90%PC

Kuwana is best villain!

100%Xbox Series X/S

Somehow, someway, the devs over at Ryu Ga Gotoku once again outdid themselves and followed up Judgment almost near perfectly. This game is somethin' else, man. Dark, gritty, realistic.. Badass, exciting, had me on the edge of my seat... Humorous, hilarious, laugh out loud funny... I experienced a wide range of emotions during my play-through, and would run out of adjectives describing this game in just a single sentence. I cannot begin to explain how much I adored this game, but I'll try.

Judgement is peak, Lost Judgement is equally peak. Truthfully, that's all you need to know. Just play em, man. Thank me later.

If I had to expand upon that, though... First, the cons. I have little to none. I'll update the review if I remember any, but as I just finished the finale and rolled credits not even an hour ago (it's 6AM currently), the game still has me in a trance. Edit- Judgment's hip-hop-funk OST slightly edged out LJ's epic rock symphonies, but that's not to say this OST wasn't a banger. Unwavering Belief, Viper, & Rasen by Jon Yakitory (openeing theme) are some of the best songs in game I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. Second, the pros. The gameplay is heavily, HEAVILY, expanded upon from the first entry. Every gameplay gripe I might have had from Judgment has been resolved, and then some. I was seriously impressed, if not overwhelmed, by the amount of things to do. Not just Kamurocho, but Ijincho is playable, too. Content is ripe, and every mechanic in the game has some sort of major improvement (combat, detective skills, side stories, the world itself). Gameplay wise, it’s just a flat-out improvement in every sense, can’t stress that enough. The characters introduced in the first game are fleshed out to a personable degree. They genuinely feel like a group of tight nit friends and the dialogue between them never, and I mean never, fails to put a smile on my face. This was my personal favorite aspect. Yagami, Kaito, Sugiura, Higashi, and not to forget Tsukumo, were fuckin' amazing. Anytime the 5 of them were on screen, I was eating good. The side characters too! Every new character introduced were fully realized and had appearances throughout the entire story, tying into the plot importantly one way or another. I was impressed RGG's writing kept up that level of continuity. Their writing is always good, but man! This was beyond great! That includes the highschool stories too, and the entire highschool clubs in general. I thought the storytelling was interesting enough to seem em’ through myself. The main story, while I still have a slight preference for Judgment, is fucking amazing. Centered around bullying in a Japanese high school, that really just scratches the surface of what this is all about. For this game, I don't even want to add a spoiler tag. Going in blind is the only way to play. Just note, it's about as straight forward as a race track. Twist and turns at every way. The villain's motives are some of the most powerful I've seen in a video game. And that's a good way to describe the story overall - powerful. Really tugged at my heart strings in some moments, had me furious and anxious in others. So many times I had to put the controller down and take a walk around the house to fully process a cutscene. Powerful storytelling. Jawdropping moments. Drew the emotion right outta me. The whole nine yards. Not only that, but the last chapter finale is one hell of a ride. It's probably my favorite final chapter in a Yakuza yet. Not to mention the court room segments, talk about nail-biters. I was loving every second.

I have yet to play the Kaito files, but will be doing so shortly. A Kaito only DLC is the cherry on top for me, and I've so damn eager to get started. After that, Judgment 3 cannot come soon enough. The Yakuza mainlines are one thing, but the Judgement series are truly special games. I think everyone who is remotely interested in crime-mystery-thriller should give em' a shot.

The finale, in parallel to Judgement, with the cast at the detective agency goofin' about after the insanely serious events that took place before made me cry happy tears. Hilariously satisfying. Oddly enough, it's my favorite part of these games. I think RGG studio constructs the best endings in gaming to date. The endings are not near perfect, but actually perfect - couldn't of ended them on a better note. They really know how to wrap up a game. Feel good inc., man.

