Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

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Yarrr! It’s a pirate’s life for me, matey! Hop aboard the good ship Popzara and let’s go on a journey full of scurvy, sea lice and vermin! Wow, when I put it that way, the pirate’s life actually doesn’t seem for me at all. Scurvy’s awful, I really don’t like bugs, seasickness is a thing and it’s pretty gross…Actually, I think I’ll stay on dry land. When I want to get up to a little pirating, there’s always the wonderful world of video games – video games including Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, the latest bizarre spinoff entry in the exceedingly long-running Yakuza series.

via YouTube

When notorious yakuza, cabaret club host and overall nutjob Goro Majima wakes up on a desert island in Hawaii without his memories, you might think it’s a good time for him to turn over a new leaf. You’d be…well, completely wrong, as it doesn’t take long for Majima to get up to his usual antics once again. Rather than going the organized crime route, though, this time our one-eyed antihero decides to take his talents to the high seas. As the leader of the Goro Pirates, Majima and a suite of new pals plunder and pillage their way across the islands, seeking fame, fortune and heartwarming moments about the importance of family and friendship.

That’s when Majima isn’t defeating hordes of faceless goons by smashing them into the nearest solid object, anyway. Also, there are musical numbers. This is Yakuza, you should probably know what to expect by now.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii returns to the more traditional action-RPG style that the series was known for up until recent entries shook everything up. The experience is a bit more visceral and a bit less full of magically-summoned egg-laying chickens with restorative powers, but Yakuza fans who have been around since the beginning will feel like they’re coming back home. Newer players who are familiar with 2023’s The Man Who Erased His Name know what to expect as well: beat up goons, charge up the Heat Gauge to unleash brutally powerful finishing moves, repeat until satisfied.

Majima has access to several combat styles, including a hilarious new dual-saber affair that has him dress up in his garish pirate outfit whenever you’d like, and as usual there’s a variety of skill and stat upgrades you can purchase with cold, hard cash. You’ve got something to spend that loot on, so get to plundering, matey. Combat’s pretty solid, all in all, but there’s still a faint tinge of disappointment after the hilarious-yet-deep systems available in the turn-based Like a Dragon entries.

Oh well. At least you get to run a zoo, play arcade games, and customize your pirate ship and its crew. Yakuza fans know that combat is really a side-story in a sea of side-stories when it comes to these games, and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is no exception. While you can finish the main story in 30 hours or so, dedicated completionists can expect to dump the usual dozens of hours into this one in order to see all the wacky goings-on around Hawaii. You won’t be hurting for stuff to do if you’re willing to look.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s performance is about as steady as the finest seas, at least on a decent PC and modern consoles. That’s to be expected given this game doesn’t look substantially different from the recent Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which already ran pretty well on basically every platform you might throw it at. Of the two, the PC version is preferable assuming you’ve got the right hardware, but even at maximum settings the experience isn’t particularly improved over consoles. Pick whatever platform you’d like, matey, a true pirate uses whatever they’ve got at hand.

As Yakuza side-stories go, we’ve seen a lot worse than Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. (Remember how they put out a zombie apocalypse side-story game back in the day? Pepperidge Farm remembers, even if Sega doesn’t.) Majima’s a fan-favorite character for a reason, and it’s great to see the guy get a little more time in the spotlight, especially with a setting and plot designed to let him act as insane as possible. Yakuza fans don’t need me to tell them that it’s time to hoist the Jolly Roger and sail the…well, Pacific Ocean, but newcomers are also welcome here, assuming they don’t want to check out the superlative turn-based Like a Dragon entries first.