All right, before I start getting into each individual game, I want to put the play order in one place. Because this series has original releases, remakes, remasters, side stories, different protagonists, and games that overlap each other. Just looking at the names doesn't make all of that obvious.
This is the order I'd use for following the main story from the beginning, with the alternate versions explained underneath. It's a recommended story-first order, rather than the order every game originally released in.
And I'm putting a spoiler warning here. I'm keeping the major outcomes out of this guide, but even explaining where some of these games fit can tell you a little about the direction the series takes.
PLAY ORDER
1. Yakuza 0
Start with Kiryu and Majima in 1988. This is the prequel, and it gives you the background for a lot of what comes later. The original release and Yakuza 0 Director's Cut occupy the same place in the order. Director's Cut is an expanded version of 0, not the next chapter after it.
The story switches between Kamurocho and Sotenbori. Kiryu is caught up in a murder accusation and a fight over a small piece of property. Majima is running a cabaret club while trying to find his way back into the yakuza. Those two stories eventually meet, but you get to spend time with each man before he becomes the person people know from the later games.
It also gives them different ways to fight. Kiryu has Brawler, Rush, and Beast, while Majima has Thug, Slugger, and Breaker. Their larger side activities are different too: Kiryu builds a real-estate business, and Majima manages a cabaret club. Those businesses have their own characters, opponents, and progression. There's more to finishing 0 than getting to the end of its crime story.
2. Yakuza Kiwami
This is the remake of the first Yakuza. It follows the story that originally introduced Kiryu and Haruka, with additional material and a combat system built around switching fighting styles. For a modern playthrough, this is the version I'd put here instead of the original PS2 release.
Most of the story takes place in 2005 after Kiryu returns from ten years in prison. The people and organization he knew have changed. A missing ten billion yen throws the Tojo Clan into turmoil, and Haruka becomes central to a conflict she never chose to be part of.
This is where that relationship between Kiryu and Haruka really starts. It's also where knowing Nishiki from 0 makes a difference. You already know who these people were to each other, so you aren't just meeting them at the point where everything has gone wrong.
3. Yakuza Kiwami 2
This is the remake of Yakuza 2. Finish the main story, then play its separate Majima Saga. The extra campaign is much easier to appreciate with 0 behind you, and I wouldn't interrupt your first run through the main story just to follow every chronological overlap.
The main story moves forward to 2006 and puts Kiryu opposite Ryuji Goda, the Dragon of Kansai. The Tojo Clan's trouble with the Omi Alliance brings Kamurocho and Sotenbori together again. Kaoru Sayama, the Osaka detective drawn into the conflict, is another important part of this one.
Alongside the main story, you've got the cabaret business, Majima Construction, arena fights, and Bouncer Missions. Those are different kinds of completion work. The extra Majima campaign is its own thing too, with separate progress rather than a second full character sharing Kiryu's upgrade system.
4. Yakuza 3 Remastered, with Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties as the remake alternative
The new Kiwami I was trying to remember is Kiwami 3. It released February 12, 2026.
I'm keeping both versions visible here because this is a more complicated choice than just picking the newest graphics. Remastered preserves the older game much more closely. Kiwami 3 reworks the experience, adds substantial material, removes other material, and makes story changes. If you want the original version of the story before moving into 4, keep 3 Remastered on your list. If you want the newer interpretation, Kiwami 3 belongs in this same slot.
Dark Ties is the separate Mine campaign included with Kiwami 3. I'd play the main Kiwami 3 campaign first and then Dark Ties, rather than moving the bonus campaign earlier just because it explores his past.
Kiryu and Haruka are living in Okinawa, and Morning Glory has become their home. A resort and military-development dispute threatens the orphanage, pulling Kiryu back into problems involving the Tojo Clan and national politics. Rikiya, Nakahara, and the Ryudo Family connect him to the local community.
That home life is a big reason this entry matters. The children aren't just an excuse to get him into another fight. The game spends time on the responsibility he's taken on and the life he wants to keep. That is also why I want to talk about the orphanage material separately when I get to the individual game posts.
5. Yakuza 4 Remastered
The story expands beyond Kiryu into several playable characters. Play this after 3. It is a remaster of 4, not Kiwami 4.
The four leads are Kiryu, Shun Akiyama, Taiga Saejima, and Masayoshi Tanimura. They don't all fight like Kiryu with different clothes on. Akiyama relies heavily on kicks, Saejima brings the power, and Tanimura's fighting is built around defense and parries.
Their chapters follow different sides of Kamurocho before the stories come together. The city also opens up through rooftops and underground areas. You'll have separate training, abilities, and substories to think about for the different characters, so this is one where a character-by-character checklist makes more sense than throwing everything into one pile.
6. Yakuza 5 Remastered
Continue here before 6. This is another game where several characters' lives and stories run alongside each other, including Haruka's. It is still the original Yakuza 5 underneath the remaster improvements.
This one follows Kiryu, Saejima, Akiyama, Haruka, and Tatsuo Shinada across five cities. Kiryu is driving a taxi in Fukuoka. Haruka is pursuing an idol career in Osaka. Shinada's story brings in baseball and Nagoya, while Saejima's takes him into the snow around Sapporo.
