Lost Judgment

In Lost Judgment, the player controls Takayuki Yagami as he explores the Japanese districts of Kamurochō in Tokyo and Isezaki Ijincho in Yokohama (recreations of the real-life Kabukichō and Isezakichō districts, respectively). In the base game, Yagami can switch between three fighting styles in battle. In addition to the crowd-control Crane style and the one-on-one Tiger style from Judgment, Yagami uses the newly added Snake style for counterattacking and disarming enemies. If the player buys the School Stories DLC pack, a fourth style, Boxing, can also be used.

As in the previous game, Lost Judgment also features stealth segments, platforming segments, and "tailing" missions where Yagami chases suspects around the city. The trailing sections of the game have been changed in order to give the players more activity in the segment. New to Lost Judgment is the "Detective Dog", a Shiba Inu named Ranpo whom Yagami can take on walks to find hidden items or track suspects via their scent. The game also features a "School Stories" system, where Seiryo High School's Mystery Research Club president Kyoko Amasawa requests Yagami investigate and assist other clubs and students in order to solve a greater mystery.

Lost Judgment is set in December 2021, three years after the events of Judgment. Private investigator Takayuki Yagami (Takuya Kimura/Greg Chun) returns as the primary protagonist, alongside several of his supporting cast: Masaharu Kaito (Shinshū Fuji/Crispin Freeman), Ryuzo Genda (Akira Nakao/Brian McNamara), Saori Shirosaki (Yūko Kaida/Stephanie Sheh), Issei Hoshino (Yū Hayashi/Joe Zieja), Mafuyu Fujii (Risa Shimizu/Cherami Leigh), Toru Higashi (Yoshihisa Kawahara/Steve Blum), Fumiya Sugiura (Junta Terashima/Mark Whitten), and Makoto Tsukumo (Jun Miyamoto/River Kanoff).

Yagami's investigation takes him across Kamurochō, Tokyo and Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama, bringing him into contact with both new allies and enemies. The central figure of his investigation is Akihiro Ehara (Ken Mitsuishi/Artt Butler), a Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Officer accused and held in custody for groping, while also linked to the murder of Hiro Mikoshiba (Shohei Kajikawa/Andrew Morgado), a student teacher at Seiryo High School. Opposing Yagami is Kazuki Soma (Hiroshi Tamaki/Matthew Yang King), the head of the "RK" (Red Knife) Hangure syndicate that has attempted to seize power in Kamurochō in the wake of the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance disbanding, as depicted in Yakuza: Like a Dragon; Soma is supported by his right-hand man, Daimu Akutsu (Kenji Hamada/Brent Mukai). Aiding Yagami in his investigation is Jin Kuwana (Koji Yamamoto/Todd Haberkorn), a mysterious handyman with ties to the incident; Tesso (Jun Kasama/SungWon Cho), the leader of the Yokohama Liumang gang's White Mask branch; and Kisuke Watanabe (Shigeo Kiyama/Edward Bosco), a detective working for the Kanagawa Prefectural Police.

Lost Judgment faced unique challenges, according to Kazuki Hosokawa. He claimed "About a year ago when we were in the initial phase of development there was no lockdown in Japan, and the situation wasn’t as severe, but once we entered the final stages of production, things were getting serious and it became harder to communicate. There was a loss of speed and we wished we were able to discuss things faster. If we were in person, we would have been able to do that, so it was definitely a cause for stress."

As a result, Hosokawa claimed that he wanted the staff to be comfortable in the making of it. They aimed to properly balance the different types of gameplay: fight, puzzles trailing, and disguises. One thing that did change was with how he communicated with the development staff: Many continued to see Ito as a programmer due to his previous role, and so he had to actively ask them to also ask him about planning and design elements and not just programming issues. Hosokawa said that one thing he found interesting was how directors who come from a specific team tend to not hold back against their former team.

Lost Judgment received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics commented on the narrative and Yagami's role in Lost Judgment. He was praised by Destructoid for revealing new parts of his personality that are developed in the narrative. The various sidequests were praised for balancing the game's narrative in delivering both light and dark stories.

GameSpot felt that the sequel had Yagami struggle with the themes of whether or not the lead is able to deal justice by himself. Additionally, the subplot of Yagami working in a school attracted a positive response by the same publication due to how fun it becomes. Although he does not team up with Kaito many times in the sequel, GameSpot felt that Yagami became a more likable character in the sequel and is able to deliver emotional scenes properly. The reviewer further praised the handling of the narrative as it focuses properly on several conflicting themes, like issues with the law, bullying and sexual harassment.