by Adriana RodriguezWe’ve known about Stranger Than Heaven for almost two years now. With every trailer and every announcement since its reveal at The Game Awards in 2024, we still don’t know much about the game itself. That is, up until last month, when Sega and XBOX released a barrage of trailers that told us more about the story, characters, and finally, combat, to let us know what changes to expect in this prequel saga.
During my time at Summer Game Fest, I got to see how this RGG Studio entry differs from the typical “Yakuza formula” with a 30-minute demo.
Before we actually got started, Sega played a quick tutorial video showing us how some of the controls work. (If you don’t recall the gameplay trailers after being star-struck by Snoop Dogg being in the game, no problem! That’s why I’m here.) Each bumper and trigger on the controller is assigned to a limb. Meaning if you grab an enemy with your left hand, you’re able to blast him with punches using your right hand, right leg, or even left leg. It’s apparently similar to Tekken, where a different button commands a different move/body part. So if you’re an avid Tekken player (I am not), then this might be pretty easy to get the hang of.
The demo consisted of three different fight scenarios in three different locations and time periods. Each one had a different level of difficulty, ranging from beginner to advanced. We weren’t forced to go in a specific order, but it made sense to start with the beginner fight. The first battle was against a small crowd of enemies with nothing equipped. But later on, I noticed you could equip and unequip weapons by messing around with those settings right away. We could rely solely on our fists, various weapons, and use healing items while fighting, too. Some are better than others, like rice balls and actual medicinal items.
The second intermediate fight was against a large crowd of enemies and one larger enemy (very Yakuza of them) who wielded a long weapon. This stage automatically gave me a crowbar, which was obviously meant for crowd control (also very Yakuza). The third and advanced stage was a 1v1 against an enemy wielding a sword, and I was given a knife. All of these fights were hard as hell and had their own “main” trial to get through. Stranger Than Heaven’s combat, and RGG as a whole, is definitely shifting directions when it comes to combat, and it felt very tight and limited to me. I had all this free space to move around, but it still felt like I was fighting within a small box. One wrong move meant I’d have to retry the fight.
Punches felt heavy, dodging felt sluggish, and there was no lock-on ability, so I kept needing to adjust the camera to see who I was fighting, which was also painfully slow. Basically, the whole system is a totally different landscape, gameplay-wise, compared to previous RGG Studio titles. And maybe a lot of people will actually like that. I know several individuals who just couldn’t get into the series, no matter how hard they tried. The games do have a habit of making you feel like a god. Perhaps a more grounded touch will make it feel more realistic?
I don’t play too many difficult games or Soulslike games, so I’m not the best technical fighter. I simply like messing around in them with friends or solo. But if you have all the patience in the world and are a big fan of games that involve a lot of technical fighting, then you’ll probably be much better at it than me. Visually speaking, I couldn’t stop looking around just to see how detailed everything looked. This game looks historically accurate, with yellow filter/lighting, and all. RGG knows how to make some of the most stylistic-looking games while still resembling something you would see in real life. The visuals are the main aspect of the game I can say I am totally in love with, aside from the soundtrack.
One of the most frustrating things regarding the final stage against the swordsman was the fact that I was so close to beating him several times. But this fight was so punishing, I was immediately overwhelmed, even after figuring out his patterns and moveset. I struggled to keep up because my guy got stuck between a bridge wall and a wooden stall and couldn’t move around to stand back up. My hands were begging for mercy at this point and started to hurt.
My final verdict? I still don’t know how I feel about this game. There’s so much going on with this game that I don’t want to bring it up, making it hard to really pinpoint. I’ve been a fan for a long time, and I’m not 100% on board with this change in combat. I understand RGG Studio wants this title to be a completely separate project, but it feels as though they’re trying to hop on the punishing Soulslike genre just like everyone else. What I loved about this studio was that it always stood out amongst the rest. I could never find another game like Yakuza Like a Dragon, or Judgment, or anything remotely close to Yakuza 5. Stranger Than Heaven is a game I am going to have to play to see what it has to offer, and pray for the best.
I still want to give the game a chance because I know the studio is capable of telling stories that not only resonate with me but also create beautifully crafted worlds I can lose myself in. This was my pandemic series. These were my comfort games throughout several life changes for me. Genuinely, I hope this is a system I can learn to overcome and enjoy. I do give my round of applause to the devs for offering difficulty options for players like me, so I can actually enjoy what I’m mostly playing the game for.
Stranger than Heaven