90%PlayStation 5

전작을 너무 재미있게해서 할인할때 지름
스토리가 전작에 비해 푹 빠져들지는 못한듯

70%PC

An upgrade from Judgment, unfortunately only in term of combat.
The story is a downgrade from the first title, and sometimes feel like a slog to go through (maybe it has to do with school environment).
Apart from the original cast, almost all other character not worth remembering, including some of the main villains.
Minigames is the same as the first title.
Overall a solid experience, yet left a lot to be desire since this series has so much potential.
Sadly we will never see a third one.
P/S: will try the Kaito DLC so the above opinion might change.

75%PlayStation 5

Story was bland compared to first Judgment. Didn't get into School Stories as much as Friend Missions.

95%PC

I followed up my playthrough of Judgment by immediately jumping back into the world with it's sequel and was not disappointed. Both games have a spot in my top 5 of all time. I'd give Lost Judgment the edge in gameplay but Judgment takes the lead in story.

40%PlayStation 5

Maybe I’m getting sick of the Yakuza formula but I just never really messed with LJ too much. I enjoyed the first one decently thanks to everything being fresh, but this one has some major grips. I really just don’t like any of the detective mini games. There’s no Yakuza-like spontaneity to break up the pacing which I actually enjoy. The narrative and characters are not as interesting this time around. There are now 2 giant maps with exploration being gated by the awful detective mini games. School stories exist but I was just so disinterested that I couldn’t be bothered even if I did like the handful I did. This games saving grace should be the combat which is definitely better this time around, but the game is so easy even on the hardest difficulty that it’s sort of trivial. I can understand why people like it so much but this one’s a pass from me.

70%PlayStation 5

Enjoyable Yakuza story, but the story falls flatter than its predecessor. Side content drags

85%PlayStation 5

Darn good!

90%PC

This game has the best combat the Yakuza franchise has ever produced, it is extremely versatile and satisfying and everything everyone hyped it up to be since it came out.

The story is also top notch. There are a couple of criticisms I have with it such as I feel the video being leaked was a bit silly on Ehara/Kuwana's part, they have a decent explanation for it, that they're humiliating the justice system, but it feels a bit forced. That, and I feel the stand-in could have been done a bit better to be made less convoluted, but at the same time, they still handled it relatively well. I also feel Sawa-sensei's death was a bit undercooked and didn't quite have the emotional impact it could have, but that might have just been me. Other than those small nitpicks though the story stands toe to toe with the best in the franchise -- Yakuza 0 and Yakuza 7 (AKA Yakuza: Like a Dragon), the only thing It's missing from those, is that the emotional highs in both of those games get a bit higher than in this, and I feel 7's story edges Lost Judgment out by just a little, while 0 stands firm as king of the mountain. Honestly discourse online had the story be pretty divisive in discussions I had seen, but I can't see why, It's a very solid story

The side content could be hit or miss sometimes. The absolute variety on display here is superb, It's rivaled only by Yakuza 5 in that respect. But the quality can vary. I think that that dance minigame is great, the boxing minigame is pretty good aside from one dumb fight, but the Roadrash inspired bosozoku minigame is middling due to the rubber banding, and is a bit tedious with how many races you have to do for what is a rather simple minigame. The photography club is alright (but is kind of broken at 120fps on PC), the robotics club is good but can be annoying due to the luck required sometimes, and getting parts for your build is really obnoxious. The girl's bar is a good replacement for the hostesses and not as tedious as the hostess clubs of the past (not including cabaret management as that's top tier). E-sports and Casino are kind of nothing, but that's fine, because I didn't want to have to gamble or git gud at VF5 to complete the school stories.
Despite having a wealth of side content filled out there, the game still has some decent substories elsewhere, though they obviously pad the number with 'nothing' substories, but It's very excusable given how much side content you get from the school stories.

All in all, as it stands, I'd rate this the second best in the Yakuza franchise below Yakuza 0. It's combat is better than 0's, but 0 still stands as king due to It's story and characters and It's side content probably beating out Lost Judgment, too.
But saying It's second to Yakuza 0 isn't shade by any means, because that's a game that sets an extremely high bar to clear.

100%PC

Not as good as the first Judgment story-wise, but makes up for it with everything else, ESPECIALLY THE GAMEPLAY!

100%PC

Great combat and Good Story

100%PC

Amazing story and hope they make judgment 3!

