Assassin's Creed adds a dash of series-typical stealth, and Sea of Thieves has its free-for-all multiplayer servers. But all three games share those two core mechanics.

I was bound to like Pirate Yakuza either way - I've always been a fan of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series - but I was especially excited about this one because of the pirate flavoring. Collectively, I must have hundreds of hours in Sea of Thieves and AC Black Flag. With their ship navigation and bite-sized explorable islands, I've found these two pirate games to be some of the most enjoyable open worlds I've ever explored. Pirate Yakuza takes a different approach, but how does it compare?

How Pirate Yakuza Is - & Isn't - Like Assassin's Creed Black Flag

Simpler Combat & Exploration, But A Similar Management System

In the most general , Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is structured a lot like Assassin's Creed Black Flag. They're both story-focused games punctuated by naval exploration, although Black Flag's story takes itself much more seriously. They both feature large, central cities where the player can take on side activities. Zoom in a little more, though, and there are clear differences.

Pirate Yakuza's naval combat is a lot simpler, arguably even a bit arcade-y, when compared to Black Flag's. Your broadside cannons aim themselves automatically when in range, where in Black Flag you have to set the exact arc of your cannonballs carefully. Positioning is important in both games, but arguably more so in Pirate Yakuza; you're given a limited number of nitro boosts, which you can use to dash out of the way of enemy fire, or maneuver your own ship into firing range.

During long sea journeys, both Black Flag and Pirate Yakuza's naval combat becomes central to a game of endurance. You have strictly limited resources in both games, which you'll need to keep your ship repaired (and, in Pirate Yakuza, to activate your speed boost). Battles have the potential to either deplete your resources, or reward you with new ones, so you must choose each encounter carefully and be certain not to waste what you've got. Both games also have boarding mechanics that activate under certain conditions.

In Pirate Yakuza, you can rest in the safe waters around lighthouses to replenish all your resources.

Over time, Black Flag and Pirate Yakuza both let you customize your ships in similar ways. You can change their appearance, but more importantly, you can also upgrade things like their hull strength and weapons to match the challenge of increasingly powerful pirates. Pirate Yakuza's ship customization arguably goes deeper, since you can add individual characters to your crew by satisfying their recruitment conditions as you explore the open world. In Black Flag, it's the number of crew that matters most, but Pirate Yakuza actually gives each of your mates stats, and requires you to assign them specific roles.

However, exploring the respective worlds couldn't be more different. AC Black Flag takes place in a mostly seamless, massive open world. As soon as you unlock your ship, you can point it at any distant island and set off. Along the way, you gather maps and other intel that points you towards specific locations where you'll find treasure or other resources, but you're not limited to those areas; you can explore at will. Pirate Yakuza's exploration, though, is structured as a handful of disparate maps, which you unlock in order and can only fast travel between.

Treasure hunts in Pirate Yakuza are also a lot more structured than in Black Flag, in which you can roam any island freely at basically any time. Instead, you can only land in designated areas on designated islands. Getting the treasure plays out like a Yakuza dungeon raid: you rush down a preset path, defeating increasingly large and difficult enemy mobs until you find a chest. There's also a lot more variety in Black Flag's treasure, as Pirate Yakuza mainly just grants you money and accessories.

How Pirate Yakuza Is - & Isn't - Like Sea Of Thieves

A Less Open World

Sea of Thieves is an entirely different kind of pirate game, with a main focus on multiplayer gameplay in a large open world. Players can team up with crews of one to four, and are free to interact with the world in any way they wish. They can take on quests for multiple factions, which may involve defeating undead pirates, searching for buried treasure, shipping mercantile goods, or more. Or, they can just wander the map sinking other players' ships and stealing their loot.

Of these three pirate games, Sea of Thieves arguably provides the most freedom. It focuses a lot less on story elements than Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii; although characters and lore occasionally pop up, progression has less to do with moving a plot forward, and a lot more to do with leveling up the various factions.

While naval combat in all three games involves endurance (you have to gather all your own supplies in Sea of Thieves), there's a lot less strategy and a lot more skill involved here. To ensure all crews are on a level playing field, ship customization in Sea of Thieves is limited to the cosmetic - you can't improve your cannons, your hull, or your individual character's abilities. Unlike in Pirate Yakuza, everyone has the same tools at their disposal.

Sea of Thieves' world is a lot more reactive and less structured than Pirate Yakuza's or Black Flag's. Quests are mostly randomized, exploration is free, and additional random encounters with ghost ships, megalodons, and krakens add another wrinkle. Frequent, unpredictable interactions with other players also contribute a lot to a general sense of chaos. You never know what's going to come next, and you succeed by responding quickly and collaborating with your crew.

Which Is The Best Pirate Game?

Sea Of Thieves Hits The Most Notes

For my money, Sea of Thieves takes the cake as the best pirate game I've ever played. It simply ticks the most boxes: its naval combat is thrilling, its treasure hunting is just the right amount of difficult, and there's a real sense of discovery that comes from exploring its open world. Its pirate theming is extremely thorough; you can do everything you've ever imagined a pirate doing. Having to solve puzzles and read maps to find treasure is intensely satisfying. There's a great core gameplay loop in the process of finding treasure, picking it up, and returning it to base, but with all the world events and randomization, it never gets old.

Sea of Thieves' multiplayer is also an enormous strength. Captaining your own pirate ship is all well and good, but it's the kind of gameplay that's better shared with friends. It makes the world feel alive, even when quests get slightly repetitive.

Should You Play Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii?

Pirate Yakuza Still Has A Lot To Love

Still, if you're looking for a new pirate game to play, you can't go wrong with Pirate Yakuza. It may not have quite so detailed an open world as Assassin's Creed Black Flag or Sea of Thieves, but what it has is a lot of fun. Its naval combat is effective in its simplicity, and, while they don't evoke the same kind of wonder as Sea of Thieves' free exploration, even its treasure raids are thoroughly entertaining. It's got a great sense of humor, which manifests especially well in its wide variety of side activities, which include a massive mini-game collection and a series of bizarre substories.

You don't even necessarily have to be a Yakuza fan to play it. While there are plenty of references and callbacks to the other games, it stands well enough on its own. It may not be the best starting point, but it is a unique game in its own brilliant way. And if Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii gets you into the rest of the series, then lucky you.