RGG Studio revealed a new game in the franchise during the week of Tokyo Game Show: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (or “Ryu ga Gotoku 8 Gaiden: Pirates in Hawaii” in Japan), a spin-off that picks up after the events of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. The announcement perhaps came as a surprise to some fans, especially that this new game will launch in February of next year and Infinite Wealth only coming out back in January. With this new game not far from release, SEGA had Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii playable at Tokyo Game Show 2024, and so I spent some time swashbuckling in the Aloha State.
Similar to last year’s spin-off, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii takes fights back to the Yakuza franchise’s original beat ’em up type of combat. My hands-on time began with the demo teaching me the basics of Majima’s particular brand of fighting known as Mad Dog style. When fighting in this style, fighting feels faster and more frenetic than the beat ’em up combat in past games as Kiryu. Majima moves like lightning and uses his fists and knife to deal damage swiftly. Oh, and here, he can jump. That’s right – we can finally jump during real-time combat in a Yakuza/Like a Dragon game!
Majima’s default Mad Dog fighting style is plenty of fun enough, but you can also change to a Sea Dog style. When switching over to this style, Majima unleashes his inner swashbuckler and dons the appearance of a pirate. Sea Dog equips him with two cutlass swords, a pistol, and a wire hook. The cutlasses are not only bigger blades for Majima to slash with, but can be thrown like boomerangs for a more ranged attack. Or you can deal damage from a distance using the pistol, which is able to be charged up for more impact. If you want to quickly get up and close to enemies, that’s where the wire hook comes in. Some fans may have cocked their heads in confusion at the pirate theme, but boy, does it make for fun combat.
As the name suggests, this game does take place in Hawaii like Infinite Wealth did. Using this setting again likely helped with making it possible to get Pirate Yakuza out so soon, as some environments and assets will look familiar if you played the last game. Likewise a number of mini-games from previous entries return, such as Dragon Kart, karaoke, and Crazy Delivery. They aren’t really different from how they played in the past, for better or for worse, yet still provide some wacky fun on the side. The Segway-like scooter is back, too, to help you traverse around the city parts of Hawaii.
However, there are new places to sail to and explore as Majima has his very own pirate ship, the Goromaru! In the demo, I was able to take to the seas and travel to one new place called Madlantis. Set in a huge cave, Madlantis looks like a steampunk pirate land filled with casino-like neon lights. It’s the perfect place to meet a motley of characters including other pirates and other seafaring hoodlums. I soon came across such folks, who of course wanted to fight Majima. I hope Madlantis is just a taste of more pirate-themed locales the game has in store.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is shaping up to be an entertaining, action-packed adventure for franchise fans to enjoy before the next major entry. It doesn’t radically change how a Like a Dragon/Yakuza game is played but the pirate theme provides for a different, fun flavor, some potential new places to see, and powerful, cool combat with Majima’s new Sea Dog style.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches on February 28, 2025 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series consoles, Xbox One, and PC.
Thank you to SEGA for having me at their booth at Tokyo Game Show 2024.