I'm not a big fan of the Yakuza series, but I did have a surprisingly great time with Lost Judgment, a side series which follows a small detective agency in Kamurocho run by crazed worm collecting lunatic Takayuki Yagami and his muscle, Masaharu "drop kick you from off-screen" Kaito. It suffered from some of the same problems I usually assign to the larger Yakuza franchise, and it steeps itself deeply in subject matter that it doesn't always handle with grace, but by shifting away from the series' Yakuza pulp cinema roots to something closer to Japanese noir (which I generally prefer), it more than made up for its shortcomings.

But, like, Yagami is kind of a creep, right? I didn't get into this much before, but the way he interacts with other characters is needlessly abrasive and outright results in more death and violence. He's not a great protagonist, and although I too like shoving bugs and screws into my pockets and going on adventures with stray dogs I meet, I don't find him especially relatable. Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective), issues between actor Takuya Kimura's agency and Sega have put Yagami's future in jeopardy, which essentially leaves Ryu Ga Gotoku two options: put Judgment on ice or make Kaito the protagonist.

I'm not sure if The Kaito Files was always planned or if it is actually Ryu Ga Gotoku doing a dry run with the character before determining whether to move forward with a third Judgment, but given Yagami's comical lack of presence in this expansion (he occasionally sends you texts saying he's in the woods looking for a divorcee) it certainly feels like the latter, and hey, you'll get no complaints from me there. I've always found him to be a more affable character, one who comfortably fits into that "dumbass with a heart of gold" archetype, but The Kaito Files puts in a respectable amount of work building this meathead up into someone who can lead a damn game. By the end of the expansion's ~8 hour runtime, I found that I was rooting for Kaito far more than I did Yagami after his own whopping 23 hour campaign, and was far more invested in his story and where it might possibly go. So if they are teeing him up, then hey, mission accomplished.

The case Kaito takes on is also a lot more compelling to me than that of the base game. While covering Yagami's desk, Kaito is approached by a wealthy businessman named Kyoya Sadamoto, who offers Kaito a ridiculous sum of money to look into the disappearance of his wife, Mikiko, who presumably died two years prior. Kaito turns down the money and attempts to wash his hands of the case, having been Mikiko's lover eight years earlier. However, after meeting her son, Jun, who insists that Kaito is actually his father, he's drawn into the search for Mikiko and uncovers a larger conspiracy involving the serial murders of Crimson Lotus gang members, who Mikiko appears to have some connection with. Kaito's personal ties to the case - his regret for choosing obligation to his criminal family over Mikiko, and grappling with the possibility of having a teenaged son - requires him to consider what kind of man he is, in turn building depth and forcing him into situations where he must hone his skills as a detective.

Not that he becomes some Hercule Poirot by the end of the game (he's much closer to Jacques Clouseau on the Detective Spectrum™), in fact when it comes time to piece the mystery together and reveal the culprit, he can posit that he committed the murders like some kind of sleeper agent. However, he's convincing enough as a sleuth that I never felt the same disparity I did with Yagami as a fighter, and it's also funny to me how he has far more composure when presenting incorrect evidence during cross examination-- like damn Yagami, sorry you're so bad at your job. Kaito is the full package and I wish he were my dad.

I also enjoyed all the side characters, with Jun being a standout. He's a bit dim but has a strong sense of justice and a good heart, which goes a long way towards convincing the player that he might actually be Kaito's kid. It's clear he looks up to him too, and Kaito assumes a fatherly role as though it were second nature, even if he is initially hesitant. If Jun didn't work, none of this would work. I also like that he is afraid of knives and passes out on the spot if he sees one, and sometimes just jumps out windows. Good kid. Mikiko's relationship to Kaito is equally as important, and her own willingness to protect others at personal cost really sold me on her being perfect for Kaito. Saving her isn't just about setting right a past wrong, but protecting someone Kaito still loves as passionately as he did eight years ago. Ryu Ga Gotoku doesn't fumble here the same way they did with Lost Judgment. It's starts as a smaller, more personal story that still blows up and goes in some wacky directions, but which remains tightly focused and consistently good throughout.

Gameplay is a known quantity, just more of the same from Lost Judgment. Combat is, was, and probably always will be my least favorite part of the Yakuza series. I just don't click with it, I don't think it feels good, and The Kaito Files is arguably a bit weaker here as it reduces the amount of available fighting styles to just two: brawler and tank. I mostly stuck with tank because the trade-off in speed makes you damn near unkillable, and being able to pick up weapons mid-attack has clear advantages when most areas are full of bikes, signs, and baseball bats. You still look for clues in first person, though Kaito - who is described as being an animal, a feral beast of a man - is able to employ his sense of hearing and smell to aide him in his search for evidence without the assistance of gadgets. Sometimes you'll be walking around and Kaito's sniffer picks up on something, so you just like, go smell a bag of garbage and get experience points.

