The next game in Like a Dragon was almost a fish game: 'I had a game I wanted to call Like a Dragon Tuna.'

Like a Dragon - Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is one of the many videogames on the February 2025 calendar. This spin-off features fan favorite Goro Mahima dressed as a pirate, fighting his way through Hawaii. As crazy as this idea may seem, we could have created a more bizarre spin-off.

Masayoshi Yokoyama, RGG studio director and executive producer of the series, told the PlayStation blog that "we started percolating the concept of a spinoff starring characters other than Ichiban Kasuga." It was almost like we were creating an enlarged sub-story to Infinite Wealth. I've wanted to make a game for a long time called Like a Dragon Tuna where Kazuma Kiryu as a tuna fishing man, goes to sea to battle against fishing boats."

What a wonderful almost-was. I imagine a game that is somewhere between Dave the Diver, and Dredge but with the Dragon of Dojima. While Like a Dragon Tuna sadly never materialized, the ideas behind it inspired a spin-off that we're going to get. One in which an amnesiac Majima discovers who he is, between a whole lot of real-time fighting in the style the classic Yakuza and the more recent Like a Dragons games.

It also has jumping. RGG decided to add a jump button as the character Majima looked good when she was jumping. The Sea Dog fighting style is another new addition. Majima can now dual-wield both short swords and a variety "tricky pirate tools," as the store page describes.

The Like a Dragon franchise is known for its substories, which are side quests that have a far more goofy tone than the main plotlines. The spin-offs allow the games to be devoted to this kind of silliness and have a length that Yokoyama describes as "perfect for adults". Like a Dragon is like a restaurant that offers unlimited food. You can choose between meat, seafood and other foods. As you grow older, you begin to appreciate meals that are well-balanced and have good proportions. "Spin-offs can be like that."

Steam will release Like a dragon: Pirate Yakuza Hawaii on February 27, 2025.