75%PlayStation 5

Spoiler Free Playstation 5 Review

If you’re reading this I assume you’ve played the first Judgement. Gotta say story was better in the first one.

School Stories were a plus but some were a bit too long. Best part of the game was the Kaito Files though, that could have been a full on game and I would have ate that up

7.5 out of 10

85%PlayStation 4

this is a phenomonal game....(kinda a SPOILER btw idk how to tag them) but what about sawa-sensei?!?!??

90%PC

I think I like Judgment better than Lost Judgment because of the story. Nonetheless this game is awesome and it improves on its predecessor in many ways. Most notably in combat mechanics. Sega we need next installment of Judgment ! Now to the DLC !

85%PC

peak dlc

90%PlayStation 5

Terrible stealth, some things about the combat system aren’t all that well thought out, the story is still batshit insane. But I loved it.

80%PlayStation 5

Good game, is very good. I got to the final level and stoped playing for no reason

75%PlayStation 4

Interesting and unusual themes and an intricate plot that kept me engaged throughout. Combat was fun and was tough for me for a while until I felt like I got a handle on it. After that I was appropriately mowing through enemies. The environments in these games is such a joy to explore. For me the ending was a bit shaky.

100%PC

the best real-time brawler in the rgg series so far.

main storyline, protagonist, antagonists, soundtrack & the plethora of side content are all wonderful. all three combat styles, crane, tiger & snake, are all very fun and complimented by amazing battle music (as usual.)

the minigames & side school stories are like a separate game of their own.

lost judgement takes everything from its amazing prequel, judgement, and improves upon it massively.

90%PC

--Liked--
+Combat (Best combat to-date)
+Story
+Side Cases/School Stories
+Characters

100%PC

One of the best RGG games set in the Yakuza universe. The sequel to Judgment is just as entertaining and exciting as the first, but with much better improvements to the story and characterization. There are tons of optional side content to sink your teeth into, with the new addition of school stories, which includes various minigames such as dancing, boxing, bike races, etc. The combat mechanics are pretty much the same as in previous Yakuza games (excluding Like a Dragon), with the new addition of the snake style. The graphics are definitely at their best, and the sound and music make you feel the essence of walking around the cities of Kamurucho and Ijincho. Overall, this is definitely a great game that will give you hours of entertainment as you roam around and explore the city, doing side stories or trying to find the answer to the main story, which I think is the selling point of the game.

70%PlayStation 5

72%
Has better pace than last series
But has worst story
Overall same score

100%Xbox Series X/S

Very good game. Heavily improves on things from the first game, removing annoying features from the first game. RGG are a team that listen to the community feedbacks. Love it, great game, highly recommend.

80%Xbox Series X/S

Liked it a lot. The story seems rather fabricated (well, you know what I mean). Tough everyone who has been a target of bullying can relate to it. Myself included. The characters are fun, some of the side missions too. But at some point I gave up on the club school stories because they are locked behind other clubs and I simply don't care enough to waste my time with them. Which is a shame, I think they would provide meaningful content bits underneath the stupid mini games.

One thing: You are playing a detective game. But stuff luke trailing and all the gadgets are absolutely irrelevant during the main quest. They only come up a couple of times and I unlocked a lot of skills related to them. But alas, wasted SP 😂😂

80%PlayStation 5

game would be 5/5 if the story didn't completely fall apart in the last third

95%PC

Pretty awesome game with a pretty awesome story, the best combat in the entire RGG franchise, some pretty rad music, and was overall a blast...even if I totally played WAY more than I should have for this game, heh.

80%PlayStation 5

GOTY 2021

100%PC

História - 10/10
Gráficos - 9/10
Jogabilidade - 9/10
Som - 10/10
Nota Final - 9.5/10

90%PlayStation 5

Better than the first. The combat is actually godlike and the story is once again really good.

