If you are still fond of the action-focused combat from the Yakuza series, good news. The Yakuza spinoff series Judgment will carry that torch, and continue on with the more direct combat system.
During the reveal stream of Judgment’s upcoming sequel Lost Judgment, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio executive director Toshiro Nagoshi responded to a question by the press whether a move turn-based combat was ever considered for the new game.
“We did discuss the possibility of developing that battle system for our next title [Lost Judgment],” he said. “And while we may pursue the turn-based system even outside the Yakuza series, the conclusion we ended up at was that because this is a different series, the best approach would be to keep them separate and refine what makes each series great.”
Nagoshi further emphasised that “action” is an important keyword for the Judgment series.
Lost Judgment will see returning protagonist Yagami getting one new combat stance, the counter-attack and parry-focused Snake stance alongside the crowd-control acrobats of Crane style and one-on-one hard punches of Tiger style seen in Judgment. Yagami can also climb and clamber on ledges during investigations- totally normal for a modern open-world game but something different from the games Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has done.
Meanwhile, the Yakuza series has moved away from the direct combat system into a turn-based combat system, effectively turning it into a JRPG. The last-minute change in direction paid off, and Nagoshi said he’s thrilled by the warm reception it received.
It looks like the Judgment is here to stay, and is able to carve its own niche different to the Yakuza series it spun out from.
Lost Judgment will be coming out this year for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on September 24, worldwide.