With the release of The Kaito Files DLC for Lost Judgment. It gave that kind of DLC feeling that many DLC nowadays doesn’t get. Personally, a DLC or Expansion if you want to be nostalgic about it should have that sense of being able to enrich the story and world of its base game. It doesn’t give the feeling of it being cut from the main game due to time constraint or budget but solely for the sake of story telling. Then it doesn’t really feel like the game could be incomplete/unable to function without it. And lastly, it should also bring more to the table to give players that drive to get it rather than just the die hard fans. And bar the last part, the Kaito Files managed to tick all the above points.
The story is set 6 months after the ending of Lost Judgment. The story begins with our protagonist for this DLC, Kaito Masaharu, Takayuki Yagami’s Partner from the Judgment series. And yes, this would be Kaito’s time to shine. The plot revolves around the disappearance of a tech CEO’s wife and Kaito’s ex-girlfriend. The plot takes the usual plot twists and revelations that Lost Judgment has. And while the DLC is not as long and intricate as the main title, The Kaito Files still delivers a story which is both hilarious and serious at times. While Tak won’t be joining you in this journey Kaito is joined by his ex’s son Jun Sadamoto. You will venture back into Kamurocho and uncover the truth to the nature of what happened to Kaito’s ex. And with a villain you will truly hate even more so than the Lost Judgement’s main antagonist. The Kaito Files has all this covered making this story DLC a must have for fans of the series. And with the prospect for exploring Kamurocho with Kaito, the fan favorite side kick. I won’t say that he is better than Tak, but having his combat style IS my type due to the offense oriented style.
For combat, the difference would be significant from the main game. This is mainly due to the different style which Tak and Kaito fights. While Tak has every style from crowd control to powerhouse. Kaito’s fighting style focuses mainly on power housing and sheer brute force. Which again, to me is personally quite appealing. You can choose between two fighting stances which is Bruiser and Tank. The difference would be the damage you deal and take. The Bruiser stance would give you the leverage for dealing damage and hard hitting move sets. Perfect for boss fights and hard to take down enemies. The Tank stance as the namesake suggests involves withstanding blows after blows where one key aspect of it is the Iron Guard that lets you guard against attacks from multiple directions. Not only that, the Tank stance also serves as your main crowd control because grabbed objects has increased damage and you can also lift heavier than before. An example would be motorcycles. While the major difference of The Kaito Files to its main title is just the story and combat, rather than relying on gadgets to scour for clues Kaito can utilize his primal senses. Mainly eye sight, strong hearing, and strong nasal smell(I honestly think this is the funniest of all if we are to see it as a whole).
Overall, while The Kaito Files is a spectacular DLC in both the overall story presented by it, The Kaito Files feels too short for its own good. While yes it is somewhat justified at the time of writing for just $29.99(PHP 1,500.00). I feel like it should at least provide more story-telling and at least allow you to visit Ijincho Yokohama. The lack of any addition to the gameplay other than Kaito’s combat style and his investigative tools is quite disappointing and one of those things that brought the DLC down a notch. On a last note, The Kaito Files DLC deliver a more hated villain that I honestly can’t believe would overthrow the main game’s villain. As I mentioned before, this is the DLC’s highlight that I wanted to see through to the end.