90%PlayStation 5

劇情恨棒，動作部分也很棒，沒什麼好挑剔的

80%Xbox Series X/S

game that rivals yakuza 5 in terms of content, best gameplay in the series but lackluster story (with story beats similar to the first game which made the story a bit too predictable) which i think it more than made up for by having the best villain and character dynamics in the series in my opinion

70%Xbox Series X/S

Muy buen juego, pero por debajo del primer Judment. Los minijuegos y las historias de los clubs escolares son de lo mejorcito y divertidas (aunque algunas se hacen pesadas).

90%PlayStation 5

Really enjoyed this game, still doing some side cases but enjoyed the main story and most of the school story stuff. I liked the main villain from the last game a little more than this one but they were still cool.

50%PlayStation 4

Very ok sequel to the first judgment game using assets from Yakuza 7. The plot takes a while to get going and when it does get going it's not particularly exciting. The story deals with ambiguity and shades of grey in the legal system and discussing what is real justice and has a lot of stuff about childhood bullies too. All of the returning characters from Judgment don't really serve much of a purpose in the actual plot, they'll help Yagami out a little bit but they don't really have anything going on themselves. Saori has another section where she gets dolled up again, which feels like a real retread of the first game. The new characters aren't really amazing either. The villain is not as threatening as the game makes him out to be, Reiko Kusumoto is fairly dull, Sawa never really endears herself to the player bar one major moment of vulnerability early on so you never get too invested in her and the kids in the main story only really appear at the start and the end. Kuwana was alright though. The plot, despite having some dark enough concepts lacks bite and bombast. I found it hard to invest and none of the twists or setpieces really blew my mind. Also the sections where you infiltrate a dangerous area are always broken up by the lame platforming and stealth sections that just break the pace up and don't provide interesting gameplay by themselves.

The game puts a lot of emphasis on the school side stories which are nice but some of the later mini games are gated behind grinding out progression in earlier school minigames. I like dipping into minigames a little between story missions but LJ insists that the extra minigames are locked behind hours of building Yagami's reputation in the school and doing other (sometimes less enjoyable) minigames. The main combat is ok but it's really unbalanced. Tiger style is so much better than crane and snake in this game that the other styles are almost completely invalidated. Granted you'll have to tank one or two hits but tiger gives you so much super armour with the finishers that it doesn't really matter if you have to use one or two healing items. Also I went the whole game without finding the book to get flux fissure. Flux fissure was the coolest thing in Judgment's combat system and I spent the entire second game without it because i didn't check every toilet and every shop for pictures of squirrels. Granted, that's my own fault but I don't feel that FF, which was so integral to Tiger in Judgment should have been made optional and hard to find. Granted I had no problems with combat encounters in LJ but FF would have been fun to play with. While i didn't love crane or snake styles, the music that plays for snake style is great.

Overall it's more Yakuza gameplay and that's fine but it feels limp compared to the main series and especially its own predecessor, which had a much more engaging main plot, more focus, a better use of its overworld (Ijincho was designed around 7's RPG levelling up, in Judgment it's just too big) and generally funnier and more engaging writing. Lost Judgment is perfectly playable but it never really shines outside of the school side stories, which feel like they got more love than the main story sometimes. I feel that if the game went all in on the school stuff and incorporated it better into the main game instead of dropping it early on to call back to it a little at the end, the game would have had a more distinct character among the rest of the series, but what we have not is a game that feels very adequate and not all that special.

90%PlayStation 4

Great story. Not much evolution from the yakuza serie.

80%Xbox Series X/S

An excellent follow-up to Judgement – refining what made the first game great and delving into a darker, more grounded story that had me hooked.

It's a generous game, with so much to explore and the usual RGG ridiculous side content, but I found the central plot to be the star. It's a grimmer tale than we've seen from the Yakuza series so far – not that some of the violence and torture we've seen throughout the series were a barrel of laughs – that sticks with you, with some genuinely shocking and moving moments. I won't go into spoilers, but the cast ( and antagonists especially) in the game rank as some of my favourite in the series. There are just no other game studios writing and directing stories with this cinematic flair, tightroping between soap opera melodrama and kung-fu movie, endorphin-pumping punch-outs.

