Lost Judgement, Yakuza Spin-off Sequel Announced for Worldwide September Release

A sequel to Judgment, the detective mystery spin-off of the Yakuza franchise is coming later this year. Ryu ga Gotoku Studio revealed Lost Judgment, which brings back private eye Takayuki Yagami for another game that combines its parent company’s action with a mystery story. It’s set to release globally on September 24 for Xbox One, Series X/S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

Details about the game were leaked a few hours before its official reveal. According to the trailer, the mystery begins when a man is convicted of a misdemeanor crime and reveals to a stunned courtroom the location of a dead body of a man. He would have been the prime suspect in the man’s murder, but for the fact that his conviction now gives him an alibi. Yagami gets pulled into the investigation, which of course turns out to be more complicated than it appears to be.

Members of the development team released more details about the game during the “Judgment Day” livestream. The game will feature new combat features, crime scene investigation, and new movement options for Yagami as he traverses Kamurocho. Perhaps the strangest new tidbit that’s not shown in the trailers is that Yagami will have to go undercover at a high school. No shade to Yagami, but I sincerely hope it’s not as a student. You can find most of the details in this Twitter thread.

The developers of the Yakuza series are apparently going to be splitting their core franchise into two parts: The core Yakuza games will now be turn-based, like Like A Dragon was. The action, meanwhile, is largely being transferred over to the Judgment franchise. The age of Kazuma Kiryu is well and truly over, it seems, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. We get to keep the action and Ichiban’s bizarre RPG mechanics. There’s room for both.

Source: VGC