Shown off during today's State of Play presentation, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios' upcoming Lost Judgment is now available for pre-order on digital platforms. Heading to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, fans can secure their copy now to have it ready for launch on September 24, 2021, or pre-order one of two deluxe editions for early-access on September 21, 2021. In a nice touch, a free upgrade to the next-gen version will be available if you buy the game on PS4 while the Xbox version supports Microsoft's Smart Delivery tech. That's not even the best part of this announcement, however.
Completely glossed over during the short trailer, Lost Judgment will be the first Yakuza title to receive post-launch DLC in the form of a story expansion. Included in the digital "Ultimate" Edition (for $89.99) is an expansion with a new story set across Kamurocho and Ijincho, Yokohama. Details are incredibly vague about what that might be, but it seems likely this will be a new story that follows up on events from the main game. It wouldn't make sense to leave the main game on a cliffhanger only to sell the true ending later.
Related: Check Out Lost Judgment's Extremely Anime Influenced Opening Cinematic
Alongside the three days of early-access, you'll also get the "Quick Start Support Pack," the "Detective Essentials Pack," and the "School Stories Expansion Pack" in both the Ultimate and "Deluxe" Editions. The first two of those packs are simply bonus items that will give you an advantage at the start of the game. The School Stories pack, on the other hand, includes extra items that will help you during the school mini-games that are featured here.
Sega is going really hard on Lost Judgment, though I'm not sure how I feel about the series finally embracing modern trends in gaming. At any rate, the digital "Deluxe" Edition, which goes for $69.99, will net you everything that the Ultimate Edition has minus the story expansion. The standard edition (for $59.99) will come with the support pack if you pre-order it and does not have any early-access period. Considering past Yakuza games have been perfectly fine on launch, this does seem like one game you could reasonably expect to work on day-one.
Next: Five Things Lost Judgment Can Improve Upon From Its Predecessor
