Everything you need to know about Lost Judgment

A new entry in the Yakuza spinoff series Judgment is on the way.

The Judgment series, which retains the action gameplay of pre-Like a Dragon Yakuza games while mixing in Ace Attorney-like investigation elements, began in 2018. Sega and Ryu Ga Gotku Studio unveiled a sequel called Lost Judgment on On May 7, 2021.

It seemingly retains many of the same characters of the original while building upon that framework with a new story, new locations to explore, and expanded combat and gameplay. This is everything we know about Lost Judgement so far.

When is the Lost Judgment release date?

When Sega announced the game, it also confirmed that Lost Judgment will be released on September 24, 2021. While previous Yakuza games have come out in Japan first before being localized months later, Lost Judgment will receive a simultaneous worldwide launch for the first time in the series. It will be released on the same date across all platforms.

Is there a Lost Judgment trailer?

Yes, there is! Below, you can watch the Judgment Day event showcase below. It focuses entirely on Lost Judgment, starting with a story-focused trailer before showing gameplay and doing a Q&A with Executive Director Toshihiro Nagoshi and Producer Kazuki Hosokawa. If you just want to watch the 5-minute announcement trailer, that’s available on YouTube as well.

What are the Lost Judgment platforms?

There’s no timed PlayStation or Xbox exclusivity here. When it comes out in September, Lost Judgment will be available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Judgment was originally PS4 exclusive, though its remaster launched for Xbox Series X, PS5, and Google Stadia in April. Clearly, Sega sees the Yakuza series as one that deserves to be multiplatform now.

What is the Lost Judgment story?

“Lost Judgment once again puts players in the sneakers of lawyer turned street-fighting detective Takayuki Yagami,” Sega’s official description says. “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.”

The trailer and livestream reveal that someone close to Yagami will die at some point in the game and that he’ll have to go undercover at a high school. Like any game in the Yakuza franchise though, the stakes will quickly rise to bombastic levels. “But as victims pile up and Yagami unravels the truth, he must choose between defending the law or exacting justice,” the official synopsis teases.

What is Lost Judgment gameplay like?

Lost Judgment is a third-person action game, just like the original Judgment. Players can switch between multiple fighting styles, with the Crane and Tiger styles returning from the first game. The Crane stance is good for dealing with groups of enemies, while the Tiger stance is better for one-on-one encounters. Lost Judgment also introduces the new Snake style.

This stance is focused on parrying and is most useful when disarming enemies with guns and katanas or taking someone down without hurting them much. Outside of combat, the investigative elements from Judgment return and are expanded. Players will even be able to climb and wall-run on certain parts of the environment.

Players will also now be able to explore Yokohama, a new area introduced in Like a Dragon and the location of a high school where Yagami goes undercover. The high school will be where some of the game’s wackiest side activities take place, like boxing, dancing, and playing with remote-controlled cars.

Lost Judgment will clearly retain that wacky flair the other Yakuza games have. While Yakuza: Like a Dragon was a turned-based RPG and the team consider making this an RPG, they decided to ultimately keep it as an action game.

“The Yakuza series has been transformed into a turn-based RPG,” Nagoshi and Hosokawa explained to IGN. “On the other hand, over the years, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio has accumulated resources and know-how of making flashy and exhilarating action games that are effortless to enjoy. We decided that we should let our signature action gameplay live on through Lost Judgment.”

Lost Judgment will be released for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on September 24, 2021.