Earlier this week, we discussed the rumors of a pirate-themed Like a Dragon game.
I thought the story premise sounded questionable and hoped it would be a historical spin-off instead.
But no, the leak was accurate! Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has been announced for February 28, 2025. It is set after Infinite Wealth and stars Majima, who loses his memory and becomes a pirate captain while trying to remember who he is.
The RGG Summit was held this morning at 6 AM Eastern Time, which was too early for me to normally be up. But by chance, I woke up at exactly 6 AM, so I tuned in a few minutes late to watch the rest of the Summit. I’ve seen people say the trailer contains spoilers for Infinite Wealth, which I didn’t pick up on at all, so I’m guessing they were in those first few minutes that I missed. To be safe, I won’t watch the trailer again until I’m caught up.
I still think the premise of Majima getting amnesia and becoming a pirate is a bit too silly. And… even though they’re modern-day pirates, they look like classic pirates?! They’ve got a galleon! They’re firing cannons! It feels a bit too goofy to me for a series where the main stories are usually pretty serious despite all the wacky side content, but I have my fingers crossed that the story will still be good.
It features brawler combat, now with the ability to jump, and you can switch between two combat styles: “Mad Dog” and “Sea Dog.” Despite my skepticism about the game’s premise, I love those names.
They also showed off a handful of mini-games, and this is the game the auditions were for. Instead of hostesses, they’re part of a new live-action scenario called “Masaru’s Love Journey: My Dream Minato Girl,” in which the new supporting character Masaru searches for romance. I’m not sure why it’s about Masaru instead of Majima or what it means for gameplay (will we be playing as Masaru? are we giving him love advice as Majima? is this a wingman Majima mini-game?), but it has the potential to be interesting.
Now, the Japanese title is is Like a Dragon 8 Gaiden: Pirates in Hawaii, so it’s strange that they both dropped the “Gaiden” and shoehorned “Yakuza” into the English title.
With it being another Gaiden title, I’d worried that it would be a digital-only release in the west like Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, but not only are we getting a physical standard addition, but they also announced a physical Collector’s Edition that includes an acrylic standee of Majima, a pirate flag, a coin pin, an eye patch, and a voucher for the digital deluxe content.
(Where was this energy when Judgment came out?? Do you know how much I wanted a Judgment Collector’s Edition?)
It’s kind of ironic for me that the first Like a Dragon game I’m skeptical about is getting a Collector’s Edition. I’ll probably get it anyway since I love the series so much, but I wish one of the games I’d been super excited for had gotten that treatment.
I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t tease another game at the Summit. They really spoiled us with that first Summit in 2022, and since I have some mixed feelings about the pirate game, I was really hoping they’d announce at least one more. Instead, the only other things they showed were the upcoming show, the Kiwami Switch port, and a new merchandise line. It just goes to show that even though they did it once, we can’t expect multiple announcements every time.
Anyway, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a reality, and it’s coming next February. Are you excited for it, or do you have doubts?
After your last blog post, I had no real doubts that this could be a real game. It felt silly enough to me, someone who has barely played the series xD
I did watch the trailer but, being unfamiliar, the only things that might be spoiler related might be the eyepatch or maybe the tattoos? I didn’t see much that looked like spoilers to me, but maybe I missed something as a non-fan 😛
Now to see if Yakuza can beat back the recent issues that pirate games have been having in meeting player expectations!
Yes, well this is the only time the series has used such a silly premise for its main story. That’s why there’s a little war going on among fans right now, with some being concerned that the series has lost its way by leaning too hard into the goofier elements.
Nah, those are both established parts of his character. Just from a few comments I saw, I think it has something to do with the islands mentioned at some point in the trailer.
If anyone can do it, they can!
Looks wonderfully silly. I’m for it.
I’m somewhat skeptical of the tone, but hopefully it will have enough seriousness to balance the silly premise.
[…] we discussed the newly-released Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii on Friday, I had mixed feelings about the […]