Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Absolutely heaving with buried treasures and varied pleasures, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a consistently captivating voyage that kept my timbers shivering whether on land or at sea.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii puts the spotlight back on Goro Majima for an uneven swashbuckling adventure that delights more often than it disappoints

A raucous, absurd spin-off that manages to still feel like a first-rate Yakuza game despite the leftfield setting and delightfully unhinged plot.

Flawed and overfamiliar, but still as joyously OTT and hilarious as ever.

Given how serious Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth can get, a sillier adventure with no less heart feels like a welcome breath of salty sea air. While I love playing as Kiryu and Kasuga, I'm grateful for the time with Majima this game offers. He's hilarious, compassionate, and always up to the challenge. He's an icon, and there's no character in the franchise who deserves more time in the middle of the stage.

irate Yakuza may not be the best entry to get players on board with the ongoing Like a Dragon narrative. I was more entranced by the loop of upgrading Majima and his ship and recruiting new crewmates than I was by the story, but it delivers on everything the series has become renowned for. An absurd tone with surprising pockets of earnest pathos, fun characters, and bombastic action are all present and accounted for here.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is an amusing, if underwhelming way to kill time before Yakuza 9, but considering the speed at which RGG is releasing new games in the series, you probably don't have to wait that long for the next traditional entry.

Pirate Yakuza is frequently funny and charming, but this Gaiden entry doesn't feel lean as much as it feels thin.

You can see exactly what the devs are going for with each choice and mechanic, why they’ve done it, and have as much loveably idiotic pirate Yakuza fun as you’d want to.

A thoroughly enjoyable side game that looks to offer familiar Like a Dragon action with a swashbuckling twist, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a flamboyant distraction between mainline entries. The story doesn't compare favourably to the mainline entries and the new island areas quickly become repetitive, but the novelty of Goro Majima at the helm of a pirate ship never quite wears off. Stay for its frenzied action and jolly pirate ship battles and you'll have a good time.