Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii looks more like a zany RGG take on Black Flag than I dared hope

Yakuza in Hawaii launches next month, and I for one am excited to punch up “suspicious men” on the streets of Hawaii as Goro Majima. Today Sega and Ryu Gotoku Studio published a 15-minute presentation outlining everything from on-foot combat through to naval scraps, while confirming that new game plus will feature at launch (and not as a deluxe edition bonus, which was controversially the case with Infinite Wealth).

Majima has two fighting styles: “mad dog” is the usual reflex-oriented Yakuza beat ’em up combat with a few interesting twists, mostly in the form of Majima’s unique special attacks. “Sea dog” style turns him into a cutlass-whipping pirate whose moveset doesn’t look too far off Like a Dragon: Ishin. He even has a pistol, which is all the more effective once Majima’s grappled his foe into closer range. When Majima maxes out his “madness gauge” in Sea Dog mode he summons spectral instruments, which themselves summon powerful companions such as, for example, the Man-Eating Shark, or the Sadistic Ape, or the Cyclonic Avian. This is all very normal and authentic to the pirate experience, of course. You can switch fighting styles at will, and create combos between them.

There are quite a few glimpses of Majima roaming around a large sandy island clearing, stabbing heaps of weirdly suited men to death in battles that seem to feature upwards of 50 characters. More exciting is what we see of the naval combat, which looks a whole lot more fleshed out than I dared hope for in a non-mainline Yakuza game. Shipfaring and combat is reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and Skull & Bones, and as was confirmed last year, you’ll get to manage your crew in a way that reminds me of the business management mini-game in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, blended with the monster collecting timesink in Infinite Wealth. Majima’s ship is heavily customizable, both cosmetically and with different configs of weapons.

There’s even a place strongly reminiscent of the Castle in The Man Who Erased His Name. In other words, an island retro-fitted into the shell of a massive ship where criminals have set up a sprawling den of iniquity. Which of course is where the bulk of the mini-games will be, including an amusing ship-focused take on the battle arena.

And as I mentioned before, Pirate Yakuza will get a new game plus mode in a free post-launch update.

I was hoping this outing would be a more streamlined, focused affair in the mould of The Man Who Erased His Name, but it certainly doesn’t look that way based on this presentation. It looks positively massive. But given what I’ve seen I think I’ll be pretty happy to sink 100 or so hours into this when it launches on February 21.