Project Judge Announced for PS4

SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, the studio responsible for the Yakuza series, have announced Project Judge (working title) for PS4. The game will release on December 13th, 2018 in Japan, and in western territories in 2019. The debut story trailer can be viewed below.

Described as a “courtroom thriller,” players will assume the role of Takayuki Yagami, a detective investigating a series of murders after his career as a lawyer is derailed. SEGA Chief Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi mentioned in a live stream last month that Project Judge would be “something different” from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, but the game looks pretty similar to the Yakuza series, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Aside from brawling gameplay that would make Kazuma Kiryu proud, the trailer shows a sequence where Takayuki locates a suspect with clues from an artist’s sketch, tails him to observe his behavior, and chases him when he ultimately flees. In another scene, Takayuki dons a disguise and infiltrates an office to gather more clues for his investigation. The game will also feature a photography mechanic, where players will take pictures of suspects to help solve the case.

Minigames are a staple of the Yakuza series, and they also will appear in Project Judge. The gameplay trailer shows that players will be able to fly drones, play pinball, and battle other characters in a VR-esque environment. The side quests and optional activities are some of the best parts of the Yakuza games, so it’s neat to see them appear here as well.

The announcement for Project Judge comes a little under two weeks before Tokyo Game Show, which is scheduled to begin on September 20th. We can probably assume that SEGA will show more of the game there.