I've said a lot that the folks over at RGG Studios are great at refinement and Lost Judgment is a perfect example. The first game was already fantastic and now its sequel is a marked improvement in every way except for the story.
Whereas the first game was only set in Kamurocho, an area we've seen a lot of over the years, Lost Judgment gives us a second area in Yokohama. Admittedly Yokohama was introduced in Yakuza: Like A Dragon but it's still fun to explore and we get a big school area to run around in. The combat is absolutely stellar and feels like it brings the Dragon Engine combat up to the heights of the previous era. The two styles from the previous game, Tiger and Crane, are improved while introducing two more with Snake and Boxer (The boxer style is DLC which is a little sleazy). Snake is a whole lot of fun with parries and disarming. Boxer is the least developed but it is still pretty satisfying to get a good hook in. Switching between the styles is very quick and
making your own combos between the styles is great.
The side content is reminiscent of Yakuza 5 where it has a ton of varied gameplay mechanics and stories to go alongside them. Most of this content is in the school stories which has Yagami going undercover in school clubs for an investigation. Not all of them are great but there is a lot there and it's fun to be dancing one minute and fighting robots the next. I said the main story is the only thing that the sequel didn't improve on but it is still pretty compelling. It has a mystery that will keep you guessing and there are some great new characters which give us some wonderful boss fights. There are some particular story developments that I really could have done without though.
Whereas the first game was only set in Kamurocho, an area we've seen a lot of over the years, Lost Judgment gives us a second area in Yokohama. Admittedly Yokohama was introduced in Yakuza: Like A Dragon but it's still fun to explore and we get a big school area to run around in. The combat is absolutely stellar and feels like it brings the Dragon Engine combat up to the heights of the previous era. The two styles from the previous game, Tiger and Crane, are improved while introducing two more with Snake and Boxer (The boxer style is DLC which is a little sleazy). Snake is a whole lot of fun with parries and disarming. Boxer is the least developed but it is still pretty satisfying to get a good hook in. Switching between the styles is very quick and
making your own combos between the styles is great.
The side content is reminiscent of Yakuza 5 where it has a ton of varied gameplay mechanics and stories to go alongside them. Most of this content is in the school stories which has Yagami going undercover in school clubs for an investigation. Not all of them are great but there is a lot there and it's fun to be dancing one minute and fighting robots the next. I said the main story is the only thing that the sequel didn't improve on but it is still pretty compelling. It has a mystery that will keep you guessing and there are some great new characters which give us some wonderful boss fights. There are some particular story developments that I really could have done without though.