Well it took a while, but it's here, the review of Lost Judgment. Many people call this the "peak" of RGG. So let's dig in.
Lost Judgment was originally released as a console exclusive in 2021, though we would get a PC release a few years later. This game is the second game in the Yakuza spin off series Judgment. This game originally takes place immediately after the events of Yakuza Like a Dragon. Like the previous game, Lost Judgment mainly takes place in Yokohama district of Ijincho, though Kamurocho also makes an appearance here. While Kamurocho does serve more to the story than Like a Dragon, the focus is mainly on Ijincho. Kamurocho map is identical to Judgment, and Ijincho is identical to Like a Dragon, except one big thing: additional area. Lost Judgment adds a new area to Ijincho: Seryo High School. High School in Yakuza game? Why? Well, this is a great moment to transition to the story.
Now I always considered Judgment story to be a bit darker and more serious tone than the mainstream Yakuza games. I mean sure, mainstream Yakuza games have serious moments, but I feel like in terms of actual storywriting, Judgment always had a more darker, serious undertone. And this game believe it or not is even darker than the previous game, because the main theme of this game is interesting. It is bullying. Now this actually strikes me as an interesting topic, because we have all witnessed bullying in our lives. This game's story is revolving around the several problems that stems from bullying: The effect it has on the victim, the consequence it leaves on the bully himself and puts a question: What is the actual solution to bullying? And has the justice system failed to prevent bullying and hold bullies accountable? Not spoiling the story too much, but to me, this has to be one of the best written stories that RGG has produced. It's something everyone can actually relate to.
But what good is a story when gameplay is bad. Well you will be happy to now, that Lost Judgment pretty much improves EVERYTHING that Judgment had flaws in. Neo Keihin gang? No longer are they gonna be annoying, now they are actually a part of one of the biggest side stories in Yakuza series, and probably one of my favorite: The Mystery Research Club story. This side story goes through several different minigames and several different side stories and it is damn AWESOME. I loved the implementation of it. But what about the combat? The combat in this game has the same CRANE and TIGER style, but the game also adds a new style: SNAKE which is good against opponents with weapons and a special DLC style Boxer, which you get while doing the boxing minigame, which is part of the MCC side stories. The combat is fluid, fun and I would say... probably the best combat that RGG has produced so far. It almost reminds me of Yakuza 0 combat. The skill system is the same like in Judgment.
Minigames are identical to Judgment, but there are few new minigames, mainly coming from MCC side story: Boxing, robot fight, dancing, biker races... There are a lot of mini games in this game, and the VR Dice minigame is also back. Drone racing is also back from Judgment, and in my opinion vastly improved because the tracks are more fair and faster paced. Some people say that drone racing in Lost Judgment is easier hence worse, but I digress, it is actually good. Trust me on this.
Now in my last review of Judgment, my 2 biggest complaints were Neo Keihin Gang and tailing. Neo Keihin Gang event is completely gone, so thankfully they listened, and tailing while it's still there, it's not frequent and actually much shorter. Basically they made tailing a better paced minigame than in Judgment.
I would write more, but let's leave it to here. I think, this, might actually be a prime contender to be the best Yakuza related game I have ever played. It rivals Yakuza 0, because it has a great story and great combat. It improves everything that was wrong in Judgment and pretty much delivers a very unique and interesting story about bullying. If you played Judgment and other yakuza games, you must play this. Unfortunately, this also might be the last game we are going to play as Takayuki Tak Yagami, which is a damn shame, I kind of grew liking him. Sure he is not as stoic and cool looking and iconic as Kiryu... But I grew to like his heroic lawful good attitude he possesses. He is kind of like Phoenix Wright but with the spirit of Bruce Lee. 9/10 fantastic game. As of writing this review, I haven't played Kaito Files DLC, which are a separate game where you play as Tak's right hand man, Kaito Masaharu, but I'll leave that in separate review. Shouldn't take me long to beat it.
