Thanks to the teams at SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, I got the chance to play Stranger Than Heaven at Summer Game Fest! This upcoming action RPG follows protagonist Makoto Daito through five different Japanese cities in five different eras, promising an epic journey through the criminal underworld spanning a half century of Japanese history. With the team’s Yakuza/Like A Dragon legacy behind them, anticipation for this title is quite high!
The demo I played focused on Stranger Than Heaven’s combat mechanics, taking me through three different fights in three cities and eras. The first instance served as an easier, introductory group battle set in 1915 Kokura, the next instance ramped up the difficulty to an intermediate street brawl in 1929 Kure, and the final instance posed a more challenging boss fight with a swordsman in 1943 Osaka. And this demo truly did hone in on the game’s combat, as invisible walls barred me from exploring the city beyond these encounters.
I personally have not played Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s past games, but that might be for the best given how different Stranger Than Heaven’s combat feels and how unique of a system the team is going for here. For starters, attacks are mapped to the bumper and trigger buttons, with each side playing a pivotal role to play in battle. While the left bumper and left trigger control how Makoto’s left arm attacks, the right bumper and right trigger control his right arm.
This sounds simple enough, but it took some time for this combat to click for me. I’m curious to see how the combo possibilities, blocking maneuvers, and the like develop in the final release. For example, one common interaction I experienced was having an enemy seize Makoto’s left arm, with the solution being to counter using Makoto’s free right arm. In another encounter, it was possible to smack two enemies’ heads together with Makoto’s arm when the other was approaching from that direction. I’m sure there are plenty more neat interactions like this to discover!
For the purposes of this demo, I got to try three out of thirteen of Stranger Than Heaven’s weapon types: bare fists, a small knife, and a large crowbar. The knife easily became my favorite of these three, with swift movement options that packed some damage too! The crowbar felt a bit unwieldy for me, requiring more time to wind up an attack with the benefit of hitting hard when attacks did land. The crowbar also had the advantage of hitting multiple enemies at once when positioned properly.
Finally, a note on blocking, dodging, and parrying enemy attacks. These all proved important to the game’s combat, with a stamina meter gauging how much energy Makoto had left to expend on such defensive maneuvers. I have never been too big on parries in games, often opting to block or dodge to be safe. For those who do indulge in a little parry every now and then however, Stranger Than Heaven has you covered. Parrying allows for some stylish and gruesome counters here.
As for the three demo instanced fights where all these mechanics came together, I had a fun time with them once the flow of combat started to click! The first two went by quickly enough, but the boss fight in the third encounter did result in me dying plenty of times before making it through. From battling large groups of enemies to engaging in a focused one-on-one battle, a variety of combat scenarios were on display.
With combat only serving as a smaller piece of Stranger Than Heaven’s overall puzzle, I am curious to check out how the rest of the game plays out as we get closer to release. Thank you again to SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio for the chance to play this demo!
Stranger Than Heaven will launch this winter on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC via Steam. It will also launch on Xbox Game Pass. For more on Stranger Than Heaven, the Like A Dragon series, and all things RPG, keep reading RPGFan! If you want to catch up on the series, don’t miss our Like a Dragon series primer!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.