Stranger Than Heaven [Preview] Teaching punks a lesson

Hands-on with the upcoming era-spanning story battler

Amidst announcing Tupac’s appearance in Stranger Than Heaven, SEGA and RGG Studios had the fifty year-long story stop in three places for it’s Summer Games Fest combat focused demo: Kokura, Fukuoka 1915, to dust up with some street thugs, Kure, Hiroshima 1929 to fight with a gang and its much larger enforcer, and Minami, Osaka 1943 to go head to head with an out of control swordsman. We also got a chance to try 3 different combat styles, bare fists, a knife, and a metal pipe. Each fight increased the difficulty, forcing players to learn the control system quickly.

The fighting system in game isn’t your typical 3rd-person brawler, but instead features a unique combat system dividing Makoto Daito’s body in half on the controller. Using RB and RT, causes actions to be performed on the right side of the body and the same for LB and LT on the left. This doesn’t replace more traditional combo systems outright, but instead adapts them to more contextual situations in every fight. Players might have a standard combo they initiate a fight with, but maybe they have to block another antagonist from the side, or maybe they get pushed back into a market stall where a plate can be picked up to throw with one hand while a punch is being thrown with another.

My favorite example of this during my time was when an opponent grabbed my right arm as I tried to slice them with a knife. Causing me to be unable to move our use of that arm. Another opponent then charged me but I was able to counter his attack, grab him, and throw him into the assailant who had hold of my arm. It’s these little moments you’re not even fully aware you can pull off that make it feel special and not just a gimmick to mix things up. Each weapon features their own versions of these depending on how you use it and how the enemies approach you. 

Just because you can make it look flashy, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Even the first encounter could easily take you out if you weren’t paying attention to what you were doing. The difficulty was a deliberate choice for the demo to give us a feel for how it might evolve over the course of gameplay. Of course player skill would also develop over the course of their relationship with the game. Fighting the final swordsman was incredibly brutal for my first two tries as he quickly showed me that performing the directional perry, done by blocking and hitting LB or RB depending on what side the attack is coming from, is a need and not a suggestion. Once I was able to get on top of the timing, fighting him became easier, but still wasn’t easy with the limited time spent with the game. 

Although the demo was focused on combat, it was hard not to stop and look around at the detailed cities they were set in. Each had a distinct feel, featuring different locations, time of day, and seasons. Osaka shined with its golden hour sun, setting on a showdown between 2 blade wielding men fighting to the death.

Both the combat and the game’s settings help sell the narrative of a man desperate to find his place and survive amongst a world which would rather see him lose. Stranger Than Heaven is still a while from release, but you shouldn’t be defensive about wanting to know more from this incredible journey.

Stranger Than Heaven is currently scheduled for release January 15th, 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5, and XBOX with a day one arrival on Game Pass.