I think Judgement is one of the most concise stories RGG has made, start to finish. Not a lot of “rubber bullets” -tier plot twists, and I enjoyed the murder mystery story. Substories are the best they’ve ever been (coming hot off the heels from Yakuza 6) and the main cast is very likeable.

Unfortunately Judgement is really lacking in gameplay. I’ve never been super crazy about the Dragon Engine, but Yagami is super clunky and slow compared to Kiryu in Yakuza 6. I also don’t think there’s a lot of variety in the combat. I despised the tailing missions, especially towards the end. They never work in any game. Karaoke is sorely missed, and the music is pretty forgettable in my opinion. I did enjoy the story, but the worst parts were the “wait for xyz to call” sections. I would’ve liked to use those opportunities to work on side jobs, but instead you’re thrusted into a totally useless filler mission.

Judgement has good bones indicative of the typical “Yakuza” experience. Even though I’d recommend Judgement to someone who wants to try the series but is intimidated by the length of Kiryu’s saga, I don’t think it really holds a candle to 0-6.

Incredibly addictive sim. It’s mostly farming and raising livestock, with some combat and cave crawling on the side. I loved the music and the art style.

I would say it needs to be played with a friend(s). Singleplayer is available but there’s practically no way I or my girlfriend would be as successful in the game without being able to divide up the work. The bigger your farm gets, the more work needs to be done. And of course all the other neat random events/content.

The only drawbacks I have likely come from the Switch port only. My BIGGEST issue came from playing multiplayer. The game would frequently freeze for a second or two on multiplayer, even with split screen. Given how important time management is, it’s incredibly frustrating. It was unbearable during combat, when freezing means enemies get free hits on you.

It’s evident this game was meant for a mouse and keyboard. Plus with the possibility of mods, just play this on PC. If the Switch port was smoothed out, this game would be near-perfect to me.

After swearing off of JRPGs after a bad experience with Dragon Quest, Persona 4 showed me that the genre CAN be fun. It's so stylish and fun in its art design, music, and characters. I turned up the XP gain from one of its many difficulty options and I never had an issue with having to grind. The Social Link aspect was my favorite part of the game. I loved to learn more about the characters through these interactions.

My only complaint with Persona 4 is how obtuse it can be at times, especially for the end of the game and its "Golden" content. Thankfully I made multiple saves because the game ended much earlier than it should have(on multiple occasions). Even with whatever negative feelings I have, this is one of the most unique games I've experienced in a long time. I'm looking forward to playing it again later down the time(and hopefully not taking 2 years to finish).

I think this is peak Yakuza. Each character’s story was short but managed to still be entertaining, and they all have very different fighting styles, which was fun to play. The way their stories intertwined throughout the game, especially at the finale, was a tremendously satisfying payoff.

You still have your typical Yakuza BS(incredibly convenient “I knew the whole time/I betrayed you and you had no clue” story, cheap boss fights), and I feel that the substories were lacking, but if you know what to expect from a Yakuza game you’ll love this.