Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
The Yakuza series is like a chameleon that somehow always finds a way to play with different genres and storylines. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii takes the crime soap opera series and turns it into a swashbuckling pirate adventure, and commits to the bit so hard that it actually works. Fan-favorite antihero Goro Majima takes on the starring role for the first time, and he’s the perfect frontman for the series to lean into an implausible premise with. But while this game sees the series charting wacky new narrative territory accompanied by new ship battles and other pirate-y accoutrements, Pirate Yakuza still has plenty of the beat-em-up action and endearingly silly social antics fans have come to know and love. How much longer can RGG Studio keep shifting genres while still feeling true to the series’ roots? With Pirate Yakuza, they clearly haven’t jumped the shark yet. — Kenneth Shepard
