Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii Review (PC) – A Boat Load Of Fun!

In what has become an annual tradition, RGG Studio and SEGA have delivered another Like a Dragon game. By now, you might think you’ve seen everything this series has to offer. However, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii introduces some clever changes and additions that keep things feeling fresh. What exactly are those changes? Let’s dive into that and more in our review of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

Game Name: Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii
Platform(s): PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (Played), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Reviewed)
Publisher(s): SEGA
Developer(s): Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (RGG Studio)
Release Date: 21st February 2025

Just a quick note before we get to the review: I played on PC, which served as our lead review platform, while my fellow reviewer, Sean Garmer, played on PS5. Neither of us was able to complete the game, but with 60 hours of gameplay between us, we feel confident in our opinion. Now, back to the review!

A Pirate’s Life For Me… But Who Am I?

In Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, you take control of the beloved character Goro Majima—who doesn’t remember who he is! The game opens with you washing up on a beach (just like in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth) with no recollection of how you got there. After being found by a boy named Noah and his cat—who’s actually a tiger—named Goro, you quickly find yourself confronted by pirates.

One thing leads to another, and before you know it, you become the captain of a pirate ship. This is where the adventure truly begins, setting Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii apart from the rest of the franchise.

For now, I’ll hand things over to Sean as he takes us through the gameplay.

Walking the Plank or Punching Someone in the Face

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s gameplay essentially works in two parts: the customary beat-’em-up style that’s been a staple of the series and the ship combat created solely for this game.

Majima’s zany personality is on full display as he can quickly dispatch foes with lightning-fast punches, kicks, and knife strikes in Mad Dog style, and then use a combination of swords, a chain hook, and guns in Sea Dog style. I preferred using Mad Dog style the most, as the quick evade maneuver smoothly lets Majima dodge a barrage of incoming blows, whereas the evade in Sea Dog is nowhere near as effective. Sea Dog seems built to handle a large number of enemies quickly, so it works great in the close-quarter crew fights. However, Mad Dog is much more efficient in the smaller group or one-on-one style fights you’ll encounter while exploring the major hub areas. Both styles also feature their own upgradeable moves and boosts, plus Majima can equip rings to improve his attack, health, and defense stats.

Heat actions are present in both styles, but what puts Mad Dog over the top is the special meter that, once triggered, creates doppelgangers of Majima, which instantly attack any remaining opponents and can whittle down their health in a flash. Pair this with the summon abilities and a little help from your animal pal, Goro, and it’s a perfect match for Majima’s character. It’s a sight to behold to see you nail a kick-ass combo, have Goro attack, and then finish things off with a sick heat action.

My only issue with the combat is that heat actions require you to memorize the exact situation required for activation. The button indicator will suddenly appear when this happens, but since you are already wailing on the enemy with said button, many times I missed the timing window. So, there’s a little bit of luck involved in getting the aforementioned sequence of blows to actually happen.

Considering how much of gaming seems focused on challenge nowadays, I feel like it’s obligatory for me to mention that Majima’s fast evade and slick movements make the fights feel much easier than those of the more brutish Kiryu from earlier in the series’ history. Obviously. There are also ways to self-impose challenges if you desire, such as only using Sea Dog style in major fights, or not using summons or big healing items. So, if you find that Majima is just killing everything in sight with reckless abandon, amp up the difficulty or make your own individual difficulty level.

Finding that Booty, er… Side Content

The entirety of the Honolulu map from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is available to explore, complete with its own set of side stories and relationship talking points. All the series staples from the Ichiban-led Like a Dragon games are also present here, with Dragon Kart, Crazy Delivery, the vocational school, the Revolve Bar, Aloha Links, and Sicko Snap all making their return. Along with karaoke, crane games, the SEGA arcade, and even a SEGA Master System with full games available at the outset, with more available for purchase in pawn shops. However, don’t expect to see Sujimon or Dondoko Island, as those are only part of Infinite Wealth. But honestly, for what’s supposed to be a spinoff title, there’s A LOT of stuff to do for those who want to just hang out with Noah and do things as Majima.

While the relationship links work just as they have in the Ichiban games, the side stories carry a different wrinkle, as they all serve a purpose in amassing crew members for the Goromaru. Although you’ll most likely stick with Masaru and Jack throughout the adventure, the rest of the crew are no-names that you’ll probably want to swap out for some of the others you’ll meet along the way. Similar to the Sujimon randos in Infinite Wealth, there are also recruitable people scattered around Honolulu that you can bring on, as long as you meet their prerequisites for joining. Not all of them are created equal, as some have special traits or higher-level caps. So, it’s worth traversing the town to seek them out.

Lastly, the major way to gain money in this section is by completing bounties, which are more traditional mini-boss-style fights. These escalate in difficulty from one-star baddies to five-star monsters. They don’t all behave as you’d expect—depending on how fleet-footed you are in combat, you may find it easy to take down a four-star character out of nowhere, whereas others will have you quickly reaching for a healing item as your health bar dwindles ever so close to death. Hopefully, you’ve been using the Goro cooking minigame to create a literal buffet of food to snack on whenever necessary.

