Warning: The following contains spoilers for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is largely disconnected from the previous entry in the series, Infinite Wealth. However, one scene toward the end of the game seems to provide a strange answer for the lore of one of the main antagonists of the previous game, Bryce Fairchild.
How Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Explains Bryce Fairchild’s Age
In Pirate Yakuza, Goro and his crew of Pirates are in search of the Esperanza Treasure, a legendary horde of untold riches whose hidden location might also contain the “Dragon Stone,” which can supposedly make someone immortal. While Goro and his crew are looking for it for altruistic purposes (to help a young boy named Noah, who saved Goro’s life at the beginning of the game), other enemies are looking to give themselves longevity to continue to commit various crimes and horrendous acts.
One of the hints to the treasure’s location comes from an elderly man who belongs to the Pelekana religious group. These individuals return as temporary enemies, as they were under the command of Infinite Wealth villain Bryce before Ichiban and his crew eventually defeated him. Now, with only stragglers left, the elderly man plays a small but pivotal role in discovering the treasure before he passes away.
Despite not having any dialogue, this old man makes another appearance via a flashback in a cutscene after players have completed the main story. While the Esperanza Treasure was discovered, there was no elixir of life there, as previously believed. However, Masaru and Jason do research and find out that the elixir is actually a rare form of ambergris that can extend a person’s natural life.
It is then that we see a picture of the old man with Bryce Fairchild, and everything begins to make much more sense. In the Infinite Wealth video game, it’s stated that Bryce is well over 90 years old, which is odd considering his physical appearance and how much strength and influence he has over other characters in the game. None of it made much sense until Pirate Yakuza, which suddenly uses its final cutscenes to further expand the lore of the Like a Dragon games and give an explanation for Bryce’s young appearance despite his old age.
The cutscene then shows another flashback of the old man dumping what ambergris he had left into the ocean before he died, seemingly not wanting to extend the life of anyone else around him. With that mystery solved, the game wraps up its main story while also giving players another fun piece of Yakuza lore about one of its more eccentric villains. Many of the characters, including the main star of Pirate Yakuza, Goro Majima, often look (and fight) younger than they actually are, with Goro being in his 60s during the vents of this latest game.
Still, stranger things have happened in the Yakuza games, and it’s refreshing to at least see a spinoff game that manages to be fresh and exciting for new players without needing to play previous entries while also throwing in hints about the larger world of the video game series. With Pirate Yakuza teasing that another entry in the series is coming, it will be exciting to see its connections to Goro’s adventures on the high seas.
And that’s how Pirate Yakuza finally explains a bizarre piece of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth lore.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
Published: Feb 21, 2025 11:42 AM UTC