With the success of Sega's Yakuza series on PC and Xbox, it was only a matter of time until its recent spin-off Judgment made its way to more platforms, which happened just last week with the release of Judgment Remastered. With this, Sega raised the game's visual fidelity and performance, while also adding a new lighting engine to the game, and bringing the game to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Google Stadia. Shortly after, the publisher began teasing an event called "Judgment Day," and thanks to sneaky footage released on the developer's Twitter account, it's almost guaranteed that this event is to announce a Judgment sequel.
Judgment originally released in Japan in December 2018 under the title "Judge Eyes," before coming west in June 2019. The game is a detective drama set in Yakuza's Kamurocho, a fictional recreation of Tokyo's red light district Kabukicho. It follows private detective Takayuki Yagami (performed by Takuya Kimura) as he investigates the yakuza clans in Tokyo to track down a serial killer. While the game has no direct ties to characters like Kazuma Kiryu or Ichiban Kasuga, it does feature some of the yakuza families fans of the mainline entries are familiar with.
On April 23rd, the day of Judgment Remastered's release, Sega announced a digital event called "Judgment Day" on May 7th, which follows recent rumors that RGG Studio is currently developing a sequel to the game possibly titled "Lost Judgment." Following a competition on Twitter, Sega has begun posting clips of what could be footage of this upcoming sequel, as it depicts Yagami and his partner Kaito squaring up against an unrecognizable foe. The visuals also seem more reminiscent of that of the recent remaster's, implying the game will look very similar to it.
It seems that this all but confirms that Judgment 2, or "Lost Judgment" is on the way. A sequel to Judgment only means big things for the growth of the Yakuza franchise going forward, as up until now the Judgment series has managed to stand separately quite well, acting as a launching on point for newcomers and a way to return to Kamurocho for older fans, as Yakuza: Like a Dragon shifted its gears to the real life setting of Yokohama. Given that Sega has a habit of releasing yearly Yakuza titles in Japan, Judgment 2 could be released as early as this year. What that means for the western release remains to be seen, however the publisher has shown interest in simultaneous releases lately, meaning it could be the first one in the franchise.
Judgment is available now on Google Stadia, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.