With Yakuza 7 now free on PlayStation Plus and most of the series arriving with the Extra tier later this month, you may be tempted to jump straight in and experience the cult Action RPG hit for yourself. But with so many games in the series it may be difficult to decide where to start.

So we're here to help! The Yakuza games shouldn't necessarily be played in the order they were released, or even necessarily in the chronology that they're set. Below is the order in which you should play Yakuza. Trust us, it's for the best.

Yakuza 0

Timeline: 1988

With Yakuza 0 being a prequel to the first game, it makes for a great entry point to the series. Both series mainstays, Kiryu and Goro Majima, are young Yakuza attempting to make their way up the ladder. Majima survived the brink of death after he was blamed for the planned murder of a clan higher up. Majima is now stuck running a Cabaret Club in town, and must balance his responsibilities there with attempting to climb the ladder.

Kiryu is in a similar position. After taking money from someone who owed his employer, that man is found dead in a very important empty lot in town. While the clan blames him for the murder, the man was killed in a small plot of land that would allow the entire space to be redeveloped. Kiryu's higher ups believe that whoever can hand that land to the Tojo Clan will become the chairman of the entire clan.

Yakuza Kiwami

Timeline: 1995 and 2005

After the surprise success of Yakuza 0, Sega quickly took advantage and greenlit a remake of the original Yakuza for the PlayStation 2 using 0’s engine. Sadly, the result ends up being what feels more like a half baked DLC rather than a major improvement on the poorly aged original.

After his orphaned brother and fellow Yakuza Akira Nishikiyama murders the Dojima Family boss for attempting to rape their childhood friend Yumi, Kiryu takes the fall to protect his friends. After spending 10 years in jail for a crime he did not commit, Kiryu returns to Kamurocho to find that 10 billion yen has gone missing from the Tojo Clan, and the entire underworld is looking for it.

Both Kiwami titles are loaded with callbacks and continuations to things introduced in Yakuza 0, so are best played after that one.

Yakuza Kiwami 2

Timeline: 2006

Kiwami 2 is considered one of the better titles in the series. Of the traditional Yakuza games, it is only the second to use the new Dragon Engine, and features major improvements on its implementation after Yakuza 6. On top of featuring another continuation for Cabaret Manager like Kiwami 1, Kiwami 2 also features the full arcade port of Virtua Fighter 2. Both Kiwami titles are in a ‘love it or hate it’ state among the playerbase.

Kiwami 2 directly follows the events of Kiwami 1. Kiryu travels to Osaka with Daigo Dojima, whose father was the patriarch of the Dojima Clan. Kiryu wants Daigo to take over and rebuild the Tojo Clan, and negotiate a peaceful arrangement to prevent a war with the Osaka based Omi Alliance. The son of the Omi Alliance Chairman, Ryuji Goda, does not want to concede anything to the Tojo before he takes over and runs the business.

Yakuza 3: Remastered

Timeline: 2009

Yakuza 3 has a more relaxed and toned down story compared to the first two titles. After Kiryu believes he is all but retired from Yakuza life for good, he opens an orphanage to look after the children of parents killed by the Yakuza. The first half of the game is mostly spent looking after the kids at the orphanage rather than the typical Yakuza affairs. Naturally for Kiryu, he gets dragged back into his old life to help his friends.

Yakuza 3 was notorious for cutting out major features and minigames for the Western release. The remaster does reinstate some of those minigames, such as ‘Aroma Massage’, but all versions of the game omit certain substories from the original, citing ‘cultural sensitivities’. So unless you speak Japanese and have an original PS3 copy of the game, you will be missing at least some content. At the very least the rerelease removed some groan-worthy translation choices like this:

Yakuza 3's original "translation"

Even with the majority of the content restored for this release, Yakuza 3 is still the weakest release in the series. The entire remastered trilogy work just fine when played in order 3 through 5. While you may miss some of Kiryu's lead up to this point, there are helpful recaps of the prior games featured in all three of the remastered trilogy to ensure that you are up to speed.

That being said, it’s the one game in the series nobody would begrudge you for skipping.

