The Patron Saint of Pain is ready to take on the high seas.
It’s not every day we get a game-specific direct, but RGG Studio and SEGA hosted one recently to promote Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, releasing February 21st across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam.
The roughly 13-minute RGG Like a Dragon Direct showed off series favorite Goro Majima in his new starring role, highlighting his multiple combat styles, crew management, and some slick sailing and sea combat. Check out the footage for yourself below!
The direct featured much of the tongue-in-cheek humor that we’ve come to expect with Like a Dragon and its more light-hearted moments, but aside from bad puns about cannons and life on deck, the things that stood out the most for this old sea dog were the crew-building mechanics, the eerie similarities between Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii‘s naval battles and 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and the “Yakuza-fication” of it all.
All of the Like a Dragon franchise’s best minigames involve some type of recruitment and incorporation of NPCs. Yakuza 0‘s cabaret club and Yakuza: Like a Dragon‘s management sim are two that come to mind, and now it looks as though a similar system is about to be applied to how your ship runs and operates during combat. Honestly, it’s close to enough to get me interested in this game all on its own.
As someone with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey ranked high on his personal list of best PS4 games, I’ll be honest — Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii looks like a carbon copy. That is, until the aforementioned Yakuza-fication takes over and we see laser guns, cannons from impossible angles, ships the size of small buildings dropping into a casino arena, and loveable mascots preparing to be part of the boarding party.
It reminds me of something series aficionado Jono Logan stated in his write-up for RPGFan’s most anticipated games list: “RGG Studios are the undisputed masters of recycling.” If anyone has made an art out of taking something that was done, and then completely putting their unique spin on it, it’s RGG.
Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Screenshots






Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii releases February 21st, 2025, for PS5, PS4, XSX, XB1, and PC via Steam.
Pre-order details are available wherever you plan to play the game, but note that a pre-order of the base game ($59.99 USD) will add Ichiban Kasuga and Nancy to your crew, plus the ability to have Majima change into two of Ichiban Kasuga’s iconic outfits. A deluxe edition is also available ($74.99). featuring the base game, the aforementioned Ichiban perks, a legendary pirate crew pack, legendary outfit pack, special ship customization, and extra karaoke and CD tracks.
For more, check out episode 312 of Random Encounter (where we discuss Pirate Yakuza and our other most anticipated games), our series primer, and stay tuned to the RPGFan main page for the latest updates and news.
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