Fans have been waiting for Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii for a long time, with excitement high as it features perennial Yakuza side character Goro Majima in his first-ever starring role. Majima has always been a fan favorite - his wild card personality and ridiculous antics add a dash of Looney Tunes to the series' often grim and gritty crime drama. He's always deserved his own game, and, while no one could've expected it to happen this way, it's certainly a welcome surprise.

That's because Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii also peppers in another popular genre: the ever-popular pirate game. It begins when Majima washes up on the shores of a remote Polynesian island, having lost all memory of his Yakuza past. In short order, he defeats a pirate captain, commandeers his ship, and gathers a crew, who then set out to find the lost treasure of the Esperanza, a Spanish vessel that disappeared centuries prior. Thoroughly fun and unflinchingly self-indulgent, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a ridiculously fun game that occasionally gets lost in a sea of its own absurdity.

Real-Time Combat Makes A Triumphant Return

With Two Different Fighting Styles

As much as I've enjoyed Like A Dragon's transition to turn-based combat, I sometimes miss good old-fashioned brawler-style Yakuza. Thankfully, Pirate Yakuza delivers all that and more, as the series makes a (temporary) return to real-time combat in all its button-mashing glory. Majima has two different fighting styles - the aerial-focused Mad Dog and the swashbuckling Sea Dog. You learn several new abilities for both as you progress through the story, and you can spend your hard-earned cash on leveling up Majima's stats.

It's not the greatest Yakuza combat has ever been, but it's definitely near the top. The variety of Heat Actions available is a little lacking compared to things like Yakuza 0. Most of the time, you can simply spam your favorite combo until the fight is over, which isn't terribly exciting, but does make all those random encounters go by more quickly. Its harder battles lean more on the challenge of determining which fighting style is best against each particular enemy, then staying alive until you charge up your ultimate attack meter.

Simple, Yet Effective Naval Combat

Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for: Pirate Yakuza's take on high-seas battle. It's a very simple system, but it's satisfying when everything goes right: you have chase cannons and two sets of broadsides, and you'll spend most of your time either drifting out of the way of enemy fire, or maneuvering yourself to get in a shot of your own. The challenge comes from your limited resources - you have a finite amount of repair materials and fuel, which you need to drift. Ultimately, it's a game of endurance over skill, especially in the later chapters.

Majima's ship is also fully customizable; players can buy a series of hull colors, sail designs, and figurehead carvings throughout the world.

Most of the random encounters at sea, like the ones on land, are a little too easy. However, the Pirate Coliseum mini-game, which lets you take on powerful pirate crews in a massive arena, amps up the challenge significantly. In both the Coliseum and certain story battles, you'll face what are called "boss ships" - these are not only much bigger and much stronger than your run-of-the-mill sloop, but they also add an extra mechanic: boarding. Once you damage them enough, Majima will jump aboard, and the two crews will face off in massive, chaotic battles to the last man standing.

Where the naval combat really gets interesting, though, is in the management aspect. This is something Yakuza has always excelled at, from its cabaret club mini-games to Majima Construction. You have to recruit your own crew as you travel throughout the world: some of them will only after you beat them in a one-on-one, others as a reward for finishing substories, still others based on your pirate rank, mini-game prowess, or a sufficient bribe. You decide where to assign them on the ship, and that determines how their stats develop as they level up.

A Not-So-Open World

The one piece of its pirate gameplay I didn't love, though, is Pirate Yakuza's approach to exploration. For one thing, its map is divided up into several smaller regions, which you can only move between using fast travel. As a result, it sometimes feels less like you're exploring an open world, and more like you're following a set path with detours. Yakuza has always prioritized detailed, condensed maps over massive, empty worlds, which is typically to its benefit. However, I wish it had taken a different approach here.

When I think back to the pirate games I've enjoyed before (Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Sea of Thieves) what I love most about them is the sense of wonder that comes from free exploration and discovery. Unfortunately, Pirate Yakuza fails to evoke that feeling. Yes, you can drop anchor at various islands around the map and search for plunder, but these treasure hunts take the form of structured raids against enemy hordes. You land, you fight, you beat the boss, and you get the treasure, simple as that. There's no intrigue or mystery to it, not even an X-marks-the-spot.

An Infinite Wealth Of Side Content

Every Mini-Game You Could Imagine, And Then Some

Like A Dragon has always been synonymous with mini-games, but especially for a spinoff, Pirate Yakuza has a truly staggering amount of side content. There are your classics, like darts, karaoke, and the batting cage (which gets a delightful piratey twist), but also more recent additions like Crazy Delivery and Dragon Kart. There are even a few new ones, like the underwater arcade shooter Ocean Hunter. (No Dondoko Island, though.) I was especially impressed by the inclusion of a fully functional Sega Master System, which you can purchase games for at various vendors throughout the world. (Editor's note: this is a returning feature from Gaiden).

Mini-games are usually just a distraction from a game's main story, but in Pirate Yakuza, they're surprisingly rewarding. Besides the ability to recruit new pirates by winning at pool or darts, many of them earn Majima points that he can then spend at a mini-game specific shop, which offers everything from MP3 tracks to new crew . Completing almost any challenge also contributes points towards your pirate rank, which unlocks new Coliseum battles, crew , and more.

Pirate Yakuza's Story Needed A Com

A Lack Of Direction

I wasn't exactly expecting down-to-earth drama from Pirate Yakuza's story. I knew it'd be a lot shorter and a lot more light-hearted than the typical mainline Yakuza game, and to its own benefit, that's exactly what it was. Unfortunately, Pirate Yakuza's plot was a little lacking in direction. The main issue is that Majima is never set up for success as a protagonist, with a limited character arc that deflates his own personal conflict fairly early into the game. I'll remain vague on the details to avoid spoilers, though it does neatly pick up where Infinite Wealth left off.

From there, the story shifts focus to the main of Majima's crew: the overprotective father Jason, and his adventure-loving child Noah. Jason hopes to find the Esperanza treasure, not just for the riches, but for an elixir that he believes will cure Noah's mysterious illness. Majima is an enthusiastic participant in their search, but sometimes, it feels like the crew are the real protagonists, while he's just steering the ship.

That said, the crew is full of well-rounded characters with wants, flaws, backgrounds, and personalities. Ultimately, they're just not who we came here to see. But still, the story picks up a bit once it focuses on them, as they race and a rotating rogue's gallery of villains to find the treasure. And the game does come to a pretty satisfying ending, even though the story drags a bit in the final two chapters.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

ScreenRant Gives Pirate Yakuza A 7/10

Pirate Yakuza could've handled its story and exploration better, sure, but it has it where it counts. I don't think anyone, Like A Dragon fan or not, expected much more from it than a fun romp across the waves, interspersed with some hand-to-hand combat and myriad mini-games. In that regard, it delivers. Its core mechanics are well-developed, and, with the regular introduction of new features and challenges, they never get old. Its side content is endlessly entertaining, and never ceases to surprise.

It may not match the ambition of Like A Dragon, the polish of Yakuza 0, or the emotional heights of Yakuza 6, but it's not a throwaway spinoff, either. It brings its own brilliant twists to the franchise formula, and even if it doesn't execute them all perfectly, it succeeds more often than not. Suffice it to say that Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii can stand on its own sea legs.

ScreenRant was provided with a digital PS5 code for the purpose of this review.