Fans of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s iconic Like A Dragon series will be pleased to know that despite it’s wacky premise, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has all of the charm, freedom, and style of a Yakuza game through and through. In my thirty-minute preview of the game, I got to see a lot of what this new adventure has to offer, focusing on combat, exploration, and side-content. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii follows fan-favorite character Goro Majima, who has woken up in Hawaii with no memory of his former life and decides to take up the mantle of captain of a pirate ship. It should be noted that he takes up the role of a 17th century pirate in a completely modern setting, with enemies in current-day naval fleets and contemporary clothing facing off against Majima’s wooden ship full of scurvy-ridden marauders. Even with the major change in style Majima’s Mad Dog of Shimano persona still shines through the memory loss, appearing in both his personality as well as his combat styles.
One of the main ways that Majima’s new pirate persona is realized is through his combat styles. I got to play with two of these styles in my arsenal: Sea Dog Style and Mad Dog Style. The Mad Dog fighting style follows more of a classic Yakuza brawling style, with bare-fisted punches being the primary form of attack. However, the change-up here came in two forms: heavy attacks are replaced with Majima’s infamous dagger attacks (which slash through enemies with sharp combos), and light attack combos eventually launch your foe into the air, opening up the ability for aerial combat and juggling enemies. The Mad Dog style was also equipped with the Madness gauge, which builds up through attacking enemies, eventually allowing you to summon four purple “doppelgangers” that fight alongside you and unlock special moves to clear large groups of enemies.
Switching to Sea Dog Style transforms Majima from a Hawaiian mobster into a full-blown pirate, equipping him with a pistol, cutlasses, and a wire hook to battle enemies with while sporting a classic pirate captain’s uniform. Melee combat wields dual cutlasses for combos made of weak and strong attacks, with special charged moves for each combat button building up a devastating pistol shot at a single enemy, throwing both cutlasses as flying boomerangs that shred adjacent enemies, or firing a grappling hook into an enemy and launching yourself at them for a powerful leaping attack (the line hook serves as a tool outside of combat as well, allowing players to collect materials from hard-to-reach places, as well as fling themselves up to elevated areas like rooftops and balconies). Both Mad Dog and Sea Dog fighting styles also included their own sets of Heat Moves, which see Majima stabbing swords through fallen enemies or launching them into other foes.
The star of the show during my preview was Madlantis, a city inside a giant cave of a stone island filled with classic pirates that match Majima’s new swashbuckling identity. The jerry-rigged streets of this makeshift city are constructed with a mix of modern urban elements (neon signs, industrial architecture, spray-painted graffiti) and props commonly associated with classic pirates (random barrels, plywood platforms, huge wooden warships). As one would expect in a society comprised completely of pirates (and one set in a Yakuza game, no less), there is trouble around every corner of Madlantis, with muscle-bound buccaneers looking to pick a fight with the new arrivals whenever they get a chance. I encountered multiple face-offs with rival pirate clans, taking down entire ships-worth of henchmen in addition to the higher-powered captains.
Between battles, the locals of Madlantis offer funny commentary and dialogue, commenting on the strange uniforms and appearances of the island’s inhabitants in comparison to normal modern-day society. There’s a mix of people dressed in contemporary beachwear (which may just be a limitation in models that’s particular to the demo build), as well as standard pirate garb, with loosely-buttoned tunics and scalp-wrapping bandanas making up just some of the outfits of the swashbuckling population. The pirate fantasy is certainly more male-centric on Madlantis (par for the course in a Like A Dragon game), with female pirates wearing ludicrously provocative takes on the standard “pirate” uniform composed of revealing leather bikinis and thigh-high boots. One exception to this trend is the mysterious queen of Madlantis, an older female pirate with high-class furs and jewels adorning her pristine and conservative get-up. I didn’t see much of this character outside of a cutscene Majima wasn’t present for, but she appears to be a major player in the world of Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
Of course, no Like A Dragon game is complete without a wide variety of sidequests and mini-games, and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is no exception. There were so many different ways to spend my time in both Madlantis and Hawaii that there wasn’t enough time for a player to see everything in one run of the half-hour demo (and there will be even more to experience when the game releases). One of the standout encounters I had was a bounty hunting mission on top of a bar in Madlantis, where I spotted a symbol on the minimap shaped like a pair of handcuffs. After finding my way up to the rooftop lounging area, I spotted a suspicious man who matched the description of a Honolulu City Police Department wanted poster. The outlaw in question was Roberts, a dealer on the dark web who ran a site recruiting people for criminal activities, who was dressed in a classic hacker’s uniform of a dark trenchcoat and tinted glasses. Upon defeating him, I was rewarded the bounty for turning him in, and got to return to where I was in Madlantis with some extra cash in my pocket.
Just outside the bar where I found the hacker, an impromptu casino had been set up by some of the inhabitants of Madlantis. I played a round of Blackjack (both the dealer and I had 20, so it was a push) and a round of Poker (which I lost more than I’m willling to admit on), then decided that I should return to Honolulu to check out some other parts of the demo. The demo featured a small selection of the many activities you can choose to partake in in the game, including (obviously) the beloved franchise-standard Karaoke mode. There was also a clothing store to switch up your style, a game called Crazy Delivery (which was hosted by a green-haired gentleman in a yellow shirt reminiscent of another “crazy” SEGA franchise), and Dragon Kart, which is the activity I opted in for. I’m happy to report that in addition to having a blast racing through the streets of Hawaii with a lineup of crazy characters, I scooped up a first place medal with only fractions of a second to spare.
My brief but densely-packed half-hour in Honolulu was a wild and highly enjoyable time, and any fans of the nearly two-decades-long Like A Dragon franchise are sure to enjoy this fresh-yet-familiar take on the classic Yakuza formula, sporting a colorful and hilarious open world, satisfying and diverse hand-to-hand brawls, and mini-games as wild as the series has ever seen. Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is set to release on February 28, 2025 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with pre-orders for the standard, digital deluxe, and collector’s edition of the game available for purchase now. Pre-orders for all editions of the game on all consoles can be found on the game’s official website here.