Lost Judgment is a sequel to Judgment, also known as Judge Eyes. The game is tackling some sensitive subject matters which can also be seen in its rating.
Both PEGI and ESRB have rated Lost Judgment. It is being given a Mature only rating, or 18+ in PEGI, which makes it a game for Adults only. The main reason cited for this is “graphic violence, depictions of sexual threat, use of strong language and encouragement of gambling.”
Here is the ESRB rating of the game.
This is an action-adventure game in which players assume the role of a detective (Takayuki Yagami) investigating a murder. From a third-person perspective, players explore urban environments, question suspects, search for evidence, and fight various gang members. Players can engage in street fights with other characters, mostly punching and kicking enemies in order to deplete their health meters; some enemies use weapons (e.g., chainsaws, baseball bats) against players during brawls. Combat is highlighted by impact sounds, cries of pain, and blood-splatter effects. Cutscenes depict more intense instances of violence and blood: players’ character beaten while tied to a chair; a restrained man getting his throat slit, accompanied by large blood effects; a rotting corpse bound to a chair. The game contains some sexual material: characters discussing “sugar baby” relationships between young women and older men; discussion about a woman being groped; references to the sex trade/working at sex clubs (e.g., ““You trick women into the sex trade…”; “He told me the quickest way to make it back would be to get a job at a sex club.”). One fighting sequence depicts a man with his buttocks exposed. During the course of the game, players can visit bars to purchase drinks and chat with bartenders/hostesses; one mini-game depicts players’ character drunk (e.g., “Getting kinda tipsy”; “Too drunk to have a conversation”). The words “f**k” and “sh*t” appear in the dialogue.
So some scenes feel they are sexually explicit but the PEGI rating goes into further details to confirm their nature.
This game features scenes of graphic violence, including a restrained man’s throat being cut, which results in sight of blood spurting from the wound. Violence during gameplay is less graphic and generally involves flashes of light when characters are hit and reductions in health bars until they are defeated and fall to the ground.
There are infrequent depictions of sexual threat, including a sequence in which a woman is surrounded by a group of semi-naked men who make references to sexual perversions, and a sequence in which a woman recounts an incident of being groped on a train.
There is frequent use of strong language (‘fuck’).
The game also allows the player to take part in a variety of gambling games, including poker, blackjack and mah-jong. There are instructions on how to play the games.
Lost Judgment will be released on September 24, 2021, for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series.
