Judgment

I went into Judgment fully expecting a Yakuza reskin with a new suit, and came out roughly 30 hours later surprised by how much the story had actually pulled me in. You play as Takayuki Yagami, a disgraced defense attorney who slid into private investigation after a case he won turned into a personal catastrophe. The premise kicks off with a serial killer gouging out the eyes of yakuza victims, which is exactly the kind of absurd-yet-grim hook this studio does well, and the plot keeps escalating with twists that genuinely land. On the gameplay side, Judgment sits on the same Dragon Engine foundation as the Yakuza titles that preceded it, which means the brawling is already polished before the new stuff even comes in. Yagami works with two combat stances - Crane for clearing out groups and Tiger for focused one-on-one punishment - and mid-air juggling makes combo chains feel satisfying once you have a few SP upgrades unlocked. Wall-running into a flying kick is still delightful every single time. The PC version ships with all the DLC from the PS5 remaster, including a stock of craftable Extracts that give you combat options without forcing you into a grind. Where the game stumbles is precisely where it tries to be its own thing: the detective toolkit. Tailing missions are slow and frustrating by near-universal consensus, the drone controls are finicky, and the mortal wounds system - which permanently caps your max health until you visit a doctor - drags on boss stretches in ways that feel punishing for all the wrong reasons. What holds it together is the content density Kamurocho always delivers. There are dozens of side-cases that range from silly to genuinely touching, a Friendship system with around 50 contacts that unlocks benefits and extra storylines, drone racing with deep customization, a virtual-reality board game, classic SEGA arcade titles including Virtua Fighter 5 and Space Harrier, and more mini-games than most full-price games bother with. It is very much a game you can spend 100 hours in if you let it pull you sideways. For series newcomers, Judgment is actually a better entry point than most Yakuza titles. There is no intimidating back-catalogue to worry about, English voice acting is solid, and Yagami is a more immediately relatable character than Kiryu ever was. For returning fans, the story is arguably some of the studio's strongest writing. The weaknesses are real - tailing missions, mortal wounds, detective segments that feel undercooked relative to the combat - but none of them kill the experience. They are the rough edges of a first attempt at a new format, and the sequel addressed most of them.

Alex · Scout Team

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