Judgmenthad me hooked from the first scene. That’s very surprising, because I had no plans to play Judgment anytime soon.
Eventually, sure. I started aYakuza Kiwamiplaythrough a few weeks ago with the plan of finishing Kiryu’s first outing, then working my way through the whole series to arrive at Infinite Wealth. But thenmy PS5 stopped working, and I decided to use my dustyPS4to try and play through an entirely different Yakuza game in the brief window before it got back from repair.
If you need to use your PS4 again for whatever reason, don’t be surprised when it sounds like a 747 is taking off in your living room. The whisper-quiet PS5 has ruined me for last-gen noisiness.
Judgment sets itself apart from the mainline series in some interesting ways (or, at least, from the taste of the mainline series I’ve gotten from Kiwami, and my brief time playing0andLike a Dragon). Right off the bat, you’re introduced to Takayuki Yagami, a clean-cut lawyer with slicked-back hair, as he works away in his office. Yagami has a far more respectable job than series stalwarts Kiryu and Ichiban, who both start out as members of the Yakuza.
That office work is constantly interrupted by his boss, Ryuzo Genda, and another attorney, Saori Shirosaki, as they fend off offers of work for Yagami. Meanwhile, Masamichi Shintani, a more experienced lawyer, rages with barely contained jealousy at the attention Yagami is getting. We learn that Yagami has just earned an acquittal in a murder case. That may not sound all that impressive, but the game quickly relays that 99.9 percent of criminal cases in Japan end with a conviction. Yagami has done the impossible for his client, Shinpei Okubo, and has become the most sought-after defense attorney in the country as a result.
I remember hearing this plot detail discussed on gaming podcasts in the lead-up to the game’s release in 2019, but it’s still a fascinating idea that sets the world of Judgment apart from my own. Though America’s justice system is deeply broken, it pays lip service to the idea of defendants being innocent until proven guilty. Judgment’s representation of the Japanese legal system suggests it is starting from the opposite assumption, which colors everything about its portrayal of lawyers, detectives, crime, and the law.
Yagami can’t bask in the glow of his success for long. The scene ends with Saori receiving a call with the news that Shinpei has stabbed his girlfriend to death. Yagami’s success has now become an albatross around his neck as the client he earned that rare acquittal for turned out to be a murderer all along.
Three years later, we meet Yagami huddled on the street, dressed in rags. We might assume that he’s homeless, maybe fired from his job in disgrace as a result of the murder. But no,he’s in disguise for his new gig as a private investigator, havingquithis law job because he can’t live with being responsible for someone dying again. Instead, he’s taking any gig he can get, no matter how small time. In this case, he’s tracking down a detective who owes the Yakuza money.
From here, the game tutorializes a bunch of things in quick succession. Yagami runs into some street thugs, and as you put the hurt on them, you learn that this former lawyer has command over two fighting styles, Crane and Tiger, that are tailored for taking on crowds and one-on-one fights, respectively.
You also need to spy on the detective, and the game teaches you how to track him, hiding behind trash cans and street signs whenever he checks his six. Spying also involves switching to a first-person perspective to examine the environment. And, once he notices you, you need to run him down in a Temple Run-style chase sequence. The game has a lot of mechanics — many of them new because, though Yagami can handle himself in a fight, his skillset is primarily mental — but introduces them to you painlessly.
The combat in Judgment is significantly faster than in Yakuza Kiwami, another reason to be excited about playing more.
And, best of all, after this job is done, Yagami goes to visit his old boss at Genda Law Office and finds out that another murder has occurred. This one has left the victim without his eyes. That was just the story beat I needed to feel invested in seeing things through. In an hour, Judgment introduces you to its key players, the world of the Japanese legal system, its crime mystery story, and its many mechanics. Add in the noir touches I’ve seen so far, and I’m almost not bothered by my PS5 being out of commission anymore. Almost.
