Amazing game with an amazing plot. Although the first game was already good, there were some aspects to it that undermined it, which this game took and improved upon to make an absolute banger of a game. Some parts of it were a little frustrating but overall not hugely impactful on my experience, I still had a blast playing this. Very well-paced too, with one of the best final boss buildups I've ever experienced.

I wish RGG wouldn't be so reluctant to use Yakuza characters where it would make sense, because a couple characters did show up, but kind of awkwardly didn't say anything at all and just stood there. Overall though, I love the Judgment cast a lot and I'm really sad that Yagami's actor may not be able to return to the series because his agency is awful.

"How far is one willing to go for justice for those who have been wrong'd by it" is a question lingering in the back of the mind, and one our protagonist, Takayuki Yagami, will face, as he encounters the people struggling with how much the system will let people get away with crimes and take it out for themselves, as the laws are flawed, and justice is tenuous.

In this sequel to the 2018 legal thriller, Judgment, Yagami and his partner, Masaharu Kaito, are asked to meet up with old allies, Fumiya Sugiura, and Makoto Tsukumo in Isezaki Ijincho, Yokohama to investigate a bully incident at a school, and then asked to investigate a criminal, Akihiro Ehara, who has committed both murder and sexual harassment, and get involved into a cycle of incidents along the way as they meet characters like Yoko Sawa, a teacher for the school Yagami investigates, a Yokohama handyman going by Jin Kuwana, the reinvented yakuza; now known as RK, along with the old allies of our last adventure.

Being the successor for the brawler combat as the mainline entries have switched to turn based starting with 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon, it is the smoothest RGG has ever been, with moveset additions to the Crane and Tiger style along with the new style of the Snake, which heavily focuses on defense capabilities, while at the same time distincting a lot of Yagami's animations from Kiryu to keep his more agile and acrobatic style more in tuned, and like every RGG title, there is so much content to be explored, one being the School Stories, where Yagami becomes a club advisor and tackles on the clubs a school will offer, all providing different gameplay elements like rhythm and skateboarding, only to solve a mystery within the school's circle with his new sidekick, Kyoko Amasawa. There are also new additions to your detective kit, like a dog to search for smell-based clues, climbing buildings, and enhanced stealth which just makes the gameplay even smoother and adds more variety to mystery solving, further distincting itself from the Yakuza series.

But where the game really shines is the music and storytelling. First of all, the music is really experimental, with tracks like Viper, Dig in Your Heels, Vorephelia, and Unwavering Belief, all remain fitting and just good for the ear, but also stay traditional with tracks like Green Vibes, Tenacious Red, and Blue Stompin', Fog, and 1811.

Onward to the storytelling, it is some of the best RGG has put out, and where it shines are the new characters and especially the antagonists, The new group known as RK, a group of ex-yakuza recovering from the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, are really threatening, along with the fact they really started experimenting making more morally grey characters, the character on hand with a savior complex and an obsessed view on vigilante justice, how much damage shining the truth will bring, who gets involved, and the causalities brought along the way, the game will really shine on it and let you, the player, decide your own ideals. However, that goes without saying that the screentime for some characters are not really balanced, and for one of them they basically do nothing for the entire game, but within the given time, some of them do have the substance or needs more of it. Another thing I liked what was handled is how personal it can get to the player with its school setting and how eerily close the game got to our issues with the law and school systems. Along with the fast pacing, and build up to the twists, there is enough to keep the player interested and intact. The last part of the main story I want to add is that it does try to be standalone as possible for new players, but it's substories add on as continuation from Judgment, but with context to catch you up, and some side cases are new and enjoyable as ever and like every RGG title, just flat out goofy to distinct itself for a good breather from the game's darker story.

Overall: I really enjoyed Lost Judgment, it's storytelling and amazing gameplay definitely made it my favorite out of 2021, and my 2nd favorite RGG title, here's hoping a Judgment 3 happens.

