Summary
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Pirate Yakuza brings new mechanics to the series such as sea battles, crew management and ship customization.
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RGG Studio is known for pushing boundaries with bold decisions in gameplay and mechanics and continues that tradition here.
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Pirate Yakuza is packed with islands to explore, side stories, mini-games, and all the comedy and drama fans love the series.
When I played a short but sweet run of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii in September, it was just a small taste of everything the game has to offer. This time we had a few hours to explore two different parts of the game, and more importantly, we finally got to deal with the ship.
Even so, I still felt like I had barely scratched the surface. Much like The Man Who Erased His Name, Pirate Yakuza may be smaller than the mainline Like a Dragon, but there's still plenty of meat in this skull and crossbones.

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If you've played either of Ryu Ga Gotoku's two recent releases, The Man Who Erased His Name or Infinite Wealth, Pirate Yakuza will be a familiar sight. There are a few different maps available to you, with Honolulu being the largest, and it's full of mini-games, side stories, and plenty of villains to defeat.
Despite this familiarity, RGG pushes boundaries with this game. If putting a fan favorite on a massive ship as a pirate captain and having him roam the waters around Hawaii wasn't enough proof, then let me point it out to you.
RGG Studio is no stranger to innovation
When you look back at the release of Yakuza and compare it to the recent release of Infinite Wealth, you can see that the series has evolved tremendously. It's not just the normal improvements you'd expect from the benefits of adapting to more modern technology over the years, there are also big changes that raise the bar for series launch once they're released.
RGG makes bold decisions: switching from one protagonist to multiple, switching from action to turn-based combat, swapping out the fan-favorite protagonist for an entirely new one, and relocating him from his beloved turf abroad. Hell, they even changed the (western) game title from Yakuza to Like a Dragon. Not afraid to try something new, RGG pushes out the Black Pearl for Pirate Yakuza.
RGG never does anything half-heartedly, so the addition of naval combat is a lofty goal. Not only does it have to live up to the high standard that the series is already known for, but it also has to be compared to any other naval battle game that has come before. Pirate Yakuza shouldn't have any trouble defeating Skull and Bones, but it still struggles against Assassin's Creed Black Flag and Sea of Thieves.
This time when I managed to get my hands on Pirate Yakuza, one of the first things I made sure to do was put Majima's hands on the ship's wheel and take the Goromaru for a spin.
It all looks like a ship
The Goromaru can be customized to suit your preferences, whether you want to make it pretty pink or completely cover Taiga Saejima's face with it, but it goes beyond just cosmetics. They have cannons on both the port and starboard sides that can be swapped and upgraded, and this isn't just about pure attack power, as many weapons have additional effects such as cold or heat.
It's up to you whether you want shark guns or flamethrowers, while also having a machine gun in hand to fire straight ahead, or you return to the deck and just pull a rocket launcher from Majima's bag to start firing. You should consider which weapons you want to use where, depending on how you want to attack other ships in the water. They have a boost and a brake (as ships are known to have), and if you use these efficiently you can quickly move out of the way of enemy fire or even make a sharp drift and turn around.
“The distance between you and the other ship and where all of your equipment is the key to winning these battles, and you have to get close and fire big broadsides to take them out,” RGG Studio head producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto tells us.
It's not just about the weapons, because your crew also plays an important role. You unlock crew members naturally as you progress, while others can be recruited by finding them on various maps, defeating them in the Pirate Coliseum, or completing certain sub-stories. Each crew member has different skills and strengths. Therefore, where you use it on your ship is important. Maybe they're better at fighting than at repairing, so you need to strategize.
Some battles can also lead to boarding battles, where your entire crew is drawn into hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. This felt very similar to the coliseum battles of TMWEHN, where you choose your team and have a big game for everyone where the fighters you choose can use certain abilities. I was happy to see the return of these chaotic large-scale battles, especially with the added benefit of Majima's crazy Sea Dog and Mad Dog abilities.
If your ship's HP reaches zero, you have sunk. So the goal is to crush the enemy before they can do serious damage to your own ship. You can switch to your deck view to repair your ship, put out fires and assist crew members, and this is certainly where your strategic crew planning will be most tested.
There are four Madlantis Pirate Coliseum modes in total: Quick Clash, quick and easy ship-to-ship combat; Swashbucker Showdown, a large-scale battle on land; Madlantis Mania, a series of battles that you play back to back; and Tournament of Captains, where you increase your Coliseum rank.
X marks the spot
There are a few islands that you can visit in Pirate Yakuza, and you can explore both the land itself and the surrounding waters aboard your ship: Rich Island, Honolulu and Nele Island, associated with the religious organization Palekana, which become Infinite Fortune players be familiar with it already. Finally, there is Madlantis, the dark side of criminal organizations and all pirates.
But that's not all. What kind of pirate game would it be without a few treasure islands? You explore the ocean at will to collect floating debris in the ocean to craft materials, target the circular air currents to increase your speed a bit, fight other ships, and anchor on various islands to search for buried treasure to search.
These Treasure Islands are dungeon areas where you navigate set areas with different branching paths, defeating enemies and grabbing as much loot as possible, while also dealing with other potential risks such as poisoned areas. This part particularly reminded me of Ishin's Battle Dungeons, where you also have to choose your team before entering, each of which offers different skills or buffs, and you have to navigate through dungeon areas.
But don't worry, there are also safe areas at sea, near lighthouses, so you can roll up the sails and take a little break at any time. Aboard the Goromaru, you can stroll around, customize your ship or equipment, talk to your crew, take part in karaoke, or host a celebratory feast to boost staff morale. You can also use your binoculars to look at distant islands and determine their difficulty levels. You can even climb up to the crow's nest for a better view.
I'm ready to set sail
RGG could safely rest on its laurels and still appease the fan base and make a profit without having to overstep its already established boundaries, simply by giving us a new chapter in the lives of our favorites on the same terrain with the same mini-games. But that's never been the studio's way.
Pirate Yakuza bravely breaks new ground. Since it's not a mainline game, RGG has more scope to experiment with new ideas and mechanics, and I'm ready for some silly frolicking with Majima on the high seas, but I'm also preparing myself for the typical emotional roller coaster that is we expect RGG. After all these years, and the fans begging for a Majima game for so long, I think that alongside good old-fashioned pirate fun, there will also be a deep buried narrative treasure, and I can't wait to unearth it.



- developer
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Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood, intense violence, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language, alcohol consumption