For me, the story was just behind Yakuza: Like A Dragon but easily one of my favourites in the franchise. I've seen some pearl-clutching reviews that criticised the story for delving into themes of bullying, assault and suicide, but I never found that the story exploited these themes or was flippant about them. They added weight when needed but were never treated lightly. Your tastes may vary, of course, but the more grounded plot (for a Yakuza game) is where this game really excels.

As usual, there's an insane amount of silliness in the School Stories, where we see Yagami and co go undercover to infiltrate Seiryo High, a prestigious school in Ijincho. School Stories are prioritised over the usual side stuff, and have a central plot tying them all together. The mini-games you play through in these School Stories vary in quality – the skateboarding, boxing and dancing were highlights for me – so you may find yourself grinding through a tedious set of mini-games to progress, which can be grating. For the most part, these were a great time, and there's a loveable cast of students you interact with (and some returning faces).

This being a Yakuza spin-off, you'll also find yourself hitting up the batting cages, playing arcade games, eating your bodyweight in beef bowls and exploring Kamurocho and Ijincho. This series is still unrivalled in terms of a sense of place – and both cities look stunning on current gen. It's like returning home at this point.

What stops this game getting higher than an 8/10 is the sheer bloat of all the side stuff. It took me 45 hours to complete the main game (with most school stories done) and am continuing on with some of the content now. I don't think there's enough quality in the mini-games available to make me want to play to 100%. I did find some of the goofier School Stories to clash with Lost Judgement's darker tale too, but this is an ongoing issue with the Yakuza series as a whole. The detective stuff (searching for clues, tailing, etc) is pretty ropey, but a less intrusive than in Judgement. My final negative is that I'd like to see the women in the game featured more or have more to do. You get brief control of Saori, and it got me interested in seeing her as a more playable character (especially as I felt her treatment in Judgement was plain inappropriate lol).

This is an easy recommend for anyone who's a fan of RGG games (newcomers should start with Judgement or Yakuza 0 imo) and a game I loved my time with. There's tight and addictive combat, brilliant set-pieces, two sprawling cities to explore and a gripping plot that hits on some complex emotional notes. Just hoping we get another, as there's so much more the RGG team can do with Yagami and co.

100%PlayStation 4

My new favorite Yakuza game. The combat is at it's best, there's so many fun side content including the best side story in the franchise with the school side story, the story and main villain are incredibly engaging, and it has some killer presentation.

80%PlayStation 5

A far better game than judgment, however nowhere close to the levels of persona 5. Lost Judgment's school stories are fantastic, and the story itself is very good. However, it is lacking in some areas. In the end, you struggle to sympathize with the protagonist, making for a very unsatisfactory ending. The side missions are also quite forgettable and don't have as much humor as games like Yakuza 0 and such. Combat is very good, and so is the music. Yokohama was a brilliant addition. Sawa and Soma are brilliant characters, and I enjoyed the school setting very much. Kamurocho felt empty, however, and the game's reliance on Yokohama was felt. A brilliant game nevertheless.

80%PlayStation 4

Graphics are the same, the music is your typical Yakuza OST with a couple of epic tracks but the combat is a step up compared to the previous game! The story is good but not as good as previous game! 85%

70%PlayStation 5

Generally, a direct expansion on the content from the first game. Unfortunately, some additional mechanics & fun areas can’t make up for the disappointing story & ending.

80%PlayStation 5

main story worse than judgment eye.

100%PlayStation 4

Phenomenal story. A killer cast of new and returning characters. Incredibly fun gameplay. The first Judgment has been my favorite RGG title for 2 years, even after playing through the entire Yakuza series. Lost Judgment surpasses it.

100%PlayStation 5

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

70%No Platform Specified

Despite its intriguing whodunnit premise, Lost Judgment’s main story fails to sustain its suspense all the way to the finish and its detective methods remain only slightly less superficial than those of the previous game. However, its meaty undercover side stories set in and around the Seiryo High School kept me playing for hours and hours well after the main story credits had rolled, in doing so revealing a lot of fun surprises that I might never have found had the classroom cases not kept me on the hook. This Yakuza spin-off feels far from being considered case closed, but here’s hoping that Sega can show some better Judgment in the series' future.