Lost Judgment Downloadable Content

[Catherin Bergan]

LostJudgment[b] is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 24, 2021, for Amazon Luna on March 31, 2022,[1] and for Windows on September 14, 2022.[2] A sequel to the 2018 game Judgment (a spin-off of the Yakuza series), the game focuses on private detective Takayuki Yagami as he investigates a criminal accused of both sexual harassment and murder.[3] Yagami manages to see the connection between the suspect Akihiro Ehara and his links with a series of murders committed against bullies in Kamurochō and Isezaki Ijincho. The game builds on the action sequences from the first game while revising its stealth elements. Yagami uses two returning fighting styles plus the new aikido-based Snake.

Major Japanese voice actors include the returning Takuya Kimura (Yagami) and the newcomers Hiroshi Tamaki (Soma) and Koji Yamamoto (Kuwana) whose characters rival Yagami as the writers wanted their stories to explore the subject of bullying and whether or not Yagami has the power to stop it.

Like its predecessor, the game received positive reviews from critics. The plot was generally praised for handling multiple controversial subjects in a serious manner though the pacing and style was the subject of mixed responses. Nevertheless, Yagami and the cast were well received. The gameplay was also praised, particularly the new improved fighting styles, but the stealth and parkour moves were often noted to be poorly developed. Downloadable content in the form of new sidequests and a story expansion focused on Yagami's partner Masaharu Kaito was also released.

In Lost Judgment, the player controls Takayuki Yagami as he explores the Japanese cities of Kamurochō and Isezaki Ijincho (recreations of the real-life Kabukichō and Isezakichō districts, respectively). Yagami can switch between three fighting styles in battle. In addition to the crowd-control Crane style and the one-on-one Tiger style from Judgment, Yagami uses the newly added Snake style for counterattacking and disarming enemies.[4]

As in the previous game, Lost Judgment also features stealth segments, platforming segments, and "tailing" missions where Yagami chases suspects around the city.[4] The trailing sections of the game have been changed in order to give the players more activity in the segment.[5] New to Lost Judgment is the "Detective Dog", a Shiba Inu named Ranpo whom Yagami can take on walks to find hidden items or track suspects via their scent.[6] The game also features a "School Stories" system, where Seiryo High School's Mystery Research Club president Kyoko Amasawa requests Yagami investigate and assist other clubs and students in order to solve a greater mystery. Yagami can fulfill these requests by taking on side missions and playing various minigames.[3] Some of these side missions include coaching the school's dance team through a rhythm minigame; building and controlling a robot in competitions for the robotics club; defeating a biker gang in a series of motorcycle races; and helping a troubled teenager overcome his violent tendencies through boxing training.[7][8]

Yagami's partner, Masaharu Kaito, also appears as a playable character via downloadable content. Kaito uses two different fighting styles: Bruiser, which focuses on offense and utilizes quick evasion; and Tank, which focuses on defense and environmental weapon usage.[11][12] Sega has stated that Kaito's story campaign lasts roughly 10 hours.[13]

Yagami's investigation takes him across Kamurochō, Tokyo and Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama, bringing him into contact with both new allies and enemies. The central figure of his investigation is Akihiro Ehara (Ken Mitsuishi/Artt Butler), a Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Officer accused and held in custody for groping, while also linked to the murder of Hiro Mikoshiba (Shohei Kajikawa/Andrew Morgado), a student teacher at Seiryo High School. Opposing Yagami is Kazuki Soma (Hiroshi Tamaki/Matthew Yang King), the head of the "RK" (Red Knife) Hangure syndicate that has attempted to seize power in Kamurochō in the wake of the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance disbanding, as depicted in Yakuza: Like a Dragon; Soma is supported by his right-hand man, Daimu Akutsu (Kenji Hamada/Brent Mukai). Aiding Yagami in his investigation is Jin Kuwana (Koji Yamamoto/Todd Haberkorn), a mysterious handyman with ties to the incident; Tesso (Jun Kasama/SungWon Cho), the leader of the Yokohama Liumang gang's White Mask branch; and Kisuke Watanabe (Shigeo Kiyama/Edward Bosco), a detective working for the Kanagawa Prefectural Police. As part of his investigation at Seiryo High School, Yagami also becomes acquainted with Mami Koda (Misuzu Togashi/Kayli Mills), a student who is targeted by several bullies in her class, and Yoko Sawa (Mai Yamane/Erica Lindbeck), an English teacher who oversees Koda's class and is connected to Ehara's son, Toshiro, who committed suicide several years ago. Other characters featured in the main story include: Yuzo Okuda (Yusaku Yara/Jamieson Price), the chairman of Seiryo High School; Reiko Kusumoto (Marika Hayashi/Sumalee Montano), the Vice Minister of Health who took the position following the arrest of her predecessor, Kaoru Ichinose; and Hidemi Bando (Yutaka Aoyama/Andrew Kishino), an officer of the National Police Agency's Public Security Division.