Yakuza 4: Remastered

Timeline: 2010

Coming off of Yakuza 3’s controversial release, Yakuza 4 bounced back hard. It features multiple playable main characters, each with their own fighting style. Of the 3 remastered released alongside one another (3, 4 and 5), this is the best of the group, with some of the gameplay and characters in the series.

The downside to Yakuza 4's multiple main characters is the convoluted story it creates as a result. While it serves for good character moments throughout, the overall story feels unfocused, like it's just hitting the typical Yakuza game story beats for the sake of it. Yakuza 4 is a strange case - a must-play yet flawed game.

Yakuza 5: Remastered

Timeline: 2012

The most elusive mainline title in the series features five playable characters compared to Yakuza 4’s four. Sadly, in this case bigger is not better. The new offerings in 5 are considerably weaker, with controversial minigames such as Kiryu's taxi driving and Haruka's idol dancing and singing sections. Kiryu is once again dragged into Tojo clan business, as the clan attempts to avoid an all-out war. Kiryu's main concern is his former life as a Yakuza damaging his daughter Haruka's new life as an idol.

Story-wise, despite the jarring cuts from the typical Yakuza drama to a basic idol story, it feels better paced than Yakuza 3, but is still one of the less popular Yakuza titles overall.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Timeline: 2016

The first title using the new Dragon Engine got off to a rough start with western audiences. An error with uploading the game's demo meant that the whole game was playable through the demo, and people were playing the full game in its entirety months before release. The problem was fixed within hours, but not before thousands of players were happily playing through the whole game.

Despite this, Yakuza 6 still became one of the better selling Yakuza titles in the west. It's the last of the Kiryu-led Yakuza titles, and serves as a fitting farewell for the character, involving entire new areas like Onomichi. With his adopted daughter Haruka struck by a vehicle, Kiryu learns she had a son, and searches through Hiroshima to find the father. Kiryu becomes entangled with the local Yakuza families during his search, and must be pulled into the crime life he has been trying to avoid for over a decade.

It's the most ambitious title in the series with its new locations, new combat engine, and its far more in-depth minigames such as Spearfishing, Baseball and the Clan Creator. Given the finality to the major story beats, as well as callbacks to almost every prior Yakuza title, it's not recommended to play this game until the very end despite it being arguably the best-feeling game in the series.

Yakuza 7 (Yakuza: Like a Dragon)

Timeline: 2019

Like a Dragon is a major shift in genre from the series traditional Action RPG into a fully fledged JRPG, and if you plan on going through the whole series I would recommend saving this for last, as it features characters from prior titles whose inclusion will not be as engaging without playing at least one of the other games.

The plot is largely self-contained despite taking place after earlier Yakuza story events. The game follows Ichiban Kasuga, a former Yakuza who goes to jail to protect his boss who saved his life as a teenager. After 19 years, Ichiban is released, and finds that none of his former family are waiting for him. After becoming homeless, he falls into the middle of a dispute between the different crime syndicates in Ijincho. Outside of a few story beats that are direct call backs to prior Yakuza titles, you will still enjoy this on its own merits.

Honorable Mentions: Yakuza Kenzan, Ishin and Dead Souls

Yakuza: Dead Souls

Timeline:

Dead Souls: Alternate universe in 2011

Ishin: 16th through the 19th century

Kenzan: 17th century

In the interest of covering every Yakuza title in the series, it's worth mentioning these three outliers. Both Kenzan and Ishin were Japan-exclusive, reimagining the series under the lens of feudal Japan. Neither of these titles were released outside of Japan, so again, unless you speak Japanese and have a PS3, odds are you aren’t getting your hands on them.

Dead Souls on the other hand, did have a localized release. It was a spinoff capitalising on the zombie craze of the late 2000s and early 2010s. The game is more of a third-person shooter than action-RPG. By forcing the game to center around gun combat in an engine that was not built for it in the slightest, this game is considered the weakest in the entire series.

Ports of any of these three games were impossible just a few years ago. However, with the newer international audience these titles have received in recent years have all but assured they will be playable in some capacity in the future.

And that about does it. While a majority of players only have the regular essential tier of PlayStation Plus, this will make Yakuza: Like a Dragon the most popular option for jumping into the series. If you happen to have access to the extra tier, I would strongly recommend jumping in with the more traditional titles first and foremost starting with Yakuza 0.