Since its Japanese debut, has been released near-annually on home turf – such that it’s easy to consider it Japan’s equivalent to Coincidentally, in the latest entries in both series things are pared back to their foundations – in this instance reverting from the previous game’s turn-based RPG mechanics to realtime brawling, with Kazuma Kiryu returning to the spotlight. But, as the title’s suffix suggests, this is a side story, told in parallel to the events of Ichiban Kasuga’s recent adventure. With most instalments set in the same year as their release, the fact that is set in 2019 is telling: this isn’t a course correction from RGG Studio, but a nostalgia trip.