The Kaito Files expansion stars Kaito as the primary protagonist, and features a brand new cast of characters, including: Kyoya Sadamoto (Katsuyuki Konishi/Stephen Fu), a highly successful tech CEO; Mikiko Sadamoto (Eri Miyajima/Suzie Yeung), Kyoya's wife and Kaito's former lover who was thought to have committed suicide; Jun Sadamoto (Yuki Shin/Paul Castro Jr.), Kyoya and Mikiko's rebellious teenage son; Shusuke Kenmochi (Hiroshi Nakamura/Alexander Gross), leader of the Crimson Lotus gang; Masao Igarashi (Taichi Takeda/Peter Jessop) and Shiro Senda (Tōru Nara/Dave B. Mitchell), former yakuza members who now run the Bato Detective Agency as a rival to Yagami's business; and Yasutaka Shirakaba (Kenta Sasa/Yong Yea), a doctor residing in the Chiba Prefecture who has ties to Mikiko's disappearance.

Private detective Takayuki Yagami and his partner Masaharu Kaito are invited by their friends Fumiya Sugiura and Makoto Tsukumo to assist their fledgling detective business in Ijincho. They are requested by Seiryo High School Chairman Yuzo Okuda to covertly investigate claims of bullying as an open investigation would subject the school to stigmatization; one of his students, Toshiro Ehara, committed suicide four years prior after the school failed to find evidence that he was being bullied. Yagami discovers that the bullying exists and covertly intervenes on behalf of Mami Koda, a new bullying victim.

He later receives a call from his friend Saori Shirosaki at the Genda Law Office. Shirosaki explains that one of her defendants, Akihiro Ehara, who is held in custody for sexual battery, told the court about the whereabouts of Hiro Mikoshiba's body in Ijincho before the police could find it. He also accuses Mikoshiba of being a bully that drove Toshiro, his son, to suicide and blames the court and Seiryo High for letting Mikoshiba walk free. Shirosaki then requests Yagami's help in issuing an appeal for Ehara since she believes that he is using the sexual battery as an alibi for murdering Mikoshiba. Okuda overhears and reveals his motives for requesting the detectives; he seeks to disprove Ehara's accusations that Seiryo High is negligent in terms of bullying. Yagami infiltrates the school to further investigate Mikoshiba as he was a teacher at the time of his death. He asks Yoko Sawa, Mikoshiba's mentor, about his background but she refuses to cooperate.

It is then revealed that Sawa was pressured by the school to not implicate Mikoshiba for being responsible for Toshiro's suicide. Sawa was also a classmate of Mitsuru Kusumoto in 2008, who is currently in a coma after a suicide attempt, caused by bullying. Mitsuru's fate moved his homeroom teacher, Yu Kitakata, who is now a handyman under the alias Jin Kuwana, to blackmail Mitsuru's bullies into helping him commit murder against bullies across Japan; one of his victims was Mikoshiba. With this information, Yagami concludes that Ehara was assisted by Kuwana and his students in fabricating his alibi and murdering Mikoshiba. Kuwana is then hunted by the RK, a Hangure gang led by Kazuki Soma, who kills Sawa in an apparent crossfire.

Yagami discovers that the RK invasion was led by Hidemi Bando, coordinator of the National Police Agency's Public Security Division so that he could engage in a smear campaign against Reiko Kusumoto, Mitsuru's mother, who is also the Vice Minister of Health. Bando sought to remove Reiko as the supervisor of the national pension fund since he planned to gamble it to revive Japan's stagnant economy. To resolve this, he decided to expose her secret of murdering Shinya Kawai, one of Mitsuru's bullies; he intended to capture Kuwana and his students so that he could make them testify against her. The RK is also revealed to be a front; Soma was one of Bando's agents but decided not to defame Reiko as he admired her leadership skills. As a result, he killed Sawa since she knew about Kuwana's murders, inevitably implicating Kusumoto.

Bando later relents and convinces Kusumoto that he can hide her secret. Kusumoto refuses upon realizing that this was what caused Sawa, who always supported Mitsuru, to die. Before she can proceed, Mitsuru wakes up, with Bando successfully convincing Kusumoto to follow along his plans after claiming that Mitsuru would be hurt by his mother going to jail. Bando then orders the RK to kill everyone who could implicate Kusumoto, including Yagami. Kuwana negotiates and offers the RK the whereabouts of Kawai's body. Yagami and his allies prevent the RK, including Soma, from destroying Kawai's body. Kuwana, however, also refuses to destroy the body with Yagami defeating him as well. By the new year, Bando and Soma are arrested, Ehara and Kusumoto confess their murders which Mitsuru accepts, Yagami's actions inspire Koda's bullies to reform and prevent other bullying incidents and Kuwana anonymously tips the police about his other murders since he feels guilty for inadvertently causing Sawa's death.

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