(Content warning for mentions of sexual assault)
Is Vengeance Ever Justified? Can a person take justice into their own hands and live by the weight of their choice, or should they always be left to a flawed judicial system that can and will betray the people it is designed to protect? These are the core questions of Lost Judgment, the latest game from yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku and the sequel to his 2019 detective-action brawler Judgment.
The Lost Judgment story focuses on two broad themes: justice and vengeance. Yagami’s journey explores how these two concepts are intertwined. For dozens of hours, the game explores what people are willing to do in search of justice, the failings of the criminal justice system, and how society often abandons victims of violence and abuse.
Lost Judgment deals with difficult issues such as bullying, murder, and suicide. While it shows the often brutal and tragic realities in agonizing details, it approaches sensitive issues with care and empathy. Lost Judgment sheds light on real problems, how they affect people, and offers possible solutions to those problems. The game’s cast full of new and returning characters brings the story to life through well-acted cutscenes. I especially liked the antagonists, who, despite bad things, were always painted compassionately. I felt sorry for them even if I disagreed with their actions. Lost Judgment’s care and grace in navigating these topics is refreshing, and I enjoyed playing through a story that handled it mature and wisely. With one major exception.
Lost Judgment’s handling of sexual assault is a mess. Following the #MeToo movement, a plot point that casts doubt on the truth of a victim’s story is frankly irresponsible and reinforces negative attitudes towards women who bring up stories of abuse. Using sexual assault as a storyline feels weak and shocking in this case, for shock’s sake. This is especially egregious when the narrative throws this character aside as soon as its usefulness as a plot tool is over and foregoes any resolution of its character arc. I found this plot beat incredibly disappointing in a game that otherwise had sensitive storytelling in mind. This cast a shadow over the rest of my playthrough and pissed me off on a story I otherwise liked. I really hated dealing with all of these moments in the game.
The action should be known if you’ve played other games from RGG, like the Yakuza series or Judgment. You spend a lot of time walking through two open worlds – Kamurocho and Ijincho – getting into brutal street fights and chasing story threads through the city. The investigation mechanisms of Judgment are carried over from the previous game and remain largely unchanged; They look around for clues and later present those clues as evidence, which, like in the first game, is a nice way to break up combat-oriented sections.
Lost Judgment introduces two new mechanics to the series: stealth and parkour. Both are poorly implemented and boring. Stealth is rudimentary and linear – go to this hiding place, flip a coin to lure the guards away, rinse, and repeat. Parkour is a bit addicting, but the game often forces you into exploration mode to find the grab bars you need to get around an area. That kills the pace, especially during the climax of the game where I was constantly being stopped so I could poke around where to climb.
The battle is the culmination of Lost Judgment gameplay. Yagami is fluid and fast, and the inclusion of the three different types of combat from the first game that you can switch between in a snap feels fantastic. I loved facing a room full of enemies and using the three fighting styles to systematically take out each person – especially Snake, which allows for quick shutdowns and the ability to disarm enemies. The iconic RGG heat actions are returning, and they’re as brutal and overdone as ever. I loved the fights in Lost Judgment so much that I would often walk the open world in search of trouble.
As the credits roll, I struggled to sort out my feelings. On the one hand, the story of Lost Judgment is very moving and I enjoyed exploring the characters’ emotions. And there were parts that I just loved to play like, like beating bad guys to hell. But at the end of the day, Lost Judgment commits a few unforgivable sins. Dealing with sexual assault is absolutely irresponsible, and the new game mechanics do little to help it stand out from the rest of RGG’s other games. If you’ve already invested in the Judgment series, or RGG’s games in general, I’d say you should check it out again. But don’t expect this trip to the Japanese underworld to have anything close to the effects of a game like Yakuza 0 or Like A Dragon.
