Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii difficulty options - which is right for you?

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has a few difficulty options that you can pick right from the start. At this time there are only three options, and you won't find any “Extra Hard/Legend” difficulties like in other Like A Dragon/Yakuza titles — though Professional will offer a similar level of challenge. You can change difficulty options at any time — unless you’re in the main menu, anyway. In addition to simply changing the overarching difficulty, there are one or two other options you can adjust at will.

Not everyone wants to make the game as hard as possible, and that’s perfectly fine — no judgments here from us. Whether you’re fighting bounties or taking part in pirate ship battles, you can make the game a bit easier or much harder if you want. Here’s what you need to know about difficulty options in Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

---

All difficulty options in Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

You are asked to pick a difficulty option when you start Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, but you aren’t required to stick to it at all. You can start on Beginner, Standard, or Professional, and adjust accordingly if you aren’t enjoying it enough. Below are the official descriptions of each difficulty:

You can even automate QTEs if you hate those like I do (Image via SEGA)

• Beginner: Recommended for players who want to enjoy the game without worrying too much about battle mechanics.
• Standard: Recommended for the general player. Melee combat and cannon battles in this difficulty are balanced to be challenging, but fair and fun.
• Professional: Recommended for players who long for more challenging melee combat and cannon battles. Relish in pushing through ferocious battles where death is often a punch away.

After you start doing battle tutorials early in Chapter 1, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will also ask you about your preference in Battle Controls. This is another way to adjust the difficulty by making things easier if you want. Assisted is described as:

“When set to Assisted, some actions can be performed automatically by pressing Attack and you will automatically spring to enemies based on their distance. (Some actions, such as changing styles, must still be performed manually.)"

Think of this like the assisted combat in the Judgment games but not quite as intense. It will automatically trigger Heat actions for you and pick up weapons if there’s one nearby. Occasionally, it will have you juggle an enemy into the air. It just makes combat a little less stressful, if that’s what you want. The game will pick the combo you should use, and do it.

---

Which difficulty options should you select in Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii?

Combat on Standard isn't too bad if you've played a few Action RPGs (Image via SEGA)

I played Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii on Standard for the entirety of my time and found it to be incredibly easy. The only real challenge for me came from a few pirate ship fights, and one or two bosses.

If you’re even remotely familiar with the series, Standard should be fine. If you’re new, I would still recommend Standard, and if it’s too much, drop it down to Beginner. I’d probably leave it on Manual controls, too. Assisted is neat, but it felt a bit too hand-holdy for my liking. At least it does make you manually switch between Sea Dog and Mad Dog styles.

You could also try starting on Professional and see if it’s too challenging. For the early game, it wasn’t really enjoyable for me, but on New Game+, I’d probably go back and give it a serious shot on Professional difficulty.

---

Check out our other Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii guides and features

• Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii: The Captain's Return side quest guide
• Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii: All pirate recruits and their requirements (that we know so far)
• Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii review: Majima takes the stage and delivers an unforgettable experience