Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii casts Majima as a pirate and I’m speechless

I don’t know what’s real anymore. Sega and Ryu ga Gotoku Studio have announced that the next game in the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series will be Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. The twist is that this one looks like some sort of fever dream where Majima becomes a pirate.

To be fair, this isn’t the first time that the series has gone deep into left field. Yakuza Dead Souls had the cast fighting zombies, after all. And in order to keep development time and costs down, the company frequently reuses old settings in new ways. Perhaps they were mulling over what else they could do with their massive Hawaii map and somehow decided on this.

The story shows Majima waking up on the beach of Rich Island with no memory of what happened. One thing leads to another, and he just kind of beats up the right people and winds up with a pirate ship. He and his crew decide that they’re going to search for a legendary treasure, which I’m sure is what most people would do if they found themselves in possession of an antique warship. There is also a pirate city called “Madlantis,” so how awesome is that? The trailer is a whopping 7 minutes long and covers all the important parts.

There are parts of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii that seem familiar. For example, the bike courier mission from Infinite Wealth shows up in the trailer. The combat seems to be the classic real-time beat-’em-up style rather than the turn-based of the more recent core titles, and you can switch between “Mad Dog” and “Sea Dog” fighting styles.

I was wondering what ife at sea is like, and apparently, there are “exhilarating real-time cannon battles.” It sounds like you battle the enemy ship until it’s ready to board. The marketing information does mention that you “explore the open sea,” but whether that’s a map system or actual ship steering isn’t entirely clear.

Yeah, didn’t see that coming, but I’m on board. Get it? Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will release for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on February 27, 2025. As Sega commonly does, there is a rather sizeable Deluxe Edition with included DLC available.