Like a Dragon Gaiden offers three difficulty levels, but some long-time fans might be curious as to the existence of a fourth.
Similarly to other games in the franchise, Like a Dragon Gaiden offers some options for difficulty. Players can use these options to customize their experience, letting them opt for a simple story-focused experience or an intense challenge. But for long-time fans of the Yakuza games, they might find one difficulty option to be strangely absent.
Difficulty Levels Available in Like a Dragon Gaiden
When starting the game, you have access to three difficulties: Beginner, Standard, and Professional. These act like the Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties of previous games, adjusting the damage and health of various enemies. Professional is the toughest difficulty of the three, allowing foes to take Kiryu out in just a handful of hits. Players neglecting to use more of their abilities during battle will find themselves in more than a few rough situations on this difficulty.
Notably, even after completing the main story, a “Legend” difficulty seems to be completely absent. This difficulty in previous games would introduce some further changes such as preventing retries during battles. Players simply won’t find anything like that in this game. While they can mimic the familiar difficulty by just ending the game whenever they fall in combat, there are no further in-game settings outside of the three offered at the start.
Related: How to Enter Coliseum Fights in Like a Dragon Gaiden
Though the difficulty selections are a bit more restrictive this time around, their influence on the game is a bit more customizable. Players can change the difficulty level whenever they want, letting them adjust the strength of foes before important battles. If you’d prefer to keep things on Beginner until you’ve upgraded your abilities — or if you want to coast through the game before turning things up to Professional before the final boss — you have the freedom to do just that.
