TheYakuzaseries is much beloved by its fans for fun gameplay and a tone that is both irreverently goofy and dramatically serious. WhileYakuza: Like a Dragonhad a serious main story, many of itssubstories are comedic in tone.
Just as famous is the gameplay ofYakuza, which carried over to the spinoff titleJudgment. NowJudgmentis getting a sequel entitledLost Judgementwhich will pick up the action mystery tale where it left off. A recent announcement aboutLost Judgment’s gameplay reveals important info not just about the upcoming game, but all futureYakuzatitles.
RELATED:Judgment Sequel Releases First Footage Ahead of Reveal
Ryu ga Gotoku Studios, the team behind theYakuzaseries andJudgment, announced thatLost Judgmentwill retain the classicYakuzaaction beat-em-up style gameplay. Not counting somedetails leaked on the PlayStation Storeand what was shown in the reveal trailer, this is one of the solid known details about the game. However, whileLost Judgmentwill be retainingYakuzastyle gameplay, theYakuzaseries will not.Yakuza: Like a Dragonexperimented with an RPG style and according to the developer, that will be the gameplay style for newYakuzagames going forward. No longer action based, futureYakuzatitles should be expected to be RPGs.
This does not mean thatYakuzastyle combat is going away forever.Last Judgmentwill carry the torch and, hopefully, carry it into sequels with the same gameplay. Of course,Last Judgmentwill hopefully also iron out some of the kinks thatJudgementneeded to correct in its PS5 transition. Ultimately the fate of traditional, brawlingYakuzastyle gameplay may well depend on how wellLast Judgmentdoes in sales and reviews.Yakuza: Like a Dragonhas already proved the success of the RPG style, so expecting it for many futureYakuzatitles before further change is probably a safe bet.
For fans ofJudgment, this is likely great news, as it means players missing classicYakuzagameplay will have no choice but to give the series a try. Hopefully eitherLast Judgmentor sequels willresolve lingering mysteries from the first gameand build an impressive franchise on its own.
On top of that, it should be noted that not all of the draw forYakuzawas even in combat in the first place. With so many side missions and insane mini-games, there’s plenty to do even if combat isn’t the selling point.With Yagami in a new city inLast Judgement, there will likely be a lot more to do there as well.
Judgment Remasteredis available now on PS5, Stadia, and Xbox Series X.
