Judgment

Judgment is a detective spin-off from the creators of the Yakuza series, set by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio in the same fictional district of Kamurocho, but with a new protagonist - former lawyer Takayuki Yagami, who becomes a private detective after losing a court case. The main plot revolves around a series of brutal murders tied to both the yakuza and the police, and Yagami has to combine investigative work with fistfights to see the case through to the end. The tone of the game is darker and more noir than the main series, though it keeps its trademark humor in the side activities.

The gameplay expands the proven Yakuza formula with detective mechanics - tailing suspects through crowds, photographing evidence, squeezing through small spaces like a rat, or hacking locks using a drone. The combat system is built around two styles, power and acrobatic, and offers elaborate combos and finishers that make use of the environment. Kamurocho feels more alive in Judgment than ever before thanks to new side cases and activities, from escape rooms to drones and playing tabletop games at an arcade, and many of them work more like small detective puzzles than typical Yakuza-style side content.

On PlayStation 4, the game uses the same Dragon Engine as Yakuza 6 and offers one of the most detailed renditions of Kamurocho in the whole series, with smooth transitions between street investigations and cinematically staged fights. Critics praised above all the strong story with unexpected twists and a fresh perspective on a familiar setting, which earned Judgment a reputation as one of the series' best spin-offs and convinced many players that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio can tell a story outside the established framework of yakuza drama too. Due to later licensing issues involving one of the actors, the game disappeared from digital storefronts, so the PS4 version remains one of the few reliable ways to play it in its original form as intended.

Why play it: Because of licensing issues it vanished from digital storefronts, so the PS4 version remains one of the few reliable ways to experience a strong detective story in one of the Yakuza series' best spin-offs.