Sega and the extremely prolific Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have announced the next game in the Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series – and have given it a release date of February 28, 2025, barely more than a year after the epic Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was released.
The game is titled Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. It is a spin-off starring the eccentric and eyepatch-wearing regular character Goro Majima. This is a conceptually wild and fantastical tale where Majima washes up on a desert island near Hawaii, suffering from amnesia. He then finds himself engaging in sword fights with old-timey pirates from a place called Madlantis. Even though all of this is apparently set in the present day – there is even a plot thread involving Nele Island, which connects Pirate Yakuza to the events of Infinite Wealth – Majima somehow becomes the captain of a pirate galleon. He sails the high seas in search of lost treasure, because why not? It’s a truly outlandish and crazy concept.
This is all set up in a typically expansive seven-minute trailer that is narrated by Majima himself, recounting the events that took place six months prior. Perhaps there is an element of an unreliable narrator at play here. Regardless, it seems to be a lot of goofy and fun, with flashy real-time combat, the apparent return of the delivery minigame from Infinite Wealth, a pirate queen living in a secret city made of old ships, and a kid sidekick with a pet tiger cub. It’s a colorful and exciting world that’s full of potential for adventure and hijinks.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. It will be RGG Studio’s fifth Like a Dragon game in as many years – not counting remasters and remakes. They just keep on coming and seem unstoppable in their creative endeavors.