Lost Judgment once again puts players in the sneakers of lawyer turned street-fighting detective Takayuki Yagami. Joined by his partner, ex-yakuza Masaharu Kaito, the crime-fighting duo is called on to investigate a seemingly perfect crime whose lead suspect has an airtight alibi. What starts out as a tale of revenge reveals a tangled web of conspiracy involving several unlikely factions taking advantage of a broken law system. But as victims pile up and Yagami unravels the truth, he must choose between defending the law or exacting justice.
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Lost Judgment has no reason for going this hard. It's such a good improvement from the first game. Has the best RGG action combat to date and second best story after Yakuza 7.
Literally in the top 5 games of all time
The thing about continuously making the same kind of game for 15+ years, as RGG Studios have done with the Yakuza and Judgment games, is that over time you grow to be really damn good at it
Best RGG studios game to date, a step up from judgment in every way. 4 fighting styles mechanic is back, skateboard for faster traversal, intricate school stories side content that leak into the main game with the boxer style, high stakes that keep you hooked for the entire game, contender for the best RGG final boss with Kiwami 2's. Nagoshi cooked immaculately.
I can't believe it finally happened. I finally found a RGG Studio game that can stand toe-to-toe with Yakuza 0, I never thought I'd see the day.
Lost Judgment easily has the best combat in the series, I cannot tell you how much I loved using the snake style and just obliterating enemy after enemy standing in front of me. Plus, switching between styles has never felt so natural and cathartic before, they've basically mastered what combat should be like for this series going forward.
I also adored the story. It's another dumb, overly-complicated conspiracy story as every RGG game is, but just like with its predecessor, having the protagonist be a smart detective instead of a strong yakuza man who just punches everything helps make the story feel so much more believable and engaging. This is also the first time since Yakuza 2 where I've actually felt something for the main antagonist, to the point that I kind of wanted to be on his side instead. And the way everything unfolds is just so amazing, this is easily in my top three RGG plots.
What most surprised me though was the implementation of side content. I find side content in these gamed to be pretty overwhelming after a while, and I end up just ignoring everything at some point. But the choice to have the majority of side content intertwined into one big plot about "the professor" was genius, it made me feel like I was constantly pushing forward with a main goal, instead of just doing random activities. I hope every game made by RGG does something like this in the future.
I have pretty much nothing but positive things to say about Lost Judgment, though I do have one big criticism: the DLC. It sucks that several side missions, girlfriends, and a whole fighting style are locked behind a paywall. The game is till great without this content, but it's still extremely annoying.
Still though, despite that one big grip, I love Lost Judgment. I think it's so close to topping Yakuza 0 in terms of overall quality, but 0 still wins out just because of how consistently fun that game is. But now I'm very excited to see what else is in store for the Judgment series, if this game is any indication to go by, the next game may be the best one in RGG's entire catalogue.
RIP Nagoshi bozo you done produced your last great game