Outside the structure and gameplay feeling a bit off yet pretty damn refined, straight up perfect game

The story has some on the nose moments holding it back with the super off-key pacing, but I would lying if it didn't have me excited and emotional like a kid

I'm really glad Nagoshi finally got to do his mafia mystery without Yakuza holding him back, this game reeks of his inner wanna-make mystery game especially if you've followed all 7 games before

Good way to end 2021/start 2022
Pretty fantastic game to come out of RGG, although its got some dips and cracks throughout that keep it from being perfect imo. Pacing wise its pretty slow at the start, but its got the benefit of having probably one of the best casts RGG has written and an intriguing plot once things do start to get rolling, with really great reveals/twists/arcs throughout.
Stuff like the Keihen Gang and the Trailing missions are definitely what hold it back from being my favorite. For either of these mechanics, if these just happened way less often they'd be kind of a non-issue that I could more easily wave off but nah. Legitimately both of these are probably some of my least favorite things in the entire Yakuza-Judgment series, with Keihen being something that could have probably been entirely cut. Trailing I could more easily forgive if it didn't just show up all the goddamn time. Chase missions aren't too spectacular but they show up only every now and then, whereas I swear 50% of side cases will have 1 trailing mission and they all take way more time than i would like.
Despite this, I still enjoyed a good chunk of the side content as a lot of the side cases and friends you make are really enjoyable. It also helps that Tak is a really great protagonist with a lot of great moments, personality and charm from the get-go.
It's odd, even as much as I've enjoyed prior Yakuza games and I think the lulls of those games are less severe than some of the faults in this game, I appreciate this slightly more overall. I enjoyed what I've played of Yakuza so far but with the exception of 7 imo, it's kinda harder for me to think of times where I was as engaged as I was here regarding the main game. I love 0 and K2, and I look forward to playing 3-6 eventually but it was great getting to the end of this game and seeing not just the cast wrap up loose ends but caring about almost the entire cast. Pretty much each character does a good job of establishing themselves in the narrative in a way that feels meaningful so by the end its great to see how even minor characters have developed. All I can say is that I look forward to playing Lost Judgment after hearing how much that game improves upon this one.

Where do I start, undeniably the best Yakuza has to offer when it comes to character writing, story, side-cast, antagonists, music and payoff, the side content is up there among the best.

It's only a bit lacking in the gameplay section, but that's understandable since this is the first dragon engine game.

The way Kiryu's arc comes to an end here is not simply through what the series says about living, but also its overarching themes of parenthood from way back in Yakuza 1...it's magical even, Hard to describe it with words when I have tears all over my face. RGG fucking killed it.

While some people may say the story is worse than the first game, in my opinion it's as good as: while not being as personal, it's better in areas the previous entry failed like the villains which are way more memorable and threatning. It's also way more easy to relate, I actually found myself relating to the bullying cases the game tries and does a great job criticizng.
Regarding the gameplay, the combat MAY be the best one we ever got in the series (Yakuza Included) and while I wish some of the side content wasn't DLC, there's still so much content to enjoy. One "nitpick" that bothered me in the previous entry was the lack of the dynamic intros for the boss fights and this game not only solves that but also made them absolute fenomenal, some of the best in the series. The soundtrack is also completely on point.
If you like yakuza you should definitely give a try to this games, they are definitely going great.
9/10

I don't know if I like the story better than the first Judgment, but I thought the story was pretty good and had one of the best villains in the series easily ranking up there to Judgment,Yakuza 7 and Yakuza 3's antagonist for me. the gameplay however is the best out of the entire series, as so much content was added and the amount of activities is more than any of the other games. with even new additions like skateboarding (which you can use to traverse the world faster as well),boxing and even bike racing, and the combat is the most refined it's ever been as each fighting style Yagami uses is extremely fun and each has it's own use. you'll be constantly switching fighting styles often, they also added a new fighting style called Snake that is similar to Tanimura's fighting style from Yakuza 4 but this fighting style is way more fun to use and the parrying mechanic is more refined. overall it's one of the best games Ryu Ga Gotoku studio has made and if you're a fan of the series it's easily worth your time