Sequels sometimes have a tough time attracting new players who don't want to catch up on a dozen games beforehand, but the next Yakuza is bypassing that problem by simply knocking its protagonist on the head really, really hard.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was announced as the hilariously-named spin-off starring none other than Goro Majima who's taking the lead role for the first time ever. Set around six months after Infinite Wealth, Majima washes up on a Hawaiian beach alone and with no memory of who he is or where he's come from - only that he can still fight like someone who's been throwing it down since the PS2.
"Majima fills in the holes in his memory little by little as he goes about doing various things," series executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama explains in an interview with Famitsu, translated by Automaton.
But Majima's shaky grasp of his entire history also means that Pirate Yakuza is "the game least shackled to past events in the Like a Dragon series," and consequently, it's the most friendly to newcomers who don't want to binge eight mainline games before the new one drops on February 28, 2025.
Attracting newcomers wasn't the goal from the outset, however. Yokoyama says that developer RGG Studios was, as always, focused on making a damn entertaining story. And this time, the team apparently wanted to peel back the layers and zone in on "seeing the real Majima" who's been divorced from his association as a "legendary gangster." Now, he's just a 'wannabe pirate.' Being newcomer-friendly was just an added bonus.
