The well-known Yakuza series has been around for quite some time. Since the Yakuza series inception in 2005 SEGA has delivered over a dozen mainline and spin-off entries across multiple platforms, resulting in total sales for the series surpassing the 10 million units last year. Now, the studio behind Yakuza has announced a brand new property that sees a transition from the organized crime side to law and order.
Announced at the Tokyo Game Show conference, Project Judge (or Judge Eyes) was revealed today by Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and is scheduled to release in the West sometime in 2019. Judge Eyes sees players in the shoes of the private eye Takayuki Yagami who's forced to use his "investigate skills" in order to resolve the mysteries behind the plot of Judge Eyes.
There aren't many details revealed for the upcoming detective thriller from Ryu Ga Gotoku studios, however screenshots that have shown up following the announcement suggest features such as branching dialog, combat mechanics, and stealth aspects that will play their respective roles as Yagami's repertoire of skill sets. While players seem to be placed on the other side of the law this time around, Yakuza's action adventure beat-em-up style is still on display.
Currently, there is a demo out in Japan ahead of the game's official launch later this year for the region. The only way for anyone else to get a chance to play the demo would be to link a PSN account to the region. Players should keep tabs on the details for the demo, as SEGA accidentally released their Yakuza 6 demo earlier in the year with access to the entire game.
In the meantime, anyone looking to get their Yakuza fix have a couple of new releases from this year to get their hands on. Yakuza Kiwami 2 just released a couple weeks ago in August, while Yakuza 6: The Song of Life launched earlier this Spring. Just make note that both games are only available on PS4, as Microsoft and Nintendo decided to pass on bringing the franchise to their respective platforms earlier this year.
Judge Eyes is scheduled to release in 2019 for PlayStation 4.