Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was revealed today, kicking off the bizarre tale of fan-favorite Goro Majima, disguised as a buccaneer and sailing the high seas. In the wake of the announcement, people are suddenly starting to remember that an accurate rundown of the entire game was leaked months ago; it was so ridiculous that no one believed it.
The above leak originated from a post on 4chan back in May, and given the impossibility of verifying information on that forum (anyone can go there and make whatever claims they want), no one paid much attention to it. I mean, come on, we're seeing claims like, “the story goes that Majima was lost at sea and lost his memory, leading him to get involved in a pirate dispute.” Who would believe that?
Except, of course, everything about it turned out to be true, from Majima's starring role to the fact that there's a cloak-and-dagger fighting style. The leak even claimed that the “hub areas include the reuse of Hawaii, the island 'Madlantis', and a new hub area that acts as a base.” That's a level of specificity that's impossible to chalk up to pure coincidence.
Screenshots from the leak are all over social media right now, and you can follow that link if you want to check it out for yourself, but keep in mind that there are some details in there that haven't been officially revealed yet.
The leak itself seemed so ridiculous — and so unverifiable — at the time that it fell through, but there were a few people who remembered it. Before the Ryu Ga Gotoku Summit, another round of much vaguer leaks seemingly pointing to the new Like a Dragon game began circulating, and some users were brave enough to outright call it a pirate game before the presentation. For once — and possibly only once — listening to a 4chan leak actually paid off.
After 13 Yakuza games and 20 years, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii finally adds a jump button that could open up some wild minigame potential.