Yakuza Spinoff Judgment Gets Firm Western Release Date

Repent, repent, for Judgment Day descends upon us this summer. Earlier today, Sega announced a June 25 release date for the localized version of its PlayStation 4 action game, Judgment.

Judgment, previously called Judge Eyes, is set in Sega's Yakuza universe, but players forgo teaming up with Kiryu and instead slip into the fabulous leather jacket of ex-defense-attorney-turned-private-detective, Takayuki Yagami.

Digital pre-orders for Judgement will go up on the PSN store on March 7. As a bonus, digital pre-orders will also grant early access to Judgement for players on June 21.

Yagami wanders through streets and locales that should already be familiar to Yakuza fans, but unlike Kiryu, the former defense attorney doesn't seek justice with his fists alone. He needs to use all his connections and familiarity with the law to get to the bottom of a serial murder case. An individual called "The Mole" is killing Yakuza members and taking their eyes (like you do). Yagami quickly runs through the list of usual suspects and needs to dig deeper to get to the bottom of what's going on. Unsurprisingly, Yakuza business becomes seedier and grimmer the further down you go.

Judgment will have a full dub when it comes west (though subs are still an option, of course). It was released in Japan at the end of 2018. It's clearly not as laden with jokes as the Phoenix Wright series, but Yagami still dishes out plenty of physics-defying punches and kicks that are goofy to see—and as fun as heck to perform. Story-wise, Judgment seems a little more serious than what's normal for Yakuza, but you probably shouldn't go into the adventure expecting a stone-serious drama.

Caty went hands-on with Judgment last month, so don't forget to take a look at her preview.