Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Is Longer Than Last Yakuza Spin-Off

Summary

• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be 1.3x longer than the last spin-off game.
• The game’s volume increased naturally without adding filler content artificially.
• Expect playtime of around 17 hours for the main story alone, not accounting for side content.

While spin-off games of the Yakuza franchise are generally shorter, that won’t be the case for the upcoming Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, due in early 2025, as it’s confirmed to be a longer game compared to its predecessor, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.

This was something RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama said in a new interview, where the developer also explained how they’re not trying to lengthen the game artificially.

Expect Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii To Be 1.3x Longer Than The Last Spin-Off Game

According to Masayoshi Yokoyama, the volume of a game is determined by the length of its central storyline. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is about 1.3 times longer (about 30 percent) compared to The Man Who Erased His Name.

It’s not a case of RGG Studio purposefully adding stuff to make the game longer; as Yokoyama explains, developers can increase a game’s volume as much as they want “if they try hard enough.” This can be done by adding fetch quests and the like, but in Piratate Yakuza in Hawaii, it turned out to be a longer game without the devs even trying. Yokoyama states, “The map is huge, there’s a bunch of places to visit, and there are still features we haven’t announced yet. The volume increased by itself.”

For reference, The Man Who Erased His Name’s main story takes around 13 hours to complete, so if you add in 30 percent to that, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii should take players around 17 hours to finish. Of course, as is with any open-world game, that’s not even accounting for the mountain of side quests, mini-games and other assorted activities players can spend time on. That should add a significant number of hours to the overall playthrough time.

The latest Like a Dragon game released by SEGA is Infinite Wealth, released earlier this year to an overwhelmingly positive reception. On Open Critic, it’s sitting at a “Mighty” rating with over 97% of critics recommending it.

Will Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii be able to replicate this feat? We’ll know for sure once the game is out this February 21, 2025 on the PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.