5 Like a Dragon Spin-Offs You Should Play After Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii launches this week and is one of the wackiest spin-offs for Sega’s long-running franchise yet. The Like a Dragon series might just be the closest thing to a gaming soap opera, with eight lengthy games that all tell an interconnected story about the criminal Yakuza underworld in a fictional Japan. While these games often follow the same set of protagonists and look and play like each other, occasionally, developer RGG Studio branches out and takes a bolder swing with a spin-off that’s not meant to move the series’ long-running mainline narrative forward.

In Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s case, RGG Studio changes things up by making Goro Majima the protagonist and making it a swashbuckling pirate adventure where players can sail the high seas and recruit a crew to fight alongside them. ComicBook liked this take on the Like a Dragon formula, calling it “one of 2025’s most eccentric yet charming games,” in our review. If you like Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii too and are looking for something similar, consider playing these spin-offs that will bring you everywhere from Japan’s Edo period to a zombie-infested Kamurocho.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

The last Like a Dragon spin-off released before Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was The Main Who Erased His Name. Admittedly, this spin-off is more connected to the mainline Yakuza games’ narratives than many of the other spin-offs because it lets players know what Kazuma Kiryu was doing before the events of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. If you’re looking for a more condensed, bite-sized version of the Like a Dragon formula that tells a very personal story about Kiryu and lets players fight with some fun gadgets, then you should check out The Man Who Erased His Name.

Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Like a Dragon: Ishin!

If you’re looking for a Like a Dragon spin-off completely disconnected from the story and characters of the mainline games, then Ishin! is your best option. Originally released in Japan only in 2014, Sega remastered this game and brought it to the West in 2023. Ishin! takes the core combat and character designs from the first few Like a Dragon games and applies them to historical characters from Japan’s Edo period, like Sakamoto Ryōma. If you enjoy learning about world history or enjoy the setting of games like Rise of the Ronin, then you should check out Ishin!, even if you’ve never played another Like a Dragon game before.

Like a Dragon: Ishin! is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Judgment and Lost Judgment

RELATED: Yakuza Spin-Offs Judgment and Lost Judgment Released for PC

Judgment is a side series to the mainline Like a Dragon games. These titles follow a detective named Takayuki Yagami, portrayed by Japanese celebrity Takuya Kimura. The first game follows Yagami as he investigates a serial killer who removes the eyes of his victims, while the sequel sees Yagami investigate bullying at a Japanese high school. In typical Like a Dragon fashion, both plots escalate to intense affairs intertwined with Japan’s criminal underworld, and players have to punch their way out of most situations. Playing two Judgment games is a much less daunting effort than committing to playthroughs of eight Like a Dragon games, so I recommend checking these out first if you want to see what RGG Studios’ games are all about.

Both Judgment and Lost Judgment are available across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Yakuza: Dead Souls

I’d be remiss to discuss spin-offs of this series without mentioning Yakuza: Dead Souls. Released for PS3 in the United States in 2012, before this series was widely popular, Yakuza: Dead Souls takes place in an alternate reality where a zombie outbreak happens and characters like Kiryu and Majima have to fight off that threat. While characters in the Like a Dragon series usually fight with their fists or any objects they can find lying around on the street, this is the rare Like a Dragon game where the primary way to fight enemies is by shooting them. To this day, there’s no other game in the series quite like Yakuza: Dead Souls, which makes it quite the curiosity if you can track down a copy.

Yakuza: Dead Souls is still only available on PS3; hopefully, Sega will eventually give this the same treatment as Like a Dragon: Ishin! and bring it to modern consoles.