Lost Judgment

Lost Judgment is a spin-off of the popular Yakuza series, and a sequel to the very warmly welcomed Judgment from 2019. This time the game takes us to the streets of Yokohama, where a mysterious murder turns out to be the key to a much deeper intrigue.

Plot

The action of Lost Judgment takes place in the universe known from the Yakuza series, the plot, however, is not related to the main installments of the series. The protagonist is Takayuki Yagami known from the previous part, a former lawyer working as a private detective. After solving a serial murder case in Tokyo's Kamurocho district, Yagami gets involved in another criminal case.

The body of an unidentified young man is found in the Ijincho district of Yokohama. A few days later, during a court hearing completely unrelated to the murder, the accused suddenly reveals information about the mysterious murder and the victim. Intrigued by the case, Yagami travels to Yokohama to conduct his own private investigation and uncover the truth. The plot follows the pattern established by previous installments in the series, featuring a serious main plot and quirky and comical side quests.

Mechanics

Lost Judgment is an evolution of its predecessor, introducing several new elements to the gameplay. This is an open-world third-person action game in which we explore the Kamurocho and Ijincho districts, complete quests and fight thugs on the city streets. After Like a Dragon turned the series into a turn-based RPG, Lost Judgment returns to the real-time combat known from previous installments. Yagami has three fighting styles at his disposal, which he can switch between freely. The Crane style is a good choice against groups of enemies. The Crane style is a good choice against groups of enemies. The Tiger style works well in one-on-one duels. New to Lost Judgment is the counterattack-based Snake style.

Investigations, witness interviews and chases known from the predecessor return to the game. However, they were significantly expanded and contain new mechanics. The main character gained, among others, the ability to climb on the edges of buildings, run on walls or swing over chasms. The game also includes stealth missions, where Yagami must throw objects, distract patrolling enemies and secretly find important evidence.

Like every installment in the series, Lost Judgment offers plenty of side content. To gain information on the investigation Yagami gets employed at the local high school. While exploring the school, the player can come across school stories, which serve as side quests. The game also includes a number of mini-games such as dancing at the disco, boxing tournaments, classic SEGA games available at arcades, or building remote-controlled cars.

Game modes

Like the other games in the series, Lost Judgment only contains a single player campaign. However, some mini-games can be played with a friend through local multiplayer.

Technical aspects

Lost Judgment features a very good graphics. The game runs on the constantly improved Dragon Engine. Especially impressive are the animations of the heroes, the combat and the cutscenes thanks to the motion capture technology. As in Judgment and Like a Dragon, the player can choose between two audio tracks - Japanese and English. Choosing the former results in a Japanese soundtrack and a faithful, literal translation. Choosing the English track allows us to play with English dubbing and localisation aimed at making dialogues more natural for a Western audience.

Last updated on 10 August 2023