4.5/5 ★ – patjans5's review of Lost Judgment.

Judgment was the 2019 spin-off of the long running Yakuza series, it managed to capture the feel of those games while giving us a refreshing change of pace and different themes/characters. It was great, but not without it’s shortcoming, Lost Judgment is no different, but it still manages to surpass the first game in pretty much every way. Lost Judgment once again follows Yagami, former lawyer turned detective. He’s accompanied by old friends and new characters alike as he solves a series of murders connected to a sexual assault as well as bullying in a nearby high school. Similar to the first game, Lost Judgment deals with heavy themes, and it feels more grounded compared to Yakuza. Still, it manages to balance drama and comedy in such a perfect way. This makes it feel familiar, but it also feels a lot darker than most games in the series. Overall I thought the story was one of the best in the whole Yakuza series. It was well paced, there was plenty of character growth, and it’s themes felt fresh and original for the series while also being as emotional and thrilling as ever. Aside from the main story you still have your side cases. Which, like in Judgment, didn’t stand out quite as much as in the Yakuza games, same with the girlfriend missions. What really stood out were the school stories, a branched off and pretty lengthy diversion from the main story that shows off all the unique and vast variety of things you can do. Skateboarding, dancing, robot battles, gaming, boxing, and many others, on top of a legitimately well told story, I find the school story missions 100% worth doing. It kinda leads to some lacking issues with the main story, but if you can find a decent balance, it’ll be worth it. Speaking of skateboarding, you can now skateboard across the map, which was my favorite little additional piece of content added to this game, just make sure you don’t drink and skate, you won’t get very far. The main of Lost Judgment is the same as the most recent Yakuza game, Like a Dragon. You find yourself, of course, in the main district of Kamurocho, as well as Ijincho. These areas are just as fun to explore as always, and with the power of next gen consoles, it looks better than ever. The visuals here are absolutely stunning thanks to the Dragon Engine. Especially in cutscenes, seeing everything from wrinkles, to skin pores, to even neck veins, the Yakuza series never looked more real not only in terms of character models, but the environment. Everything from lighting to reflections, and even the crowded streets of both cities felt real. My only issue with the game is my same issue with the first Judgment game, it’s the stealth and detective areas. The trailing and detective modes where you enter first person view to search for clues, these were never fun, and even with changes and additional methods of stealth, they aren’t fun in this game either. It was cute being able to walk your little pet Shiba Inu around to sniff for clues though. But overall Lost Judgment is a near perfect game, one that very successfully improves in the first one. I’m very excited for not only the sequel to this game, but the next entry in the Yakuza series.