Ryu Ga Gotokudoes something that feels borderline miraculous in today’s triple-A gaming landscape: it releases aLike a Dragongame pretty much every year. Since 2005, we’ve gotten an addition to the series (whether a mainline game or a spin-off) annually, with the exception of 2007, 2013, 2019, and 2022. RGG has, several times now, released two games in a year.
These aren’t tiny games, either. The shortest of them, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, can be completed in just over 12 hours, but this series isn’t the kind you play if you’re rushing through the story. The pull is in its world, its bizarre minigames and surreal characters. Meandering through the game and getting stuck in its oddities can make your playtime spiral into the tens of hours.According to HowLongToBeat, the latest game, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, will take 113 hours to fully complete. You’ll love every second of it, too.
WhenLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiiwas announced, Itook to Twitterto announce that this was the best day of my life, and it can only be supplanted by its release. I have never said this about any other series, and I probably never will. Even though I’ve had more than my fill of Yakuza games over the last few years, every announcement is a surprise and a joy. I think, surely RGG can’t be following up Infinite Wealth, a sprawling RPG in an entirely new setting, a mere year later. And yet that’s what it did, and continues to do.
It shocks me that I’m not burnt out yet. Every one of these games is practically a full soap opera, taking you on brutal emotional rollercoaster rides with joyful highs and deeply depressing lows. You could play one of these games for a whole year, maybe longer, and still find things to love about it. And then it’s supplanted by another, and another, and another. How many of these games can you play before you get tired of them?
Take the Assassin’s Creed games, for example. Ubisoft’s open world series has historically been released on an annual basis, but has slowed that pace down in recent years. A lot of people are burnt out on it, largely because the studio’s style of open world is becoming exhausting and increasingly derided for emptiness and repetitiveness.
I don’t think Assassin’s Creed is much like the Like a Dragon games beyond a surface level – for one, the Like a Dragon games are actually good – but the AC games also switch things up a lot more than Like a Dragon does. Nearly every game explores a new location, with new characters. On paper, Assassin’s Creed does far more to bring players back game after game, because it always promises a new experience. And yet, it’s Ubisoft’s series that’s starting to tire people out.
Like a Dragon’s magic is in its form of iteration, which is also how RGG manages to get games out so regularly. It’s not a magic trick, just smart design. For most of the series, the games have explored the same neighbourhoods. The Tokyo-inspired Kamurocho almost always makes an appearance, and looks pretty similar from game to game. The cast of characters might change up, but you’ll likely see familiar faces. Many minigames recur from game to game in some form, too.
The series first moved out of Japan with Infinite Wealth, taking players to Hawaii instead, which is the biggest change the series has made in ages. We haven’t seen all that much of Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii yet, but although it seems to be making the biggest change yet (taking to the seas), it’s also set in Hawaii, and we already know it’ll be reusing some of Infinite Wealth’s assets as Majima can strut his stuff in Honolulu.
Even these shifts in focus call back to the familiarity of previous games – Infinite Wealth brought back the characters from the game that came before it,Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and visited that game’s setting as well. Pirate Yakuza is bringing back a fan-favourite character, Majima, as well as the brawler-style real-time combat that Infinite Wealth eschewed in favour of turn-based combat.
There’s little comfort in Assassin’s Creed games, because most of the familiarity comes from the format, which kind of sucks anyway. But the Like a Dragon games are comforting in the familiarity of its settings and characters, even in its minigames. Just as I can go to the batting cage in Yakuza 0’s Kamurocho, I can head to the batting centre in Infinite Wealth’s Honolulu. The characters are still bantering the same way, and I can still sit down with my friends and eat food.
RGG has consistently taken fan-favourite mechanics and characters and scattered them throughout its games, making every game feel familiar even as it changes things around. The core of the game stays the same: serious yakuza stories with very unserious side content. But everything around that core keeps getting better and stranger, and I think that’s why fans never quite get sick of the series. Like a Dragon will always be the same, except it won’t – it’ll be better. Most series never manage to attain this.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
WHERE TO PLAY
A new legend begins as you step into the steel toe boots of Goro Majima, a man who has lost his memory and reinvents himself as a pirate on the open sea.Embark on an over-the-top, modern-day pirate adventure with an ex-yakuza, now pirate captain and his crew as they engage in exhilarating combat on land and sea in the hunt for lost memories and a legendary treasure.PIRATE YAKUZA ADVENTURE AHOY!Goro Majima, a notorious ex-yakuza suddenly finds himself shipwrecked on a remote island in the Pacific. Unable to remember even his own name, he sets sail in search of clues to his lost memories, accompanied by a boy named Noah who saved his life. Before long, they’re caught up in a conflict between cutthroat criminals, modern-day pirates, and other scoundrels over a legendary treasure.GET YOUR SHIP TOGETHERAssemble a one-of-a-kind crew while upgrading your ship as you explore the open sea and forge your legend in the cannon fire of foes, unexpected friendships, and immense riches made along the way.When an enemy pirate ship catches you in their sights, an exhilarating real-time cannon battle breaks out. Quickly maneuver into position while avoiding fire, then deliver devastating damage to board the enemy ship and take down the captain in all-out crew vs. crew brawls. Conquer the seas, discover hidden islands and acquire loads of loot like a true yakuza pirate!KICK ARRRSS WITH CREATIVE COMBATDynamically switch between the “Mad Dog” and “Sea Dog” fighting styles to mix-up attacks and deliver explosive combos, juggles, and aerial takedowns that reward your creativity with over-the-top action.With “Mad Dog” style, utilize speed, agility, and flair to deliver precise yet powerful blows that stun your enemies into submission. Or make enemies walk the plank with the “Sea Dog” style that has you dual-wielding short swords and deploying tricky pirate tools to kick some serious booty.
