Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons came out on July 27, 2023, and it does something the franchise had not tried in years: it hands the Lee brothers a roguelite. Secret Base developed it, Modus Games published it, and it landed on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The pitch is simple. Billy and Jimmy Lee, before the events of the first game, take back a ruined New York City one gang at a time.
Trailer, via Gematsu.
Four Gangs, Any Order You Like
The setting is 199X, and nuclear war has left New York City in ruins. Four gangs run what is left: The Killers, The Royals, the Triangle cult, and the Okada Clan. You pick the order. That choice is the whole design.
Each gang you beat makes the remaining ones stronger. Their levels get longer. Their boss fights get harder. It is a clean risk-reward loop, and it gives a short brawler a reason to be replayed.
Marian gets injured in a gang conflict early, which pulls the newly elected mayor into the dojo. He recruits Billy, Jimmy, Marian and Uncle Matin to fight back. Defeat all four gangs and the mayor asks the brothers to serve as his enforcers.
The Mayor Is Not What He Seems
Accept the job and the game ends. Refuse, and the mayor reveals himself as the Mysterious Warrior from Double Dragon II: The Revenge. That triggers a final level and an alternate ending. It is the best trick in Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, and it costs the player nothing but a decision.
The roster backs it up. The base game includes thirteen playable characters, with only four unlocked initially: Billy, Jimmy, Marian and Uncle Matin, a new addition to the series. The rest — Abobo, Burnov, Chin Tai Mei, Linda, Machine Gun Willy, Duke, Anubis, Lady Okada and the Mysterious Warrior — appear as bosses and unlock through the in-game token shop.
Tag Teams and Two Players on One Couch
Combat is side-scrolling, and each player picks two characters to control as a tag team. Every fighter moves, attacks and uses special moves differently, and you can swap to your tagged-out partner at any time. Two-player local co-op is supported.
Money drops from defeated enemies. Knock out several at once and you get food that restores health. Between levels, spend the money on upgrades or convert it to casino tokens for tips, art, music and more characters. Run out of health and you choose: pay tokens to restart at the nearest checkpoint, or wipe your progress and turn your remaining money into more tokens.
The base game shipped without online co-op, and that was the loudest complaint at launch. The free expansion Sacred Reunion, released April 4, 2024, fixed it and added online multiplayer plus two new modes, including Versus.
What the Roguelite Actually Buys
Here is the part worth arguing about. The escalation system is not decoration. Because every gang you skip grows tougher, the order you choose is a real decision, and it changes how a run plays out rather than just how long it takes. That is more than most beat ’em ups of this size attempt.
The unlock economy is the weaker half. Tokens and money feed the same shop, and grinding for characters you already fought as bosses is a thin reward. Sacred Reunion adding online play matters, but it arrived nine months after launch, and a co-op brawler that launched without it gave players a reason to wait.
Ranked against the series, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is the better game than Double Dragon IV. It is also a spin-off that understands its own history, down to the Mysterious Warrior twist. The roster is broad, the tag system is quick to learn, and the branching gang order gives the whole thing a spine.
Key facts
- Release date: July 27, 2023
- Developer: Secret Base
- Publisher: Modus Games
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC (Windows), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
- Expansion: Sacred Reunion, April 4, 2024
- Playable characters: thirteen, four unlocked at start
- Critic aggregate: 7.5/10 (IGDB, 5 outlets)
What to play first
- Pick your starting gang and watch how the other three scale up.
- Unlock Marian and Uncle Matin before chasing the boss roster.
- Save tokens for the tag partners whose specials cover your weak matchups.
- Refuse the mayor’s offer on a later run.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is a small game with one good idea and the discipline to build around it. The tag-team combat is fast, the gang order makes each run its own, and the mayor twist earns its place. The token grind and the late online patch keep it short of great. 7.5 of 10.
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