Though it’s always been some part of the franchise’s DNA, more and more of the Like a Dragon games increasingly operate on an ethos of “why not.” Instead of flipping a switch between gritty crime drama and hijinks, the latest releases spend almost all their time on the silly side. So given that, why not make Majima a pirate captain? Someone at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio inevitably made a joke about his eyepatch and here we are with Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, an entire adventure bent around the goal of making that joke work.
So yep, the Mad Dog of Shimano washes up on a beach with amnesia and becomes a real-fake pirate in a world where a gambling scheme has made old ships and cannons all the rage. Like previous side-story releases, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is made to recycle the environments from the main games and offer something a little different. So in addition to Infinite Wealth’s Honolulu, the new release tacks on sailing and a few islands and makes traversing between locations a big part of the draw.
The narrative is framed as Majima recounting his story months later, making any inaccuracies and embellishments for the sake of fun gameplay totally intended. The first big opponent is a pirate with the less-than-fierce name Keith, and the number of times the game manages to put a full-screen, serious-looking “Keith” interstitial up on screen tells you everything you need to know about the game’s tone. Augmenting this feel is the mix of Yakuza rock with pirate instrumentation and shanties. You can tell the audio team had fun with this one.
Sailing is fairly simple, and much like random ruffians on the games’ streets, you’ll have small ship fights along your way too. These battles, as well as more momentous ones in boss fights and coliseum matches, serve as the primary game progression. You collect crew to operate cannons and machine guns, as well as some to be part of boarding party combat. Money and materials can craft and upgrade better weapons. Pirate renown gates progression. All the side activities feed into at least one of these systems. It ultimately works to tie the game together, in our experience, as everything feels like it’s at least a bit productive.
On land, Majima has access to two combat styles. Mad Dog feels like an offering to old fans, recreating his punching and slicing sort of approach from older games. But most of the work feels like it went into Sea Dog, his pirate-y style. You have swords you can throw, a powerful gunshot and, our favorite, a grappling hook. You can use this to essentially teleport across the fight to a distant foe, and since so many enemies back away and shoot guns, this speeds things up considerably.
The hook is also used outside of battle to retrieve items or swing up to roofs and other platforms for hidden treasures. The generous lock-on function really makes fishing or bug collection easy, and we appreciate that the dev team didn’t insist on making it a test of skill. It’s also not the only unlikely battle accessory you’ll find along the way, but we won’t spoil anything.
While there’s no Animal Crossing island or Pokemon spoof this time, there’s a decent collection of side activities. Of note are the return of Dragon Kart and a nice selection of Master System games! But it’s a bit thinner, for sure. It puts its new ideas largely into the main quest sequences, like ill-advised attempts at 2D sword-fighting and laser-dodging platforming. Hey, they don’t work well, but they’re short! And that makes them tolerable.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is fairly long by side game standards, though length will vary wildly depending on how much you get into the side stuff. You can probably power through the five story chapters in 15-20 hours if you only pause to gather what you need, and if you prefer more challenging combat to grinding for power and health upgrades. If you invest fully in completing every single thing? We wouldn’t be surprised if you get 45 to 50 out of it. We landed right around 35, working through most main activities while only dabbling in the staple minigames like karaoke and gambling and such.
Without the, ahem, near-infinite wealth of content of its predecessor, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is unlikely to be anyone’s favorite Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio game. But as a side story? It’s a great time.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches February 21, 2025 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One and PC.
Embark on an over-the-top, modern-day pirate adventure with an ex-yakuza, now pirate captain and his crew as they engage in exhilarating combat on land and sea in the hunt for lost memories and a legendary treasure.
Without the, ahem, near-infinite wealth of content of its predecessor, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is unlikely to be anyone’s favorite Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio game. But as a side story? It’s a great time. Reviewed on PlayStation 5.
- A mid-game FMV segment makes a half-hearted attempt at comedy and drags on way too long. We don’t mind the experimentation? But if you start skipping through the videos, we get it.
- We still wish there were an audio option to have characters speak their native language. As it is, you have to choose between yakuza conversing in English (it’s well-localized but weird) and extremely white Americans all casually fluent in Japanese. (As an extremely white American who studied Japanese for years, I can confirm that we are not.)
- The game’s truly awkward English title is a continued result of localization troubles. Maybe Sega brass realizes it should have kept “Yakuza” in the name for brand recognition but won’t fully backtrack?
Published: Feb 18, 2025 2:00 PM UTC