Judgment, the latest game from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios, the developers of the Yakuza series, has a release date set for the West. It released in Japan in December of last year but was confirmed to be getting a release date for the Western territories. Sega confirmed the news with a tweet:
Alongside the release date, there are two other noteworthy things behind this news. The game comes with a reversible cover featuring the Japanese cover art of the game and a studio sticker, though this is only if you get a physical pre-order of the game. However, the digital pre-order version allows access to the game 3 days early on June 21. You have to pre-order the game through the PlayStation Store in order to gain early access.
One thing that’ll make Judgment different from the Yakuza series is that you can have the option to switch between localized English voice-over or the original Japanese voice-over. The latter has always had Japanese voice-over and was never localized.
In Judgment, you play as Takayuki Yagami, a defense attorney turned private detective who has to navigate the criminal underworld as he hunts down a serial killer. The game is set in Kamurocho, which was created originally for the Yakuza series.
Similar to Yakuza, a lot of the gameplay is focused on hand-to-hand combat with the same over-the-top moves that the series is known for. And also like the Yakuza series, there will be a ton of miscellaneous things and other activities that you can do around Kamurocho.
However, there are many new elements to the game surrounding the main character’s role as a private detective. You have to gather evidence at crimes scenes and identify suspects based on visual clues, as well as ask the right questions and present the right evidence to unlock witness testimony.