JUDGMENT

The story of how Judgment (and its sequel, Lost Judgment) finally made it to PCs contains a lot of... intrigue. The game was released on consoles in 2019 and, given that SEGA had already started porting the Yakuza games to PC, we all took it for granted that the Judgment spin-off series wouldn't be far back. However, time was passing, SEGA was keeping quiet, and the astonishment became even greater when one day Judgment showed up at... Stadia! Yes, Google's streaming platform that will be shutting down in early 2023. Finally, media rumors provided a possible answer: the agency of the actor portraying the protagonist was vehemently resisting the game's PC port. The reason? They feared that the modders would use the actor's in-game model for various... obscene videos! Thankfully, in time SEGA seems to have overcome their resistance and the series finally made it to our screens.

As we mentioned earlier, Judgment is essentially a spin-off of the Yakuza series in the sense of location, gameplay and overall style, but as a story it's completely standalone and you don't need to have played any Yakuza game to follow it. Our protagonist, Yagami, is considered a great up-and-coming talent in the field of law because against all odds he managed to get a murder defendant acquitted, however his life falls apart when the acquitted defendant murders his partner shortly after his release. Unable to bear the guilt, Yagami quits the law and decides to become a detective. Three years later, a serial killer case will bring back the ghosts of the past.

Judgment's gameplay is mainly action, with elements of adventure and open world exploration but on a small scale. Our hero as a detective is called upon to investigate and solve various cases, main cases related to the main plot and various side cases that he can take on from time to time by exploring the map and interacting with its inhabitants. The action takes place mostly in the (very familiar to Yakuza players) Kamurocho district of Tokyo where danger lurks around every corner. If Yagami gets into trouble, he generally responds with his fists in classic real-time action style, or beat 'em up if you prefer. In addition to the combat there are also various missions with activities related to the detective profession (following people, photographing targets, interrogating suspects, carefully examining places for clues and so on) and a plethora of minigames to pass the time between cases.

Having had some experience with the Yakuza series, I would say that Judgment does some things better while in others it fails to match the quality of the top games in the series. I found the main plot extremely interesting, both because of the mystery that is gradually revealed and because of the very good cast of characters that pepper the campaign. Also, the majority of the side cases are interesting in their own right, with all the craziness and weirdness we've come to expect from Yakuza. For the uninitiated, I'll just mention that the cases you take on are often centered around... let's say "eccentric" characters (if not "full-on perverted" ) and certain situations that may be common to Japanese culture but seem downright crazy to Western audiences. I can't give more details without spoilers, I'll just say one thing: be prepared for anything.

The basic action gameplay is adequate but nothing special. There are various combat skills to unlock as well as some basic combos, and you always have the option to switch combat styles between one that's more appropriate when facing a crowd of enemies or one that's targeted for one-on-one situations and boss battles. During combat you can also make use of any items that may be in the environment to beat up your opponents with greater ease, while raising the so-called EX Gauge will allow you to unleash spectacular special moves. The combat is generally enjoyable, but I would say that it has relatively little depth and it won't take much time to learn all of its details.

I would say that the main drawback of Judgment is the various activities related to Yagami's work as a detective, which in the end were neither as deep nor as fun as I expected. The developers probably hesitated to put more emphasis on it so as not to discourage the audience expecting mostly action, but I think they could have developed the detective element a bit more without driving away action gamers. In some of the activities the investigation you have to do is completely superficial, e.g. when you are called upon to track down a suspect there are only 2-3 possible targets, or when you have to investigate certain details these are revealed as soon as the cursor passes over them. Tailing suspects is utterly boring and I sighed every time I had to do a mission of that kind. Even in the dialogues, while you are initially given the impression that a wrong choice can have consequences, in practice this is not the case and you can retry until you find the right choice. More depth to the gameplay could have really elevated the game. For me, the developers' choice to stay in the shallow end in this area didn't do them justice and ultimately the detective element wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be.

In conclusion then I would say that Judgment is good but I expected better. The main plot is very strong, the cast of characters as well, the battles are fun to play, Kamurocho offers a lot of fun extra activities and side cases, but the part of the game that I was expecting to give it a distinct tone and identity compared to the Yakuza series, the investigations as a detective, wasn't as developed as it could have been. Obviously it's still a good buy, after all it offers dozens of hours of fun and quality gameplay, I was just left with the impression of a missed opportunity for something truly special.