SEGA has just released Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii on PC. Powered by the Dragon Engine, it’s time now to benchmark it and examine its performance on PC.
For our benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, AMD’s Radeon RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, as well as NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 4090, RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, the GeForce 572.47, and the Radeon Adrenalin Edition 25.2.1 drivers.
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has added a few graphics settings to tweak. PC gamers can adjust the quality of Textures, Shadows, Geometry, Reflections and more. Sadly, the game does not support any Ray Tracing effects. However, it does support all PC upscalers. As such, you can use NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3.1 and Intel XeSS.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii does not have any built-in benchmark tool. So, for our tests, we used the starting area (right after the tutorial fights). This area has numerous NPCs, so it should give us a pretty good idea of how the rest of the game runs.
Before continuing, I should mention some odd behavior I saw on NVIDIA’s GPUs. While standing still with NVIDIA’s hardware, performance gets boosted (we’re talking about a 20FPS increase). As soon as you start moving, performance drops. This did not happen on AMD’s hardware. Moreover, DLSS 3 Frame Gen appears to be broken. The game would constantly crash upon enabling it. Thankfully, though, you can use AMD FSR 3.1 Frame Gen alongside NVIDIA DLSS 3 Super Resolution (or Intel XeSS).
At 1080p/Max Settings, the game can run smoothly on a wide range of PC configurations. To get over 60FPS at all times, you’ll need six CPU cores/threads. Take a look though at the performance difference between 12 and 14 CPU cores/threads. I don’t know what the hell is going on here. I triple-checked the results and yes, these are legit numbers. Don’t believe me? Well, take a look at the following screenshots. As you can see, the game runs with 110FPS on the simulated 12-core CPU, and with over 200FPS on the simulated 14-core CPU.
But what about the GPU requirements for gaming at 1080p/Max Settings? Well, we have some good news for you. Even the NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti can run the game smoothly at those settings. The AMD Radeon RX 6900XT manages to match – and even surpass at higher resolutions – the performance of the NVIDIA RTX 3080. As for the AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX, it is 16% slower than the NVIDIA RTX 5080.
At 1440p/Max Settings, you’ll need at least an NVIDIA RTX 3080 to get framerates over 60FPS at all times. Finally, for Native 4K/Max Settings, you’ll need one of the latest NVIDIA GPUs. And yes. The NVIDIA RTX 5080 is able to provide a smooth gaming experience at 4K in this game. On the other hand, the AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX requires a FreeSync monitor to get a somehow smooth experience. That, or you can use AMD FSR 3.1.
Graphics-wise, I was not impressed by what I saw in this new Like a Dragon game. The character models look amazing but the Dragon Engine is showing its age. Seriously, look at this screenshot. That’s on Max Settings. This looks like a PS4 game. And no, I’m not exaggerating here. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio really needs to step up its game. I love most of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games. But man, the Dragon Engine needs some major tech enhancements.
All in all, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii can run smoothly on a wide range of PC systems. And although I was disappointed by its visuals, I was utterly impressed by its CPU scaling. Not only that but even though the game uses Denuvo, I did not experience any major stutters. Everything felt smooth and responsive. Still, that PS4-like lighting is so bad that it does the game a disservice. So, here is hoping that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio will do something to address this in future games!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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