Much of Lost Judgment’s systems carry over into The Kaito Files.
Kaito gets the chance to show off his detective prowess without Yagami guiding him around. Hidden Memory Points gate a good chunk of Kaito's cooler abilities unfortunately. I even ran into the problem of having an overabundance of skill points later into the story expansion and couldn’t spend them because I couldn’t find any more Memory Points to unlock skills. They do stick out and sparkle when Kaito happens to be near them, but there’s no indicator that specifically shows or hints at their locations. Others are more frustratingly sealed off unless players find Memory Points that are scattered all around Kamurocho with no indicator of where to find them. Some skills are locked behind the number thresholds of cats discovered and Matsugane Family Crests collected. Sure, the Judgment games do lock some of Yagami’s abilities behind skill books, yet The Kaito Files takes this one step further. I liked seeing that Kaito has his own distinct playstyle through the new Bruiser and Tank stances, though it’s a shame that a good chunk of his arsenal is locked because of collectibles. Collectibles include consumable items, accessories, skill books, or Matsugane Family Crests, along with a substantial skill point reward. Players are clued into which sense is needed either by a cat meowing or Kaito’s nose sniffing rapidly. Kaito can go into first-person view and detect their location via stench or sound. He comes with his own unique skill tree, and one of his skills lets the mini-map display nearby zones where a collectible is. There’s one new major mechanic that The Kaito Files offers when roaming around Kamurocho - Kaito can use his nose or his ears to detect collectibles. The Kaito Files might have the most sniffing noises I've ever heard in a video game. Sure, players can still tinker with the arcade games, the Sega Master System back in the detective agency office, and the other minigames that the base game offers, but there are no Side Cases or new side activities to engage with. The Kaito Files doesn’t have much to do outside of progressing its main story. Initially declining the request, Kaito eventually starts to uncover the truth behind the bizarre circumstances behind this man’s plea as Kaito’s past, even before the events of the first Judgment, begin to resurface once more. When Kaito sees a photo of her, he realizes that she was an old flame of his. His wife that’s been pronounced dead for two years, due to suicide, has been spotted around town recently, and he wants Kaito to find her. Unlike Lost Judgment which largely took place in Isezaki Ijincho, The Kaito Files brings the focus back to Kamurocho.Īs Kaito wraps up a job looking into shady detectives, a new client swings by with an odd request. Although it obviously has a lower price point than the base game, it was a slimmer package than I was expecting. While I greatly enjoyed my time with The Kaito Files, it felt like an uneven experience for me. A thorough playthrough of the expansion took me about 8 hours, though I imagine a more normal pace will hover around 6 hours. The Kaito Files does occur some time after the events of Lost Judgment, so I recommend playing through Lost Judgment first before dipping into it. I also want to bring up that The Kaito Files is both available as part of Lost Judgment’s Season Pass and $29.99 USD separately, and you need the base Lost Judgment game to access it. These components aren't explicitly shown on screen for the most part, but the storyline itself does get heavy, especially in the last stretch of the DLC. I want to give a proper warning that The Kaito Files contains themes surrounding suicide, domestic violence, and abuse. First and foremost, this story expansion’s plotline was a lot darker than I expected. There are a few things I want to mention before diving into it. While Yagami is out-of-town on assignment, it’s up to Kaito to hold the fort down at their detective agency in Kamurocho. A brand-new story expansion brings Yagami’s sidekick, Masaharu Kaito, into the spotlight. Here we are again, half a year after its launch, now with something new once more. It was such a vast improvement over its predecessor in many ways, and I still look back at it fondly.
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