Ship Traversal and Combat, and Madlantis

I guess I’ve done enough teasing already, as we all know why you’ve come to experience Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii—becoming Captain Majima and sailing the high seas in search of the One Piece (it’s actually called something else here, but shhhh, don’t tell anyone).

Sailing on the Goromaru is a blast, as you can either slowly make your way to your destination or use warp points to get there faster. Along the way, Majima and crew pick up components that can be used to upgrade the ship or even special items. Enemy ships also appear randomly on the map and will cause a battle encounter if you get close enough.

Ship combat is pretty straightforward, with cannons and machine guns available to dispose of your foes, or you can simply use the power of your ship to ram into them. These are essentially the same as the random street encounters you walk into in Honolulu. They aren’t meant to challenge you, but merely keep the crew busy as you continue on to another island. If you do take enough damage, however, you can use your crew members to heal your ship, as long as they didn’t die during the fight. If this happens, the section of the ship they handled will become unusable. For example, if the person in charge of your left cannon dies, you won’t be able to use that cannon until you reach a lighthouse.

Lighthouses not only serve as healing points for the ship and crew, but they’re also places of business where you can buy components or upgrade items. You can also switch out crew members and their positions, which matter since some crew members have special traits making them better suited for handling cannons, or they even have leadership traits that give the ship extra upgrades when they’re first mate. It’s a simple enough system to grasp and, à la the Sujimon system from Infinite Wealth, it offers many possibilities and is as fun as you make it. You could simply max out the first few crew members you meet and take them throughout the journey, or really dive in and min/max to your heart’s desire.

Finally, the bulk of the ship’s adventure is about gathering treasure. This is done as part of the ongoing story, but there are also small side islands located on the map. They each play out mostly the same, but get more cavernous the further you progress, with multiple enemy trigger points, some growing to the point of having 100-200 enemies, including minibosses and major bosses. The end result is a special treasure that you get at the end, making the trek worth it. This is another major reason why switching out crew members matters, as you can only take four at a time, and some of their special abilities are battle-related. Not to mention they also have cool tag-team heat actions.

Similar to Honolulu being the main hub area for traditional Like a Dragon fare, Madlantis is the ship equivalent with its own set of minigames such as a wacky version of the batting cages and, of course, the main port of call being the major ship battles. Madlantis is crawling with personality as there are characters everywhere, goons to deal with, and the typical eateries and side things.

The major ship battles are so much fun, and many of them will knock you out if you don’t have the right equipment or become too aggressive. A majority of the story encounters occur here as well, which I don’t want to spoil, but suffice it to say, Madlantis makes the whole game worth it, as it now only serves as the culmination of all of your other efforts throughout the game, but is its own spectacle, which now sticks with me as one of my favorite parts of the entire series.

Presentation and Character Performances

For a game that’s about pirates, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii introduces some presentation elements we haven’t seen in the series before. Most notably, you spend most of your time at sea, engaging in naval combat with other ships. The ships themselves look fantastic, and the customization options allow you to truly make the Goromaru your own. Like the ships, Majima’s appearance is also highly customizable—from his hairstyle and eyepatch down to his shoes. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii offers more control over your look than any previous game in the series.

One of the standout features is the variety of pirate gear available, from hats to coats and more. That said, I personally love Majima’s default pirate outfit. Visually, the pirate elements help the game stand out, but outside of this, the overall presentation remains largely familiar. Hawaii itself looks identical to previous depictions, and many of the islands you visit reuse assets. NPCs outside of the main story still feel generic, standing out awkwardly compared to the main cast.

Speaking of the cast, they are varied and unique. Jason Rich is probably my favorite among Majima’s companions—his motivations make sense, and his depth really comes through in the English voice performance.

The audio shines not just in the voice acting but also in the soundtrack. Like a Dragon has a tradition of reusing iconic themes, and that continues here. However, there are several completely original musical cues unique to Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and those are my personal favorites this time around!

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. The game still suffers from occasional dips in presentation quality that feel out of place. It’s especially jarring when a fully voiced main quest suddenly shifts to using simple text bubbles in the middle of a scene. As a longtime fan, I know what to expect, and with RGG Studio releasing these games at such a rapid pace, it’s understandable.

I just wish the level of presentation remained consistent throughout the entire main quest—because when this game shines, it delivers some of the best presentations in the industry.

Technical Performance

I’m pleased to report that on PC, I experienced no bugs at all. I did encounter a few crashes, but I’m fairly confident that these were due to a wonky Windows install on my end, rather than an issue with the game itself. Those issues were resolved when I reinstalled Windows 11.

As for frame rates, I was able to maintain a steady 110–120fps at 4K native resolution with the game’s highest available settings. With DLSS support, there’s likely headroom for even more performance, but given the limitations of my monitor, I don’t need to go above 120fps. Granted, I know most will not be playing at 4K and will resort to 1080p or 1440p on PC, so you’ll see even better results.

Your experience may vary depending on your hardware. I played on a PC equipped with an Intel i9-14900KF, an Nvidia RTX 4090, and an absurd amount of memory. Admittedly, it’s overkill, but it’s the only PC I have.

It’s important to note that should you be playing on console, Sean had no issues on PS5 either so this seems like a well optimised game.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii was provided to us for review purposes by SEGA. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.

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