After several teases and even a PlayStation Network leak, Sega officially announced Lost Judgment, a sequel to the popular Yakuza spin-off Judgment. Players will again step into the shoes of Takayuki Yagami, with a few new twists. He will get a third combat style known as "Snake" for counterattacks against armed enemies, a "School Stories" system, and more, among other returning features.
This time around, the Lost Judgment detective will be investigating Akihiro Ehara. After being accused of sexual harassment, a seeming murder takes place, and thus the story begins. Notably, though, the game won't just be set in Kamurocho, Tokyo, as the original was, and as such, it becomes plausible that Takayuki Yagami and Yakuza: Like a Dragon's Ichiban Kasuga interact in some way.
Yakuza and Judgment Timeline
First, it's worth looking at the settings and timelines of the games. Judgment is set in Kamurocho, Tokyo, in December 2018, while Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes place in the Yokohama district of Isezaki Ijincho in 2019. As many know, he is absent for 18 years after taking a fall in 2001, and thus his story kicks off. It seems that, just as Kiryu was the face of the franchise for a long time, Ichiban Kasuga is the new leading man over the next decade of Yakuza content. Judgment, overall, seems just as important as this subfranchise will retain the action elements of the franchise, while the main one explores the RPG set-up of Like a Dragon.
Lost Judgment is set some time after the first game, in December 2021 to be exact. Furthermore, Lost Judgment doesn't restrict the player to Kamurocho, but instead expands to the Yokohama district of Isezaki Ijincho too. As such, with the game now crossing into a new, yet familiar, city of the franchise, it only makes sense to have the two leading men of Yakuza meet up somehow. The last players see of Ichiban Kasuga in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, after all, he is choosing to stay in Ijincho and watch over the city. It's unlikely then that he'll just be explained away when the game is just two years after his game.
Furthermore, the franchise has already established precedent for such cameos. In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Kiryu has a significant cameo in the game in which he passes the torch to Ichiban Kasuga. It won't likely be as dramatic, but with all of this in mind, a cameo in Lost Judgment makes a ton of sense.
Lost Judgment releases September 24 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.