GameCentral goes hands-on with Goro Majima’s first standalone Like A Dragon game, which turns the ex-yakuza into a swashbuckling pirate.
If you’ve played any of the Yakuza (now Like A Dragon) games, you’ll probably remember Goro Majima. While the character isn’t the face of the series, like Kazuma Kiryu or Ichiban Kasuga, every appearance from the crazed ‘mad dog’ is always a scene-stealing highlight. For many, his origin story in Yakuza 0, where he shares double billing with Kiryu, is one of the key reasons why that game is still considered one of the series’ best.
Despite being a fan favourite, Majima has been mostly sidelined in recent entries to late-game cameos, where he’s given little room to breathe beyond his exaggerated persona. A dedicated spin-off, then, is long overdue, but there’s a question of whether there’s a desire to develop Majima further beyond the heightened, if highly entertaining, caricature he’s started to become.
On the surface, as you might have surmised from the title, Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii doesn’t exactly take itself seriously. This is Majima at maximum camp, fired up with the strut of Captain Jack Sparrow and hurling cutlass swords on an isle called Madlantis. Based on a hands-on preview, this spin-off has plenty of enjoyable eccentricities that live up to Majima’s personality, but it remains to be seen whether there’s enough substance to elevate it above being a mere quirky extension to Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Our preview didn’t show the opening premise but, as shown in the trailer, Majima finds himself washed up on a remote island in the Pacific without any recollection of who he is or how he got there. He’s saved by a young boy named Noah, with the thrust of the story seeing Majima try and piece together his lost memories, while taking on the persona of a pirate captain for, presumably, the hell of it.
We weren’t shown much of the story, but our session starts with Majima, Noah, and other crewmates arriving on the beach at Hawaii, where they’re confronted by a typical group of thugs looking for a tutorial brawl. Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii sees a return to the action brawler combat of the original games, with Majima sporting two fighting styles, between Mad Dog and Sea Dog. The former builds on Majima’s nimble style we’ve seen in earlier entries, with rapid dagger slashes and kinetic aggression, only with some new tricks up his sleeve.
The biggest change, combat-wise, is the addition of a jump button, which is a first for the series. Not only does it open up another avenue for dodging attacks, but you can also perform combos in the air, and strike enemies downwards from above. It sounds minor on the surface but it adds a welcome layer of flexibility to Like A Dragon’s fairly rigid battle mechanics, to a degree where it actually took some adjustment when dealing with large groups.
There’s also a Madness gauge (separate from the Heat gauge) which gradually fills up during battles. When it’s full and you’re in the Mad Dog style, you can activate it to unleash a wave of Majima doppelgangers, which rush down any remaining goons. It’s overpowered to a comical degree, at least in this preview build, but the visual madness of seeing a swarm of Majima’s bulldoze through a gaggle of pirates is enormously satisfying.
On the Sea Dog side, the combat goes full Long John Silver. With his feathered pirate hat in tow, Majima wields cutlass swords he can throw out as spinning blades, a pistol which can be charged to blast multiple foes at once, and a wire hook to latch onto enemies and jump to their position. There’s an adjustment to figuring out the best window to launch each attack, but the freneticism is fun to experiment with regardless – much more so than Kiryu’s gadget fighting style from Like A Dragon Gaiden, which this feels like a companion to.
Beyond the combat, we ventured to Madlantis, which appears to be this game’s equivalent of the Castle area in Like A Dragon Gaiden. You can sail freely to Madlantis in the final game but we were forced to fast travel in this build, so it’s still unclear how much freedom you’ll have in the open sea.
As for Madlantis itself, it’s a bustling hub for pirate locals, where you can play poker, blackjack, shop for goods, or engage in the series’ staple Coliseum. The fighting arena was blocked off in this preview, but a pop-up message indicated that the promised ship battles (which were sadly not shown either) will play a role in the Coliseum too – so it sounds like they’ll take up a sizable chunk of the overall experience.
While the ship battles were off limits, we were able to explore part of the Hawaii map from Infinite Wealth, and try out some mini-game distractions. Dragon Kart is back from Yakuza: Like A Dragon, albeit with new courses around Hawaii’s tight streets, while Crazy Delivery returns with new routes running through the Anaconda shopping centre. In Hawaii, Majima can also observe the landscape through a new ‘Search mode’, which allows you to hook up to certain areas and find items or hidden treasures.
If this all felt fairly familiar, the best new distraction might be the expanded customisation. In your safe house at the Revolve bar, you can dress up Majima with a variety of different eye patches, facial make-up, and ear jewellery split between separate ‘casual’ and ‘pirate’ outfits. There’s been outfit customisation in the series before but it seems like a bigger focus here – it also applies to a baby tiger companion named Goro, who can be dressed in a very adorable captain’s hat and eye patch of their own.
The demo’s constraints meant we spent a portion of our time digging around the menus for extra titbits. In a nice pirate-laced touch, attack and defence stat upgrades are tied to rings you equip across Majima’s hands. We also found collectible material related to the creation of rings and cannons – presumably for the upgrades you can make to your ship. Beyond that, standard upgrades are present, and your weapons – the cutlass swords, pistol, and wire hook – look like they’re able to be modified, or swapped around, judging by their placement on an in-menu grid.
Without trying the ship battles or the promised open sea traversal, it’s difficult to gauge whether Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii will offer enough fresh ideas to be worthy of Majima’s legacy. The combat has the potential to be the series’ best, but so far, there’s little else to chew on that we haven’t already seen in the franchise before. For now, let’s just hope buried treasure reveals itself when the mad dog is put out to sea.
Formats: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC
Price: £54.99
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Release Date: 28th February 2025
Age Rating: 18
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