In a surprising reveal, Sega has announced the next entry in its long-running Like a Dragon series (formerly known as Yakuza in the West) – and it’s taking the Japanese crime saga in a decidedly more nautical direction. Titled Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, this new installment casts the franchise’s most iconic villain, Goro “Mad Dog” Majima, as an amnesiac pirate captain adventuring across the Hawaiian islands.
Debuting a lengthy gameplay preview at Tokyo Game Show 2024, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii looks to maintain the series’ signature mix of gritty crime drama and over-the-top absurdity, while letting its pirate freak flag fly. Players will explore the tropical open world of Hawaii on land and sea, engaging in swashbuckling ship battles, boarding enemy vessels, and adventuring across the islands in search of lost memories and hidden treasures.
Setting Sail for Madlantis
The game revolves around the pirate haven of Madlantis, a floating city that serves as a nautical Las Vegas where captains gamble with their ships and crews in gladiatorial combat. It’s here that an amnesiac Majima washes ashore and begins his journey to reclaim his memories and uncover Madlantis’ secrets.
Out on the high seas, players will navigate treacherous waters, braving storms and kraken to explore desert islands and hunt for treasure. Naval battles mix period-appropriate flintlocks and cutlasses with anachronistic machine guns and rocket launchers. And when the cannons have cooled, Majima can swing over to enemy ships to engage their crews in hand-to-hand combat.
Hawaiian Hijinks
Back on land, Majima can explore the colorful Hawaiian setting in his typical chaotic fashion. Gameplay previews showed him getting into street brawls, aiding citizens in side quests, and even going toe-to-toe with a polar bear. His antics are accompanied by an orphaned boy named Noah and a tiger cub companion.
Like a Dragon producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto says this unconventional premise arose from a desire to surprise fans who have become increasingly savvy to the series’ tropes and formulas. At the same time, he stresses that not everything is cranked to eleven, and that character-driven drama remains at the heart of the experience.
“Like a Dragon tells stories about people with strong beliefs, strong feelings, creeds and ways of life, and how these people connect with each other,” says Sakamoto. “Even when they are connecting over bottles of rum below deck on their gangster pirate ship.”
A New Horizon for Like a Dragon
The shift to a Hawaiian setting builds off the previous game, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, allowing the developers to expand that open world for this piratical prequel. This asset reuse has enabled a rapid development cycle, with the game slated to launch in February 2025, just a year and a half after entering production.
While longtime fans may be surprised to see the series drift so far from its yakuza roots, there’s a undeniable curiosity in seeing how those hard-boiled crime drama tropes translate to the high seas. Can Majima muster a scurvy crew? Will his eyepatch finally make canonical sense? All eyes will be on the horizon as this pirate yakuza adventure unfurls its sails.
