Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Developer: Sega
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Release Date: February 28, 2025
Pre-order: Best Buy

The Like a Dragon series has been on a roll since 2020’s bold reimagining of the game’s brawling mechanics as RPG battles, and now popular anti-hero Goro Majima is finally getting a game of his own that leans into his oddball and cutthroat sensibilities. With Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii—which features classic clobbering rather than turn-based combat—the foil to Kazuma Kiryu finds himself in an unusual spot: he’s lost his memory, and he’s stranded in Honolulu, Hawaii, months after the events of Infinite Wealth. Taking on a new identity as a pirate with a heart of gold, he’ll make a name for himself helping the common folk of Hawaii while brawling with ruffians on land and on the high seas.

My early hands-on time with Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii made it clear that it’s a delightfully silly game, and its self-aware attitude about being a pirate game set in Hawaii helps make it the kind of solo game that Goro Majima deserves. Pirate Yakuza gives Majima a sharper and more over-the-top moveset that brings the series into the realm of a character-action brawler like Devil May Cry or classic God of War (we’ve got air-combos in a Yakuza game now). Switching between his pirate and mad dog fighting styles, Majima can lean into some fierce combat skills that show off his chaotic personality. I had a blast fighting off bad guys on the streets and even taking on side gigs riding go-karts around Hawaii. A Like a Dragon game starring Goro Majima takes the action and humor up several notches, and it already has the making one of the wildest turns for the series yet.