Summary
The reviews are in forLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, debuting to a respectable “Strong” on OpenCritic with an aggregate score of 81.
Executive Editor Meg Pelliccio, our resident Majima expert at TheGamer (who owns not one, but two construction hats),scored it 4.5/5 stars. She highlighted its brilliant characterisation of the Mad Dog of Shimano, the wild, arcade-y ship battles, and its action combat, which she argues is the “peak” of the entire series
Its Metacritic sits a bit lower at 79 right now.
VGC - 3/5
VGCscored the game 3/5, describing the experience as an “amusing, if underwhelming way to kill time before Yakuza 9”.
Eurogamer - 4/5
Eurogamer argues in its 4/5 reviewthat this is a “first-rate Yakuza game despite the leftfield setting anddelightfully unhinged plot”.
XboxEra - 8.4/10
The 3D action brawling combat of classic Yakuza is back in style, according toXboxEra’s 8.4/10 review, now with “fun pirating sections” and even more “intense set piece battles”.
GamesRadar - 4/5
InGamesRadar’s 4/5 review, it says that Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a “sillier adventure with no less heart”, describing it as a “fan game above all”.
Game Rant - 8/10
Game Rant, one of our sister sites,scored Yakuza in Hawaii 8/10, writing that it’s “an entertaining pirate adventure” that goes to show that “there is a ton of potential for a Like a Dragon game that fully embraces the pirating life.”
PC Gamer - 70/100
“Flawed and overfamiliar, but still as joyously OTT and hilarious as ever,” says PC Gamer in its70/100 review of Yakuza in Hawaii.
Screen Rant - 3.5/5
Our sister siteScreen Rantgave Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii a score of 3.5/5, writing that it doesn’t quite match the ambition of Like a Dragon, the polish of Yakuza 0, or the emotional heights of Yakuza 6, but still “stands on its own sea legs.”
GameSpot - 7/10
The Majima-fronted spin-off is said to be a “suitably eccentric diversion” byGameSpotin its 7/10 review, but unfortunately “The story doesn’t pick up until an excellent final chapter”.
Twinfinite - 4.5/5
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is an “excellent addition to the Yakuza franchise,” argues Twinfinite in itsglowing 4.5/5-star review. It could even “qualify as one of the best Yakuza games.”
IGN - 8/10
“Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a consistently captivating voyage,“IGN writes in its 8/10 review, praising RGG’s newest effort as a “delightful spin-off that seamlessly shifts between street thuggery and skulduggery.”
RPG Site - 7/10
RPG Site writes in its 7/10 reviewthat Yakuza in Hawaii is “unevenly paced” and “strangely misguided”, while “enemy AI can’t keep up” and the ship-to-ship combat is just “fine”. However, it also praises the “slick” combat, which it describes as “the most complete realisation of Majima’s contemporary fighting style after his arc in Yakuza 0.”
How Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii Compares To The Rest Of The Series
For comparison, here’s where it ranks among the rest of the series (going by PlayStation scores):
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches in just two days on February 18 for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