Their side stories are a large part of the game: taxi work and racing, hunting, idol performances and dance battles, and baseball challenges. Haruka's sections use rhythm gameplay rather than having her fight street thugs. These aren't all separate games, but they can feel like several different games sharing the same larger story. I'd keep the character-specific activities separate when working toward completion.
7. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
This follows 5. With how much of my interest in this series comes from Kiryu, Haruka, and the people around them, I wouldn't jump to this without everything that leads into it.
Kiryu returns to find Haruka's life has changed, and the search for answers takes him to Onomichi in Hiroshima. Haruto is central to that story. I'm leaving the rest of that setup alone here because I'd rather get into it properly in the individual post.
This was the first game built in the Dragon Engine. It uses one main Kiryu fighting style rather than 0's switching system, with Extreme Heat Mode and battles that flow through the streets and into parts of the environment. Onomichi also has its own pace and activities, including spearfishing and getting to know people at the local bar. It's a different experience from the five-character structure of 5.
8. Yakuza: Like a Dragon
This is the seventh numbered mainline game, even though the English title doesn't put a 7 on the front. Ichiban Kasuga takes the lead, and the main combat changes to a turn-based party system. That change of protagonist doesn't mean you have left the existing world and its history behind.
Ichiban starts over in Yokohama's Isezaki Ijincho with very little to his name. Instead of moving through the whole game alone, he forms a party, and the relationships inside that group become a large part of the story.
Jobs determine combat roles, equipment, and abilities. You're thinking about healing, damage types, weaknesses, and who works well together, rather than only Kiryu's individual moves. There are also business-management activities, Dragon Kart, and a much larger focus on building the party. It's still full of the strange side stories and serious character moments the series is known for, even though the fighting works differently.
9. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
Play this AFTER Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It follows Kiryu and overlaps events connected to that game, so treating it as something to play immediately after 6 can give away things that 7 is meant to reveal. This belongs before Infinite Wealth.
Gaiden goes back to real-time fighting. Kiryu has Yakuza and Agent styles. Agent gives him equipment such as wire restraints, drones, explosive cigarettes, and powered movement through his shoes. That's a very different set of tools from Ichiban's party battles.
It's a shorter, more focused Kiryu story than one of the large numbered entries, but I wouldn't dismiss it because of that. If you're following what happened to him after 6 and before Infinite Wealth, this is where that part belongs. The Akame Network and the Castle's arena give you side work beyond simply finishing the story.
10. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
This is the eighth numbered mainline game. Ichiban and Kiryu both matter to this one. I'd come in with both Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Gaiden finished, rather than treating it as an unrelated adventure because the English title doesn't say Yakuza 8.
The story takes Ichiban to Hawaii and follows Kiryu as well. The turn-based combat now lets you move a character within a limited area before acting. That makes positioning useful: you can line up knockbacks, approach an object to use as a weapon, or get close to an ally for a combination attack.
The side activities are large enough to need guides of their own. Dondoko Island is the resort-building project, and Sujimon becomes a team-building and battling system. Kiryu's Bucket List is another part I want to give its own space. With how much history is behind him by this point, I wouldn't rush straight past that material just to get through the next main objective.
11. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Majima gets his own pirate adventure, set after Infinite Wealth. This is a side story rather than Yakuza 9, but if you're following these characters forward, this is where I'd place it.
This is real-time action again. Majima has his fast Mad Dog style and a Sea Dog style using cutlasses and pirate weapons. He can launch enemies into aerial combos, and the pirate fighting includes tools such as a pistol and chain hook.
You also build a crew and improve the Goromaru. Naval combat starts with maneuvering and cannon fire, then moves into boarding fights once you've weakened the other ship. Crew members, equipment, treasure hunting, and the Pirates' Coliseum all give it its own progression. Being set after Infinite Wealth doesn't mean it uses Infinite Wealth's party-combat system.
WHERE THE OTHER GAMES FIT
Judgment and Lost Judgment take place in the same world but follow Takayuki Yagami and his circle. You can put Judgment after Yakuza 6. Put Lost Judgment after Yakuza: Like a Dragon, since it refers to changes in the world that you should experience in 7 first. Play The Kaito Files after Lost Judgment. It is an additional story campaign, not another numbered Yakuza.
A combined route would be: 0, Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Judgment, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Lost Judgment, The Kaito Files, Gaiden, Infinite Wealth, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. The detective games are optional to the main route. I'm separating them so nobody thinks they have to finish every side series before continuing Kiryu and Ichiban's story.
Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a historical story with familiar faces playing different people. Don't place it before 0 just because it takes place in the nineteenth century. It's a separate story, and its casting is more fun when you already recognize the characters. After Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a reasonable place to take that detour.
The older Kenzan!, Kurohyo games, and Dead Souls are additional branches, not missing numbered chapters in the route above. Dead Souls is the zombie alternate-story detour. I'm not treating historical spinoffs, alternate continuities, or other RGG games as mandatory steps in the main storyline.
All right, before I start getting into each individual game, I want to put the play order in one place. Because this series has original releases, remakes, remasters, side stori…
· Games/Yakuza series