Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii review

Scurvy dog style

Image credit:SEGA/Rock Paper Shotgun

• Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
• Publisher: SEGA
• Release: February 20th, 2025
• On: Windows
• From: Steam
• Price: £55/€60/$60
• Reviewed on: Intel Core i5-12600K, 32GB RAM, Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti, Windows 10

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii made me smile a lot, but I think the folks at RGG need to take a break for a few years. Watch some films. Have some cocktails. Get inspired again, y’know? Just as the high seas are the refuge of displaced Yakuza or insolvent scoundrels in this minigame-stuffed brawler- RPG , the game feels like the last port of call for a studio scraping the bottom of the grog barrel.

I smiled a lot , mind. It’s hard not to with Majima back; moisturised, flourishing, driving a six-inch tanto knife into a man’s kidneys for being mildly rude to him on the beach, and abducting monkeys for his petting zoo. He’s also the captain of a pirate ship now, having woken on a strange island with no memory of his Yakuza past, but the same sense of fair play and manic flair for theatrical shankings. Plus, he’s already got the eyepatch sorted.

Why are there actual, cannon-wielding, tricorn-headed pirates off the coast of Hawaii? Shhh. Just get on the boat. You do find the idea of a Majima being a pirate entertaining enough on its own to last you twenty five hours, don’t you? I hope so, because this shorter side entry in the series isn’t so much lean as it is thin .

There are two culprits for that. One is a story that ends brilliantly but feels ponderous, stale and lacking that gripping Yakuza melodrama for long stretches. The other is simply that sailing and ship combat aren’t very good. RGG’s thrifty and resourceful approach to development is a real balm for the silliest excesses of this very silly industry, but real-time pirate ship combat was, in hindsight, an overambitious transplant for a series with no real analogue or skeleton to build on.

As well as using the ship’s weapons, Majima can leave the wheel to fire off smoke screens to put out fires and revive crew, and grapple up to the crows nest and use a bazooka. You won’t need to do this much. |Image credit:SEGA/Rock Paper Shotgun

There’s a sprinkle of salty heft to navigation, aided by crashing waves and cacophonous, creaking sound design. And, yes, obviously laser cannons, coconut machine guns, and Ono Michio mastheads are fun additions. But spend any amount of time upgrading the Goromaru and you’ll find all but the toughest ships melt in seconds to weapons that don’t feel all that good to use. I can see the logic behind wanting to keep each individual activity light because there’s so much to do, but I’m not here to play Crazy Delivery or the trivia quizzes again: I’m here to be a pirate. There’s a thin line between light and just plain papery, and Pirate Yakuza stumbles right where it needed to nail its fanciest footwork.

It feels like a gussied up minigame given centre stage; a woozy, flaky deckswabber hastily promoted when the previous first mate got unexpectedly headbutted off the deck by an irate parrot. There are obviously some great animations and transition boarding cutscenes because it’s Yakuza, but make no mistake: this isn’t an (eye)patch on the stern-shattering, surf-quaking pirate fantasy Black Flag pulled off 13 years ago.

And sailing is slow . Two types of boosts and Superman 64 wind tunnels to expedite your journey across the ocean and you’ll still end up listening to Kiryu sing Judgement on your playlist a hundred times just to feel some motion (I’m 100% convinced that Majima carrying a mixtape of Kiryu singing karaoke is canon). You’ll probably still put up with it like I did, because the rewards are worth having. There are pirates to sink and islands to fight through for treasure, cash, and points to spend on upgrades. There’s also dozens of stat-buffing rings to collect, arranged in a menu screen where you can slot them onto each of Majima’s fingers and watch him grin at his shimmering haul. Your exact rings show up on Goro’s model and in cutscenes too - an opulent touch that made me grin.

You’ll fight the occasional huge battle with the crew you’ve gathered through exploration and side stories. There are some colorful characters, although the fights themselves feel insubstantial and lacking challenge or depth compared to past entries. |Image credit:SEGA/Rock Paper Shotgun

Except you might actually want to not wear those rings just to handicap yourself, because both Majima’s fighting styles are so brutally efficient that they rob every fight - most noticeably the bosses - of that wonderful Yakuza dramatic struggle. There’s such little variety in enemy movesets, too. Either that, or fights were over so quickly I barely noticed what enemies were capable of. Out of curiosity, I played 2023’s Gaiden for the first time, and it is shocking how much better that game handles pretty much everything I love about this series.

In the first few hours of Gaiden, I’d fought thugs with electrified stun umbrellas and caltrops - dangerous beef bastards that demanded deft maneuvering to break through their defenses. The only time Pirate Yakuza’s combat becomes challenging is when there’s multiple gunmen lurking outside camera range taking potshots at you like horrible invisible shit-slinging poltergibbons. Majima’s new hookshot is a great gap-closer, and summoning demon ghost sharks with a cursed fiddle is some lovely nonsense, but if you’ve got any experience with the Dragon Engine games, you’ll want to whack this one up to hard to give the undeniably stylish fighting any real substance.

For a lawless pirate paradise, Madlantis feels tame. It does have a fun cannon baseball minigame though. |Image credit:SEGA/Rock Paper Shotgun

At least Majima himself is as charming as ever, and the game is funny. Kicking off the petting zoo quest, Goro falls in love with a chicken doomed for the pot and rescues it. It can’t lay eggs, but it will inexplicably gift you eggs after you feed it. The scurvy dog of Shimano is pushing his mid sixties now, too, something the game acknowledges and plays with. My favourite was a long quest chain to set ship’s cook Masaru up with a date, rewarding you with several long live-action sequences depicting him spectacularly flubbing it.

“Yakuza is a serious crime drama” is a meme you’ll find accompanying clips of the silliest, campest moments for the series, but it’s also true. These games are special because, at their best, they’re good at everything; melodramatic, tense, heartfelt tales starring people who answer phones like this . Last year’s Infinite Wealth made some smart improvements over its predecessor, but the plot left me cold. Without the ballast of truly slimy, threatening antagonists or underworld grit, the absurdity had nothing to anchor it. It had heart, but no real teeth.

Hawaii from Infinite Wealth is fully explorable with many of the same side activities, plus new bounty hunts for Majima to earn cash from fights. |Image credit:SEGA/Rock Paper Shotgun

Pirate Yakuza feels even limper. The thrilling, skillful fight choreography is still here, but instead of fighting a Kuze or Goda or even a Kosei Shishido, I’m fighting a thinly-sketched pirate named Keith for the fourth time. Majima’s companion for the adventure is Noah, a likable Muppet Treasure Island Jim Hawkins type child that offers Goro the chance to play nurturing role model. There’s some real sincerity in scenes spent with them knocking back milk in Revolve bar, but the plot’s central family drama trends saccharine. Worst of all, this shit just ain’t all that swashbuckling, prefering to tread water setting up pieces for the finale. Again, it’s a great final few hours, but an uneven voyage enroute.

So, remember when I said I started Gaiden after finishing and instantly noticed how much better I liked it? It’s not just the combat. I can reluctantly forgive no longer being able to gift a cabaret club hostess a cold teriyaki burger fished out of my back pocket, but even Gaiden’s opening hours are so much more gripping than anything here. The villains are better, the combat feels weightier, it looks better. To top it off, it’s cheaper. I don’t regret spending time with Majima again but, ‘free’ NG+ or no , if I’d paid full price for this thing I’d feel well and truly hornswoggled.

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Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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