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Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will bring the criminal sandbox soap opera back for another annual release early next year, Sega announced on Friday during the September 2024 RGG Summit. The apparent spin-off will follow the swashbuckling exploits of long-time series character Goro Majima, and the trailer looks as absurd as the premise.
It begins with Majima recalling the events of six months ago when he washed up on a beach of with amnesia. Some pirate yakuza showed up to help dispose of nuclear waste, but started causing trouble instead. When shit goes sideways, Majima becomes captain of his own crew to help liberate local residents from their underworld interlopers.
Majima gets his own pirate ship and eventually finds refuge in what appears to be an offshore pirate nightclub city called Madlantis. Unlike This year’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which was a turn-based RPG, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will go back to the series’ traditional real-time action combat. Players will get to make their own crew, set sail, and even battle other ships.
It’s the first time Majima, who made his debut in the first Yakuza game, will get to star in one, and caps off an incredible pace of new sequels and spin-offs in recent years from franchise maker Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Following 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, 2023 gave us both the Like a Dragon: Ishin! spin-off set in the Edo period and the modern-era spin-off Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, followed by Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth in 2024. Pirate Yakuza coming in 2025 will mark five Like a Dragon games in as many years.
Hopefully the series doesn’t burn too hot for too long, but in the meantime the next entry looks like the pirate action game even players in general are craving right now.