At risk of turning RPS into a Ryu Ga Gotoku fansite today, I must inform you that the rumoured release of the Judgment series on PC has happened. Available now on PC through Steam, The Judgment Collection includes Judgment, its sequel Lost Judgment, and The Kaito Files story expansion all into one handy bundle. That sure is a whole lot of judgment. Watch the trailer below for more than your daily recommended dose of kick-punching action.
Graham reported yesterday that both Judgment and Lost Judgment had been rated for PC by the ESRB. It was a pretty good indicator that the games would be arriving at some point soon, and we expected to see them announced during the Ryu Ga Gotoku summit earlier today. Weirdly, they weren’t included in the showcase but their omission doesn’t seem to have stopped publishers Sega from surprise releasing the series today anyway. More Yakuza-adjacent stuff on PC is always good, I feel.
The Judgment Collection may bundle all the series so far together, but you have the option of buying each game individually if you prefer. Sega are trying to flog the bundle by offering The Kaito Files story expansion as a freebie, so that saves quite a few pennies if you’re a completist. For a long time, it wasn’t thought the Judgment series would make it to PC because of rights issues surrounding the appearance of Takuya Kimura, the actor who portrays its main character Takayuki Yagami. With the release of the games on Steam, it would appear these have been resolved.
In more Yakuza news, Ryu Ga Gotoku have revealed today that two more Yakuza games are coming to PC in the next few years, except they’re now called Like A Dragon, the Japanese name for the series. It’s a bit like when Marathon became Snickers, Ulay changed to Olay, or Jif became Cif. With a planned release sometime in 2024, Like A Dragon 8 is the next mainline game in the series, but there’s also Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name coming in 2023. That’s a sidestory explaining where longtime series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s been since Yakuza 6 and it’s not an RPG, though the name’s as bloody long as one.
The Judgment Collection is out now on Steam for the heady price of £84/$99/€99, which saves 24% over buying it all separately. I promise I won’t publish any more posts about either Yakuza or Judgment today, your honour.