Judgment, the newest game from the development team behind the Yakuza series, has received an ESRB rating for PlayStation 4 and it is as expected, M for Mature 17+.
Alongside the rating are content descriptors which list blood, intense violence, partial nudity, sexual content, strong language, and use of alcohol as some of the many elements players will encounter during a play through of Judgment. A rating summary that goes into a bit more detail as far as the context of these elements has also been published, and it’s quite lenghty. Much like Yakuza, players will control Detective Takayuki Yagami as he punches and uses melee weapons to fight no-gooders. Some combat will include blood, as do cutscenes. Groping, “honkiest hooter experience”, and “a man with his buttocks fully exposed” are highlighted as examples of sexual theme/content, with the former being reprehensible and the latter two played for gags no doubt. Curse words and alcohol consumption make appearances in Judgment surprising no one.
This rating comes on the tail of Game Director Kouji Yoshida and Planning Supervisor Masao Kinosaki’s interview with Dengeki Online in January in which they stated no content changes would occur between the Japan release of Judge Eyes (as its known there) and Judgment (as its known in North America, intentional spelling error included). This name change was announced during the Kinda Funny Games Showcase in December 2018 as well as the release window of Summer 2019. Judge Eyes was released in Japan on December 13, 2019 and received a 37/40 from Famitsu. A demo was available in Japan last November and allowed players to transfer save data to the full game.
The ESRB rating summary for Judgment is as follows (beware potential spoilers for events in the story):
This is an action game in which players assume the role of a detective (Takayuki Yagami) searching for a serial killer in the town of Kamurocho, Japan. From a third-person perspective, players explore the town, interact with characters, and engage in fights with human enemies (e.g., thugs, yakuza). Characters mostly punch and kick each other until opponents’ life meters have drained; players can also use melee weapons (e.g., bats, bicycles, street signs) to inflict heavier damage. Some sequences depict slow-motion pummeling and enemies’ deaths, accompanied by large blood-splatter effects. Cutscenes also depict intense acts of violence: a captive shot in the head; characters beaten until severely bloody; a man repeatedly shot by a crowd; A handful of missions/environments contain sexual themes and content: a man groping a woman’s buttocks; a clerk (Men’s Entertainment store) asking, “Are you ready to witness the honkiest hooter experience you’ve ever had…?”; one mission depicts a man with his buttocks fully exposed. During the course of the game, players’ character can enter bars/restaurants and drink alcohol, which is rewarded in the form of experience points; players’ character has an alcohol-tolerance gauge, resulting in impaired movement and/or access to drunken attacks. The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” appear in the dialogue.
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