I’ve always admired Like a Dragon for its masterful balance of tone. Ever since it first arrived on PS2 as Yakuza in the West, each game has told a heartfelt yet harrowing tale set amidst the criminal underworld while also leaning hard into consistent absurdism. Kazuma Kiryu is risking his life to save everyone he holds dear, but he can also go diving off the coast of Hiroshima to battle with giant sharks in his downtime.
You’ll break down in tears one moment before jumping for joy the next, and by some miracle, all of these disparate tones blend together perfectly. Our heroes might be running from the law and trying to thwart evil syndicates intent on murdering them, but that never stops them from a cheeky round of karaoke in the evenings. This balance is more pronounced with spin-off titles like Dead Souls, where a zombie apocalypse is contrasted with similar levels of dramatic seriousness and the campy nature of its urban open world.
It works well though, and when it comes to Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, it’s going to work the same magic all over again.
It’s a Pirate’s Life For You, Me, And Especially Goro Majima
Last week saw RGG Studio host a Dragon Direct to showcase more of what we can expect from Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. As expected, the studio is leaning hard into the utterly absurd idea of fan favourite character Goro Majima washing up on a random beach before quickly deciding he wants to become the ultimate pirate lord. Majima is a man who takes each task that is put to him incredibly seriously, so it doesn’t take long for him to rock up with the locals, board a pirate ship of his own and set sail upon the seven seas.
Pulling the pirate card after setting a game in Hawaii is a stroke of genius, speaking to RGG Studio’s talent of reusing assets and characters to tremendous effect.
Aside from Sea of Thieves, we don’t have a lot of modern blockbusters that capture the beautiful clichés of the Golden Age of Piracy and the thrills of clashing swords with fellow sailors or coming across untold amounts of booty. Pirate adventures needn’t be complicated so long as they nail the tongue-in-cheek fundamentals that define the genre.
I’m talking about walking planks, firing cannons, invading enemy ships or blowing them to pieces, and singing shanties with my crew as the sun begins to set. It presents a simplistic beauty that RGG Studio understands, and something Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones did not. That explains why so many people in chat were dragging it during the direct.
After spending the better part of a decade in development hell, Skull and Bones launched last year to critical and commercial apathy. What began as a compelling and timely expansion on the naval combat seen in
Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag grew into a misguided attempt at live-service piracy whose greedy intentions were incredibly transparent.
Nobody cared, and by the end it was clear that Ubisoft wanted to wipe its hands of this mess and forget about it. What hurts the most is that Skull and Bones could have been the game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is trying to be, but it was engineered to be yet another live-service blockbuster in an already saturated landscape.
Skull and Bones Could Have Been The Ultimate Pirate Video Game
It wouldn’t have been nearly as ridiculous in its atmosphere and characters, but there was little stopping Skull and Bones from fulfilling the pirate fantasy of building a crew, sailing the ocean to find hidden treasure, all while feeling like an unstoppable badass. But it failed, and now remains a harsh stain on Ubisoft’s legacy.
I can’t help thinking about the game it could have been if production weren’t so troubled or Ubisoft wasn’t determined to turn Skull and Bones into an all-encompassing cash kraken. At least RGG Studio is picking up the pieces and having immense amounts of fun doing so, because Pirate Yakuza looks like a blast.
The game shows what a triple-A pirate experience can be without abusing live-service elements for maximum profit, and how building a crew, finding treasure, and trying to stake your claim on the seven seas is possible in isolation, and can even exist as part of a Like a Dragon without feeling out of place. In fact, I’d argue it fits right in. Like Dead Souls before it, Pirate Yakuza understands the appeal of throwing familiar characters into silly scenarios and connecting the dots with a central narrative with a beating heart at its centre.
It takes the childhood fantasy we had of being pirates and translates it into video game form, and I can’t think of a better take on the genre than that.
