hours to beat,Yakuza 5at 36 hours to beat, andYakuza: Like a Dragonat 46 hours to beat. On the shorter end of the spectrum, games likeYakuza KiwamiandYakuza Kiwami 2, remakes of the first two games in the series, are only around 18 hours long apiece, and the recentLike a Dragon Gaidencan be beaten in 11.5 hours.
Part of the disparity in game length across the series comes from the shift from the action-brawler genre to aturn-based JRPG withYakuza: Like a Dragon. The slower combat ofYakuza: Like a Dragondrastically increases the total playtime of the game, but another contributing factor to the longer lengths of entries likeYakuza 0,Yakuza 4, andYakuza 5is the presence of multiple playable protagonists. The structures of these games' stories are broken up into different acts with players alternating between different playable characters, leading to more complex and lengthy narratives.
While these times are just taking the games' main plots into consideration, other huge parts of theLike a Dragonseries are the side activities players can participate in. Activities like sub stories andmini-games inLike a Dragongamesare the sources of some of the franchise’s most entertaining content, and it wouldn’t be a trueLike a Dragonexperience if players didn’t check some of these optional missions out. Including these side activities, the lengths of these games can easily double if players are intent on finishing all content available.
