Despite having been around for two decades, the series of games known as Like A Dragon (Ryū ga Gotoku) have only recently captured the imagination and attention of the West.
Publisher Sega has met that interest with an increased push for the series across the international market. And it has been met with great success.
Last year’s Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the ninth game in the series – if you don’t count the Judgment sub-series and Gaiden spin-offs or the remasters – sold over a million copies in a single week. Part of the continuing charm of the Like A Dragon series is its commitment to delivering a gameplay sandbox filled with dozens of varying diversions and amusements while presenting wacky situations, likeable personalities and earnest character-driven drama.
The series latest, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was released on PC, Xbox, PlayStation on February 20 and picks up directly from Infinite Wealth, which relocated the series action from the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama to Honolulu City, Hawaii.
But instead of a fish out of water dramedy, Pirate Yakuza delivers a rousing comedy adventure, in which the titular pirate yakuza leads a crew of an old timey pirate boat in search of legendary treasure.
The game begins with Goro Majima, a series mainstay since the very first Like A Dragon game, waking up on a beach with amnesia. In past games, Majima was an unhinged wildcard.
While he retains his manic edge, it is softened by the vulnerability of not remembering his own name or any of his criminal misdeeds and underworld plots. Relative newcomers to the series (such as myself) get to approach Majima with a semi-clean slate, while series veterans get to see him in a new light.
Developer RGG Studio makes no attempt to explain why there are triangle hat-wearing, yarrrr mateying pirates riding around in 17th century style frigates in the modern day Honolulu and the game is all the better for it. The Like A Dragon series already has a reputation for blending absurdity with sincerity, comedy with drama — these contradictions make any anachronisms in Pirate Yakuza’s premise unsurprising.
While the playable area of Pirate Yakuza is divided into four islands, you’ll probably be spending most of your time in Madlantis, a pirate city overrun by the usual Like A Dragon weirdoes, but you know, piratey.
Goofing around with claw games and ports of SEGA arcade classics is par for the course for this series, but it’s the Pirates Coliseum that is Madlantis’ raison d’etre. You’ll engage in ship-to-ship combat with a dizzying array of pirate crews in your mad quest to become number one captain.
Whether in the Coliseum or in the open seas, naval combat is an enjoyable addition to the Like A Dragon repertoire. 2013’s Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remains the touchstone for ocean dogfighting — as opposed to its ignoble spiritual descendant, last year’s Skull & Bones — but RGG studio goes for a streamlined arcade design.
Ships turn faster than their historical counterparts and damage is represented by a single health bar. Oh and your ship can equip lasers and flamethrowers.
When you’re not fighting at sea, you’re likely to get into a scuffle on land. Fights break out like a JRPG encounter, but in Pirate Yakuza combat is a doggedly real-time affair.
Majima can switch between two styles: his wild ‘Mad Dog’ style which lets him leap, stab and send his enemies into the air or his ‘Sea Dog’ style which lets him unbuckle some swashes with sword attacks and various ranged abilities. Combat is unchallenging on standard difficulty, unfortunately, lacking the tactical depth of 2023’s The Man Who Erased His Name.
I don’t find it particularly problematic that Pirate Yakuza is a pushover to play, but it does beg the question of what RGG Studio is trying to give people with this series. Infinite Wealth and its predecessor Like A Dragon 7 are similar cakewalks, but that never really bothered me as much as it does in this game.
I guess maybe I’m expecting that a spin-off featuring the usually unhinged Goro Majima would walk a little wilder in terms of challenge and gameplay. But maybe I’m missing the point of the Like A Dragon series.
To be honest, I’ve bounced on and off this series multiple times. I have plenty of hours in Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Like A Dragon 7 and Judgment and none of them I’ve seen to completion and I think it’s because the Like A Dragon series wasn’t made for me.
And that’s okay! Some years ago, a colleague put it to me that the RGG Studios makes games for middle aged dads and salarymen, and suggested that these games are meant to be played for months, rather than devoured in a handful of weekends.
And when I think about it, that tracks. Pirate Yakuza continues the Like A Dragon formula that’s been in place for years. To some extent that’s disappointing, because rather than heading to uncharted territory, it remains in shallow waters.
But between the drawn out slice of pirate-life narrative, the wealth of episodic sub-stories and the dizzying array of minigames, being unchallenging feels like the point. Pirate Yakuza a game that’s full of fun, designed not to test your gamer prowess, but to delight in every moment. – Rappler.com