A sore point for Yakuza fans might be the lack of side cases, which is a bummer, but given the intended scope of The Kaito Files as an expansion, I suppose it would be unreasonable to expect a large amount of side content. However, a smattering of additional cases would've been nice, at least in the sense that I like watching Kaito interact with the world around him. I enjoy observing him like a gorilla in its enclosure, and I want to introduce more variables to see what he'll do. Yet, despite these grievances, I still had more fun with this than the base game, and it makes me wish Yagami would be expunged from the series so we can just get more Kaito.

Hey, RGG, you can easily patch in a quick text exchange to explain it too. Look, you can have this free of charge:

Yagami: "Hey, my investigation is taking longer than I thought."

Kaito: "Oh yeah?"

Yagami: "I fell in a lake and got passed away, you're the star of Judgment now."

Kaito: "thank yuo ,bro"

Please just make it happen, and give Kaito a skateboard and bring back Ranpo.

I always wanted to see more introspection into Kaito's character, so I was actually really excited to try this DLC out.

In same ways, you can really tell it's the first time RGG has done an actually meaningful DLC. The structure is kind of sloppy in the first act (it pays-off a lot later) and the general direction of the content seems kind-of experimentational. Yes, we've got Majima saga before in Kiwami 2, but this is something consistently more ambitious.

As I said, I find some issues in the presentation of things, but ultimately I've had a blast going through Kaito Files. Once you're hooked up with these Judgment games and the characters, you really can't get enough of them. I really liked what this adds to Kaito's character, and is a great addition to Lost Judgment's experience. Props to Jun, I ended liking him a lot, hope we see him again in Judgment 3.

Played from – to: (2023-03-06 – 2023-03-11) – PS5.
‣ 7/10 – Here we go again… Pussy drives men to do crazy things.
‣ Thoughts: Kaito Files is an expansion that explores, well… Kaitos past that has caught up with him in the present. Overall, the story is pretty basic, and the villain has no interesting motives, however the supporting cast is pretty entertaining, and I found Kaito to be an amusing protagonist. I just wish we had more of him in the main game. On the other hand, when I say the villain is boring, I mean his main drive for doing bad things is power and money. However, I won’t deny the way he wriggles his way into power is pretty fucked up and twisted. Sadly, as a person, he appears to be very generic, and everyone around him gives off basic ass bitch vibes, with money and booze being their only motivation for action. I’d say this expansions story faces the same problems the prequels story had, where villains are bland, but the protagonist’s supporting cast is great. Unsurprisingly, you get to play as Kaito and in turn, fight as him. His fighting styles are pretty slow and heavy, being closest in comparison to Kiryu’s Beast style. In terms of gameplay, there’s not much to do besides pushing through the main plotline. There’re a few optional dialogue scenes you can experience, but for the most part, the game is just a narrow chapter-to-chapter story. For a 6-to-7-hour campaign, I’d say a 30 $ price tag is pretty steep, considering the main game is four times longer. However, if you love Lost Judgment and want to experience everything getting this in a deluxe edition on sale is a good deal.

A rather obvious attempt at testing the waters for Kaito to take over for Yagami if they couldn’t get the latter’s actor back but which works well because Kaito is a neat character who can definitely carry his own. Kaito himself is an interesting character in that he obviously has a bunch of similarities to Kiryu including their fighting styles, but one major thing that separates the two is that Kaito has an actual healthy sense of self-awareness to him. Kiryu has a massive martyr complex, he is always willing to throw himself into the fire time and again with very little thought of how it would affect his loved ones and it looks like he will never change. (Which is not a bad thing mind you, it’s a unique character flaw amongst video game protags.). Kaito, on the other hand, is able to recognize his hang-ups and to grow from them. The plot of the Kaito Files itself is a clear echo to the plot of Yakuza 1; just like Kiryu Kaito is dragged into investigating the disappearance of an old flame all the while protecting her kid. But it’s interesting how they play with it, mainly with how as I mentioned, Kaito, despite being a gorilla of a man, is more emotionally mature than Kiryu and ultimately the game’s conclusion eschews the usual denouements of Like a Dragon games and especially the rather bleak ending of Yakuza 1 for something quite cathartic. Kaito Files is overall just a really well done story focused DLC campaign and a great conclusion to the Judgment sub-series if that ends up being the case. Also an additional half-star for that final boss, holy shit.

The Kaito Files is a story expansion to the fabulous Lost Judgement game. This story expansion was not needed in the slightest but the fact that it is a thing is amazing! Following the story of Masaharu Kaito, ex-yakuza turned detective & sidekick of Takayuki Yagami, he finds himself alone in Kamurucho whilst Yagami runs errands elsewhere and gets wrapped up in a huge case regarding his ex partner, morals and abuse. Saying any more story would be saying ‘too’ much… But believe me, it’s amazing and absolutely essential you have played both Judgement games prior.

The gameplay here is outstanding, playing as Kaito he has 2 fighting styles which act in a similar way to Yagami’s Tiger and Crane styles, they are built to tackle different hoards of enemies and are both extremely fun to use, especially when the skill trees have been upgraded. When you reach max completion on all the skills it becomes a whole other game, I must say this definitely has my favourite action combat in any game ever, the next Judgement game (if there is one) will top it even further if it includes Yagami’s 4 styles and Kaito’s 2 styles.

