When it comes to Goro Majima having his own game, Like a dragon: Yakuza pirates in Hawaii It wasn't exactly what I expected it to look like. After being briefly playable in Yakuza: Dead Souls and sharing the spotlight with the series' protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, in Yakuza 0, Shimano's Mad Dog now has a whole swashbuckling adventure to call its own, and it's already shaping up to be something pretty special.
I was recently able to visit Sega's offices in London to preview Like a dragon: Yakuza pirates in Hawaii. While my time with the game amounted to a relatively short vertical segment that lasted around 45 minutes, I still managed to see and do a fair amount of things in that time.
Emerging pirate
My trailer started with Majima and the crew of the Goromaru (his pirate ship) arriving at the US island-state. We had barely touched down on land and already a group of thugs wanted to beat us up and steal our lunch money, as is always the style of this series.
This serves as a quick combat tutorial for Like a dragon: Yakuza pirates in Hawaii and introduces you to Majima's two fighting styles. First, we get acquainted with the 'Mad Dog' style, which is similar to Majima's movesets from previous games, making use of quick strikes and his iconic knife.
However, the Mad Dog style in this game feels like a true evolution, being more fluid and ferocious than ever. Majima can now launch enemies upwards, jumping after them to perform deft aerial combos. His knife attacks can also be combined into standard combos in a way that feels impressively simple. You can also make use of a separate jump button – a first for the series – to access moves like dive attacks.
Majima can also summon Doppelgangers of himself when he fills a meter during combat. These shadows of Mad Dog mimic your attacks and can be charged by holding down a button before releasing it to deliver a devastatingly powerful final blow.
In the second part of the tutorial, we switch to the “Sea Dog” style, which is much more self-explanatory. Majima dons his fancy pirate outfit and wields a pair of cutlasses. Said cutlasses can be thrown at groups of enemies for effective crowd control, but he also carries a flintlock pistol, which can be charged up for a devastating shot. Finally, a grappling hook can be used to latch onto enemies and pull Majima towards them, making it easier to jump across the sands.
Both styles look like a lot of fun, and can be switched between at will during combat by tapping the D-pad. Both also employ a variety of context-sensitive Heat Actions – the series’ iconic finishing moves that can be activated when certain conditions are met, such as when carrying a weapon or when an enemy is about to shoot you.
All about Hawaii
There wasn't much story to enjoy during my preview of Like a dragon: Yakuza pirates in Hawaii. Instead, the demo kept things brisk, limiting the main progression to a single location known as Madlantis. And it was a doozy: a ship graveyard turned arcade and coliseum. There wasn’t much to do here during the preview, but we did get a fairly simple boss fight against a pirate named Keith (and a few thugs for good measure) before the main portion of the demo came to an abrupt end.
That didn't mean I had to stop playing, though. During the preview, I was also able to enjoy a small selection of the side activities the series is known for. Though I must say that all of the side content featured here (at least in this demo) were old modes carried over from previous installments in the series.
First up is karaoke, which is always a blast in these games thanks to the voice actors who are all out singing like they have to pay rent. I wanted to try out karaoke first because, being a Majima-directed title, I had to find out if 24-Hour Cinderella passed the test. The good news is that yes, it did, and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio even remade the hilarious and iconic music video for the second part of the song.
From here, it was on to Dragon Kart, a mode that returned from Yakuza: Like a dragon. Here and there the feeling was more or less the same: you can drift your kart to get through tight corners and pick up weapons to eliminate other racers from the competition. The main difference here is that there will be a new selection of tracks for the Hawaii map and that alone makes the mode worth replaying.
I was also able to change Majima's outfit, just like we were able to do with Kiryu in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name – and participates in Crazy Delivery which returns from Like a dragon: infinite wealth. However, at this point, the time remaining with the demo was limited, so I decided to wander around Honolulu for the last five minutes or so.
While exploring the open map, Majima can use a grappling hook that can grab bugs or, more importantly, ascend to sections that would otherwise be out of reach, such as the tops of buildings. I found that there were often treasures hidden in these locations, so it seems like they are always worth seeking out.
I also noticed several handcuff icons on the map screen. Approaching them will trigger combat against a relatively dangerous enemy and Majima will earn money for defeating them. Other things I noticed include the return of Kamulop and fortune trading, as well as what appeared to be an option for naval battles within Madlantis.
Unfortunately we were not able to experience that aspect of Like a dragon: Yakuza pirates in Hawaii I haven't tried it yet, however, I did get a glimpse of a combat-heavy portion of what the game would have to offer and had a lot of fun despite the short time I spent playing.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the full game has in store and what kind of crazy story Majima and his team will embark on. Like a dragon: Yakuza pirates in Hawaii will be released on February 28, 2025 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.