Lost Judgment Overview

Japanese studio Ryu Ga Gotoku has been developing the Yakuza series of games for almost two decades, and in that time they have managed to hone its template almost to perfection – at least for its fans, who rejoice every return to this world of Japanese organized crime. . Although Lost Judgment is one of the many “branches” of the Yakuza series, in practice it is only the heroes that distinguish it from the main titles – the game world and its content are almost identical. As with several recent games in the series, you don’t need to know any of the other parts to enjoy this one. I even consider it an advantage in some way.

• Platform: PS5 (peer review), PS4, X1, XSX | S
• Publication date: 21 Sept. 2021
• Producer: Studio Ryu Ga Gotoku (Japan)
• Genre: action adventure
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: only mini games for two
• Data to download: 44 GB
• Game time: 20+ hours
• Price: 1499 CZK (Xzone)

school mafia

Yagami used to be a lawyer, but after one particularly tragic incident, he left the profession. Now he is a private detective and, together with his partner, the former yakuza Kate, solves minor troubles right on the streets. Their latest client is a high school principal who is pleading for a low-profile investigation into potential student bullying – one such incident in the past has led to suicide. This is a hot topic even in real Japan, which is probably why the creators of the game chose it. However, at the same time as Yagami’s investigation, a complex case of his former lawyer colleagues is launched, which turns from a seemingly unambiguous touch on the subway into a brutal murder with a perfect alibi for the obvious killer. As it soon turns out, everything is interconnected.

Obviously, this game series is trying to keep up with the times and develop a little – from the endless fantasies of gang wars, we move on to topics such as sex crimes, youth education and suicide. On its own, I found this relevant and interesting, but unfortunately, The Lost Court handles these themes through a relatively limited arsenal of interactions that sometimes end up frankly pointless – in which case you, as an adult detective, will have to beat up groups of teenagers. several times, which definitely shouldn’t make me feel good. In the same way, the central concept of “hunted avengers” is difficult to perceive as a serious crisis in which the heroes have to choose between “justice and law” when a dusty killer appears on a different scale, no matter how motivated he may be. his act. One of the key ideas is “Neither law nor law is perfect and must evolve over time” – But I really liked her.

The series is trying to keep up with the times and grow up a bit.

In addition to ludonarative dissonance, Lost Judgment commonly suffers from problematic narrative conflict with gameplay. Runs that are too long contain only dialogue sequences and transitions from place to place, while elsewhere the game throws you several difficult mandatory battles in a row, with no way to maintain position. The pace here is just not as balanced as it should be. Of course, you can help by assigning yourself a lot of additional game actions between passages of the main story to find the balance that’s right for you. In any case, the most important thing is that the detective story works and the diverse constellation of characters will offer you a reliable dose of tension, emotion and fun that we are used to in this series. It’s a pity that Yagami himself is such a “cold nose”, because he will never have a chance to take root in your heart as much as the more successful heroes of previous games. I also blame the creators for the giant spoiler in the official trailer.

Stationary thresher

Despite the desire for detective mini-games, at its core, Lost Judgment is still a thresher based on the old principles of games like Streets of Rage or Final Fight. Fans will probably rejoice the most on this side, as combat is traditionally great, and the three “relationships” with their own unlockable combos or upgrades offer solid tactical depth – one attitude is good for large groups, others are good for individuals, and still others help disarm. enemy. You can set the difficulty of the game, however, even the simplest bosses and minibosses will bother you, which can sometimes be a very unfair one-hit kill (one may have shot me when I was being lifted from the ground). Too often, detective mini-games are just a variation of the “hidden object” screen scanning, but on the other hand, I had a lot of fun finding the right evidence or arguments to convince my opponent in tense conversations.

From the previous paragraphs, it is probably clear that Lost Judgment was a somewhat controversial experience for me. On the one hand, I was again completely fascinated by the extraordinary design of the game (led by the excellent elaboration of the faces of the characters), I was fascinated by the exciting investigation of the main crime, and I enjoyed the excellent fights. On the other hand, the story sometimes creaked, and the gameplay would have better balanced the action and power of the bosses. But if we add to this a huge stream of side mini-games and activities that make it very easy to double the game time (40 hours instead of 20), I must regret to admit that I again enjoyed this return to the famous streets, although this is already known from previous games in this series almost by heart.