Side content wise, there is no side cases, but it makes sense, this is a story expansion focused on a singular large case, though there are other forms of side content. Namely in Kaito’s forms of discovery with his Primal senses, these are Sight, Smell and Hearing and have challenges scattered round Kamurucho to interact with and hence building skills and bonds further. I really enjoyed going for the 100% here.

The final act of The Kaito Files is phenomenal, the last dungeon and fight was really an execution of how well everything culminated across this short-ish adventure with a runtime of just 5 hours for the average player just going for the story. The final few cutscenes in Ijincho really gave me goosebumps, it was extremely intense… OH and that secret fight for completing the skill tree is perhaps the best fight i’ve done in any game!

This was a relatively short review but believe me I could go on much much further, I thoroughly enjoyed this and in my opinion it’s flawless, peak Ryu Go Gotaku right here. I hope Judgement goes on to the level of the main Yakuza series.

"Good evening, I'm Mikiko Sadamoto. I'm the most interesting character RGG studios has ever conceived."

I would really love more of these short stories. They don't even need to feature established characters (although feel free to make an exception for, say, Mikiko Sadamoto). The narrative gets streamlined, the character moments get more purpose and polish. While the Majima storyline of Kiwami 2 didn't do a lot for me, Kaito's adventure here really does excel as a deeper look into one of its leads.

Still, $30 is a pretty hefty price for a seven hour experience. The building blocks of Lost Judgment itself helps make a huge game around it, but I would love to implement a few substories to really expand on these shorter tales. Not anything crazy like the mainline games, a solid 5-10 side adventures at most. Maybe something featuring more from the game's other central character, Mikiko Sadamoto.

I also have to admit that I'm not sure Judgment's gameplay works in Kaito's hands all the time. Judgment excels in fluid combat, and Kaito's a slow beast. I already find the way characters maneuver in the Dragon engine to just feel off and Kaito's giant frame doesn't help much. Maybe if we were playing a more dexterous figure, perhaps in some kind of iconic long black trenchcoat, it wouldn't feel as finnicky.

But its hard to complain. I got it on sale and never felt a dull moment. I just find the flow of Yakuza games relaxing. It always works for me.

Oh, don't think I mentioned it, but Mikiko Sadamoto is pretty cool

Finally, after two full length titles, I got to play as my favorite Judgment character, which made me super happy. The Kaito Files is an excellent DLC campaign and a great small-scale RGG story that really delves into Kaito’s character.

The story is a bit predictable, but it’s still quite strong, with excellent characters. I loved watching Kaito bond with Jun, and I loved the deeper insight we get into Kaito’s backstory and thought processes. I thought the primary antagonist was a tad generic, and it was easy to see the primary twist of the campaign coming. However, the finale of the game was excellent and makes up for the rest of the game’s lack of surprise.

Combat’s also really solid as well. Kaito only has two fighting styles in comparison to Yagami’s four, and Bruiser and Tank feel a lot like Kiryu’s Brawler and Beast styles from Yakuza 0/Kiwami in terms of utility. However, Kaito brings his own personal sense of flair to these styles, with unique combo timings and grabs that really makes these styles his own. He’s immensely satisfying to play as.

The detective mechanics have been retooled to suit Kaito. I like how they take an animalistic approach to them by giving Kaito an increased sense of smell and hearing. I do think that the game has a bit too many sections where you need to observe and find things in order to progress. They probably added so many of those in order to give you ways to earn SP, since the game is as short as it is. You earn a lot of SP during these segments, so they were probably necessary in order to maintain the game’s balance.

All in all, The Kaito Files is a really fun time. If you like Kaito and you enjoyed the main game, the expansion only offers more to enjoy. I really, really hope that The Kaito Files means future games will include a playable Kaito during the main campaign. Kaito’s quickly become up there among my favorite RGG characters, despite him being a part of the supporting cast in both Judgment games. I like this guy a lot, and I really want to see more of him.

Kaito's very own personal adventure

If Judgment was about Yagami as a character, The Kaito Files is about Kaito.

I had the feeling this DLC throw us back to the classic Yakuza games. The very first Yakuza game to be specific, going around Kamurocho searching the mom of a abandoned child? Sounds pretty much like it.

If you ever played Yakuza 0 or Yakuza Kiwami you will know Kiryu has 3 main styles of combat, 4 counting Dragon Style. Kaito uses two fighting styles in this DLC: Buiser and Tank.

Well, Bruiser is pretty much Brawler from Yakuza 0 and Kiwami. A fast and reliable source of dealing damage to a small group of enemies. Tank is Beast focused on crowd control and damage.

What's really interesting is that most of it's moveset is directly taken from Kiryu's and that's not bad by any means. Because it works and it's the first implementation of it in the new Dragon Engine. Without mentioning is just a DLC expansion.

The story in my opinion was better than in the base game, simple and to the point. It felt more personal to Kaito and that sells it to me, not just another case or adventure totally unrelated to the character.