Lost Judgment review: your favorite detective is back

Lost Judgment has become one of the best games of 2021. The sequel to Judgment deals with sensitive issues with success and shows that justice is worth fighting for

More and better in Lost Judgment

Like Shenmue, Lost Judgment begins on December 6 and Yagami continues to act as a private investigator. It all starts with a case that will serve as a tutorial of the game mechanics. After solving this case we go to our office and we are put in context of the main plot of the game. A policeman is arrested for sexually assaulting a young woman and a dead body appears in Yokohama. Yagami is hired by a school principal to investigate a case of bullying. We will have to gain the trust of the students to solve the mystery, between mini-game and mini-game as we are accustomed to the studio. The weight of the plot is very important in this game.

Sega is right with the theme of this game, as the institute addresses very relevant social issues and each time we will be scratching more and more the main argument of the plot. Lost Judgment addresses a complex issue in the country, such as bullying, and does so in a very sincere way and showing the harsh reality of the day to day life of students. It delves into these raw issues and proposes solutions to something that is often considered "kid stuff"

Yokohama as a new setting

Yagami ends up in Yokohama, the same city where the seventh installment of Yakuza: Like a Dragon took place. Judgment takes the bases of the Yakuza saga but focuses the mechanics on investigation. We will find a variety of mini-games such as skateboarding, baseball or play Mega Drive in an arcade. In this installment we will have a skateboard with which we can move along the road. We will be able to use the skateboard in the park to have fun in the dead time. The trips between missions will now be more entertaining and we will not have the feeling of being moving by habit

Combat is a kind of hack and slash that will have three styles for our character: the crane, the snake or the tiger. The new class is the snake, designed to counterattack and is one of the fighting styles that we will use the most during the adventure. We will have skills that will activate cinematics and that will constitute very powerful attacks. Combat is similar to the first installment but with all its mechanics more polished. As we complete fights we will be able to improve skills in a kind of tree of improvements present in most role-playing games.

Parkour is one of the new mechanics of the saga. It is reduced to a tool that allows us to climb through predetermined scenarios: pipes, scaffolding, windows... We will always be able to do it in clearly defined moments, it will not be something we can decide to do at any time. Lost judgment has such a variety of mechanics and playable elements that we will not have the feeling of repetitiveness and will always manage to surprise us

Investigate until you know the truth

One of the most important parts of its gameplay is the investigation. The search for clues will allow us to advance in the plot, we will enter into frantic chases, detailed interrogations, photographs in the shadows or listen to other people's conversations. In the infiltrations we will have to pass unseen through large groups of enemies by using travel or stealth mechanics. We will have at our disposal drones, sound amplifiers and a whole series of other tools that will help us with our objective

The characteristic humor of the Yakuza saga is fully maintained in this new spin-off. In the part of the school investigation there will be very funny situations typical of the studio that will make us laugh our asses off and be glued to the screen. The secondary missions are around 50 and are so varied that we will not want to leave any of them without completing them for their variety, humor and non-repetitiveness of mechanics. They will not be the typical errand boy missions. Boxing, dancing or robotics will be some of the side missions and mini-games that we will get to be part of

Graphically it knows how to take full advantage of the new next-gen and Japanese locations are perfectly reflected throughout the game. The soundtrack is one of its strengths and excellently accompanies the entire adventure. Lost Judgment has a theme for every situation and will make us get fully into the feelings of the characters and every moment of Yagami's journey.

The Best

• Maintains all the good things of the first installment
• New features such as parkour
• How it deals with sensitive issues such as bullying

The worst

• A too continuist proposal

We have made this analysis thanks to a download code for Playstation 5 provided by Koch Media.