‘Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’ review: A nautical delight

There is currently no better video game series to be a fan of than Sega’s Like a Dragon, formerly known (and still colloquially known to my friends and I) as Yakuza in the west.

Aside from perhaps train simulators on Steam that release 2,000 expansions per year, you just don’t get more juice from the squeeze with any other series in gaming right now. You never have to wait more than a year or two to play a new one, and developer Ryo Ga Gotoku Studio is constantly experimenting with the formula in fascinating ways. The latest experiment, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, is not only one of the most literally named video games of all time; it’s also a lot of fun.

“Let’s make a pirate game starring the one guy in the series who wears an eyepatch” is such a stupid idea that wouldn’t work in any other context, but for Yakuza, it’s totally cool. Thanks to excellent combat and an even-by-series-standards ridiculous and irreverent tone, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is almost guaranteed to put a smile on your face for the 20 hours or so it takes to finish it.

This mad dog can swim

Warning: This section contains minor spoilers for the early parts of the story

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a game about a Japanese Yakuza member who travels to Hawaii and becomes a pirate. The title isn’t some clever metaphor, it’s just what the game is about. The Yakuza in this case is Goro Majima, who I imagine most fans would rank roughly among the top three Yakuza characters, but is rarely actually a playable protagonist outside of 2017’s Yakuza 0.

In the rest of the series, Majima is known as the “Mad Dog of Shimano,” an unpredictable wild card who loves knives and being shirtless. In Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, he awakes on an island near Hawaii with amnesia, befriends a young English-speaking boy named Noah who badly wants to go on nautical adventures, and goes from there. Before long, Majima, Noah, and a ragtag group of lovable, sweaty morons are performing a Disney-style musical number about the joys of adventure on the deck of an old-school, wooden pirate ship. 

None of that is an exaggeration, and it’s a good example of what makes Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii stand out from the (relatively) self-serious mainline games. There isn’t a great deal of melodrama about real estate disputes or anxiety about the death of organized crime in Japan to be found here. Majima breaks the fourth wall within the first five minutes to tell you not to even worry about the fact that all of these people speak different languages.  For the most part, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a silly game about fighting silly pirates in silly places. 

Madlantis kicks ass.
Credit: Sega/RGG Studio/Steam

It can occasionally be a bit much even for a seasoned Yakuza player like myself, but if you just give yourself over to what RGG Studio is cooking, you’ll find a lot to like. I have a real fondness for the notion that this series, which is known for painstakingly realistic depictions of contemporary Japanese neighborhoods, can also accommodate a fictional pirate city called “Madlantis” full of guys who have wooden pirate ships in the year 2024 for some reason. Also, it’s run by All Elite Wrestling’s Samoa Joe, or at least a guy played by Samoa Joe.

Having said that, I do think there’s a bit of a missed opportunity here. As tedious as stories about amnesia can be, they can also act as an easy springboard for a character study as the person in question slowly regains their memories. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii gestures at this at times, but never really commits to it. It’s not until the end of the game that you get any new insight into Majima’s emotional state. That moment did hit me as a fan of the series, but don’t expect the rest of the story to do that.

That’s all to say that even though Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii takes place after the last mainline game, Infinite Wealth, it is not a sequel to that game in any meaningful sense. It gets by purely on vibes, which is fine by me. It doesn’t hurt that the soundtrack is full of stone-cold heaters everywhere you listen.

Mad Dog and Sea Dog…the duality of man

Mad Dog style rocks.
Credit: Sega/RGG Studio/Steam

After the first couple of linear and cutscene-heavy hours, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii opens up into a familiar structure for the series. You’ll spend a great deal of time running around a shockingly realistic depiction of Honolulu (the same one from Infinite Wealth), fighting thugs, doing side stories, and recruiting new crew members for your ship, the Goromaru. 

This is no better or worse than it has been in any other Yakuza game, aside from the notable lack of a business mini-game. I guess those are only for the mainline entries. Anyway, the side stories are as charming and funny as ever, all the crew members you can recruit are certified weirdos and freaks, and you can do karaoke. RGG Studio has gotten this part of every game down to a science.

Majima’s new on-foot combat mechanics are what make it all work. Just like 2023’s Like a Dragon Gaiden, this is a spin-off game with action combat that should satisfy people who maybe aren’t as into the turn-based fights in the newer mainline entries. Majima has two combat styles you can switch between at any time, Mad Dog and Sea Dog. The former is typical Majima stuff, revolving around punches, kicks, and slashes with his tantō blade. It’s a ton of fun, but is mostly suited for one-on-one battles.

Sea Dog style also rocks.
Credit: Sega/RGG Studio/Steam

For big groups of idiots (and you’ll be fighting a lot of idiots bunched together in groups), Mad Dog is the flavor of the week. In this style, Majima dual wields cutlasses while also having access to an old-school pistol and a grappling hook. He can throw his swords like boomerangs, take out as many as five dudes at once with a charged pistol shot, and fly across the arena with his grappling hook.

This is probably the most I’ve ever enjoyed action combat in any Yakuza game. Fluid, stylish animations, punchy feedback, and exciting camera angles on finishing moves make every fight as fun to watch as they are to play. Later in the game, Majma gets access to magical musical instruments, like an electric guitar that summons spectral sharks to gobble up everyone on the battlefield. 

Does any of it make sense within the context of the larger Yakuza series? Hell no. Why are there cursed musical instruments scattered around the Pacific Ocean? More importantly, who cares? There might eventually be a time when RGG Studio jumps the shark, but it skillfully avoided doing so in the game that has literal sharks in it, so I trust that it isn’t coming soon.

Assassin’s Creed with laser cannons

The ship combat left a little to be desired for me.
Credit: Sega/RGG Studio/Steam

The Goromaru isn’t just a plot device, it’s a fully controllable and customizable pirate ship that you use to navigate the high seas around Hawaii. 

This is, admittedly, the weaker side of Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, but also thankfully the part you have to do the least. Ship combat isn’t bad whatsoever, but after Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag more than a decade ago, nautical pirate combat in games has become a little samey. Fights largely involve getting in position to fire your powerful broadside cannons or ramming at full speed, with not much else in the way of tactics or special weaponry.

Occasionally, your crew members will be incapacitated and you’ll have to relinquish the helm to help them recover, which does add some much-needed tension to sea battles. Still, I never found anything I had to do in either the main story or the secondary pirate sub-story all that difficult. 

I do want to commend RGG Studio for letting me put laser cannons on a wooden pirate ship, though. That’s pretty neat. I just wish this part of the game was a bit deeper or more challenging. Repetitive side missions where you go to generic island stages and beat up a few waves of bad guys in order to find treasure are just about the only other thing to do out in the ocean. It feels just a tiny bit half-baked.

Is Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii worth getting?

Anyone who has any affection whatsoever for Goro Majima doesn’t need me to recommend this game to them. They’ve probably already pre-ordered it. 

Still, I feel the need to reassure you that it’s a fun time on the high seas. I wish there was just a bit more interiority given to Majima as a character, like what RGG Studio has done with longtime series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu in recent games, but I’m not going to complain about a pirate action game with multiple extremely sincere musical/dance numbers in it. 

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches on Feb. 21 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series consoles.