I’m a late bloomer when it comes to the Yakuza series. I remember trying one of them back in the 2010s and immediately disliking it because I wanted English voice acting. Sure, a dumb choice in retrospect. When Yakuza: Like A Dragon was released, I decided to give the series another try, and boy, did they grab me. I was obsessed, and after playing Infinite Wealth and Pirate Yakuza, I was ready to jump into Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s latest, Stranger Than Heaven. What I didn’t expect was to be surprised yet again, as the development team has somehow taken their series and again created another title that manages to be even more unique than the last game.
For clarification, Stranger Than Heaven is a prequel to the Yakuza series. Set across five eras and locations, the ambition of this idea is staggering. RGG always plays around with how you engage with their game, but providing five different playgrounds and settings is impressive, even for them. Makoto Daito is the main character, the eventual founder of the Yakuza brotherhood, and in this demo, I got an in-depth look at the combat the team is putting together.
90% of how you play Stranger Than Heaven is going to resemble a classic Yakuza game. It’s action-based, so you might expect intensity given how the other games play. That’s where the other 10% comes in. Where you could button-mash in the latest game – Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii – that’s not happening in Stranger Than Heaven. If one grunt was in front of you, maybe, but otherwise, you need to be deliberate in what buttons you’re pressing as the crowd of gangsters closes in on you.
This is largely due to how Daito is controlled. Stranger Than Heaven’s hook attaches your right and left arms to their respective bumpers and triggers. Your left side works for your left with a light attack on the bumper and heavy attack on the trigger, and vice versa. This pushes you to really pay attention when in a brawl – constantly hitting only R1 won’t always give you the best attack option for the guy in front of you. It reminds me of the old UFC games; using both arms subsequently often offered combination possibilities along with the speed from the momentum of your swings.
As soon as this became clear, I was dodging and punching away. This demo was unique compared to a lot of the ones I played, presenting a beginner, intermediate, and advanced fight to build me into their combat mechanics. What might be the most intriguing of this choice was that I truly had to reach into the bag of abilities RGG provided me with in each instance, with more being necessary as I fought tougher opponents.
The first fight was easy enough, but I didn’t have anything but Daito’s fists to work with (or I totally missed using any weapons on Daito’s person). In this encounter, I was probably the least prepared, brashly swinging at any foe that dared come close. I was able to single one out occasionally, but my dodge was invaluable during this scuffle. Speaking of the dodge, if you hit it correctly, you’ll get a slowdown where you can get a counter in, another great talent to have in the battle against… random dudes in the street.
Moving to the next confrontation, this one featured a heavy enemy who was wielding a sword. Taking out his cronies was the main task at hand, so I didn’t get bopped in the back of the head while taking on the larger foe. While tougher, I was still able to get through this section with my dodge and draining the health potions I had available.
Some of that is because I had a weapon, as Daito pulled out a gigantic crowbar. Stranger Than Heaven features thirteen weapon types, and in this preview, I had access to three of them, with a knife rounding out my arsenal. Yes, your fists count as a weapon type. These will also have unique finishers to boot, with this attack depending on your weapon and location.
Daito’s final skirmish came against a single, skinny samurai. I say samurai because this dude was lethal. I don’t remember how many times he took me out, but it took some time to get through his defenses and to counter his attacks. A quick hint from a dev reminded me about guarding, but it was more than just that. Your parry is also synced up to this left/right mechanic, so guarding and hitting the right directional button when that directional attack lands gives you a similar chance as the dodge to cause some chaos for your attacker. This can be even more deadly when using the crowbar or a similar weapon, as a parry is more effective, and you can really deliver a killing blow with it.
Patience was the key to finishing off our samurai. I’d get a slice or two in with my knife, then wait for him to fight back. Then, I’d catch him in the cadence of his attack and parry, opening him up for a heavy attack. This also hurt his stamina, as beating on someone will eventually break their guard and stagger them. That often knocks them down, which gives you the chance to hit both triggers and rock their health bar with a devastating strike or stab. I got a couple of those in on our samurai buddy – it felt really good after he abused me so much.
As much as I’d love to talk about the locations I visited in this preview, alas, there was not a lot to take in. The three I saw – 1915 Kokura, 1929 Kure, and 1943 Osaka, all have that Yakuza charm to them. Yakuza games never have photo-realistic graphics, but the ambience they supply makes up for that in spades. The style they have is their own; no one does it like RGG. Daito is also making everyone else look bad in the drip he’s been given, especially the 1943 version. Just take a look at the screenshots I’ve dropped in, and you’ll get it, Stranger Than Heaven pops.
I’m not sure why I’m surprised anymore. RGG Studio regularly does this – giving us a new title that somehow does something fresh and new despite being in a long line of games. Stranger Than Heaven is simply the latest installment in their wizardry; another RGG game I’m super excited for, and I expect their fans will be too. It may be a long wait until “Winter”, but trust me, this wait is well worth it. Stranger Than Heaven arrives on January 15th, 2027. You can pre-order it now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles.
