Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii preview - A swashbuckling good time

Goro Majima is one of the most beloved characters in the Like a Dragon series, formally known as Yakuza - and for the first time since 2015’s Yakuza 0, the Mad Dog returns as a main playable protagonist in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

Set roughly six months after the events of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Majima wakes up on a tropical island suffering from amnesia. Thankfully, he’s rescued by a young boy named Noah and while trying to remember how he came to be in his current predicament, Majima finds himself once more as the reluctant hero in the weird but wonderful world of Like a Dragon.

Check out the Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii trailer below!

I spent roughly two hours playing Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii in the cold but befitting location of The Golden Hinde, a sea-worthy reconstruction of the galleon captained by Francis Drake, situated at the St. Mary Overie Dock in London.

To avoid spoilers, I’ll steer clear of major plot details and will instead focus on the gameplay that I experienced during my hands-on preview. Combat has always been a vital element of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is no exception.

Majima has the option of two fighting styles, Mad Dog and Sea Dog. Mad Dog plays like the games made famous by Kazuma Kiryu, unlike the turn-based combat of Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth. This style is fast-paced with fists and kicks flying and Majima wielding his signature Tanto knife. If you’re familiar with the spin-off titles Judgment and Like a Dragon Gaiden, as well as Yakuza games of old, you’ll feel right at home with this style.

The second fighting style, Sea Dog, fully embraces the theme of Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Equally as fast and frantic, Majima dons his pirate outfit, wielding cutlass swords and pistols. Both styles have special power-ups such as the Majima doppelgangers, an ability encountered in Infinite Wealth, as well as a giant monkey, and a parrot, to name a few.

During the preview, I caught glimpses of several of the locations that feature in the game, such as the returning Hawaii in its entirety from Infinite Wealth as well as Nele Island. Those are joined by Rich Island, the location that Majima washes up on. This acts as the home hub for fellow pirates.

SEGA

Then we have Madlantis, a place where Majima can fight in tournaments, buy luxury items, upgrade his ship, recruit pirates, and gamble to his heart's content. It’s very much a similar location to The Castle in Like a Dragon Gaiden. There will also be plenty of remote small islands accessible with your ship that may be the location of buried treasure.

But let’s get to what many of you are here for, the naval combat. Naturally, this aspect of the game is likely inspired by Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, there’s no escaping that and that’s fine. Considering that Black Flag was released a decade ago, you’d expect Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii to be better than its Ubisoft counterpart and it most certainly is from what I’ve experienced so far (I love Black Flag by the way).

There will be loads of NPC ships in the open sea keen to pick a fight with Majima and his crew, no different to walking the streets of any land location in the series. Depending on your upgrades, your ship will be able to fire cannons, machine guns, flamethrowers and lasers. Yes, lasers.

At first, the ship felt slow and sluggish to move, as you would expect from a pirate ship, but I soon realised that when pressed with a speed boost, you can essentially drift towards an enemy ship to fire the perfect shot. It was pure bedlam and gave me vibes of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, but with pirate ships and laser cannons. It was wonderful.

SEGA

You can customise the vessel with tons of cosmetics. Your ship could be an intimidating vessel or pink and sparkly, it’s up to you. The more battles you take on, the more loot you acquire, and you’ll be able to upgrade your ship to be more powerful, including your crewmates. Speaking of which, keeping crew morale high is important but nothing a generous feast can’t solve.

What would any Yakuza/Like a Dragon game be without its glorious mini-games? Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has plenty from karaoke to go-karting to classic SEGA games, and much more. The fun side activities of this series are why I can spend hundreds of hours with each game and I expect the same of this latest entry.

All of these aforementioned features were certainly the highlights of my short preview time with Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, leaving me more than satisfied - and that’s as a big fan of the series. Most importantly though, so too did they leave me wanting more. I’m counting down the days to the full release.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii releases on 21 February 2025 for PC, PlayStation and Xbox.