The second sequence had Daito using a weighted staff-like weapon, better suited at sweeping blows to handle crowd control but making us move noticeably slower. The enemies in this scene were more aggressive and led by a large bruiser character who would regularly charge at us like a bull and knock us around like a ragdoll. This heightened difficulty along with the new handling with a heavier melee weapon made us relearn how to approach a fight, adapting to the pressure and how to take down a much more formidable lead adversary.
But this demo build of Stranger Than Heaven saved the best for last with its third and final sequence, with Daito taking on a grizzled swordsman in the middle of a city street at dusk. Armed with only a knife, this is a particularly precise duel, with the enemy able to dodge and parry just as well, if not better, than Daito, making us take timing and strategy into greater account when attacking and defending. This was an especially grueling fight and one that left us utterly defeated on multiple attempts, but never to the point where we felt overly frustrated or that the challenge wasn’t a fair one.
With that level of intensity, we could really see what Stranger Than Heaven is all about and how it more saliently distinguishes itself from a mainline Yakuza game experience. If anything, this is a Like a Dragon title for the soulslike fanbase, rewarding timing and precision and punishing mindlessly button-mashing for hack-and-slash combat. No matter how soundly we were cut down, we kept going back in for more, doing a little better each time and refining our approach until we finally emerged victorious.
Just when players have grown accustomed to what a Yakuza or Yakuza-adjacent title can be, Stranger Than Heaven rethinks what’s possible for the Sega franchise. Much of this is tied to its innovative combat system but the glimpses of Saito at different stages of his life and the correlating modernization of Japan also underscores those differences. Now understanding how the fighting works, we’re ready for a more immersive deep dive into the world of the game and its other mechanics to get a better idea of its breadth.
And, at the very least, we want to figure out what the heck Tupac is doing in this thing.
Developed by RGG Studio and published by Sega, Stranger Than Heaven launches January 15 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
