Stranger Than Heaven, RGG Studio’s next title, marks several departures for the developer. Though technically a prequel to the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series, it doesn’t follow any of the same characters. Many locations are new and built from the ground up, and it’s exclusive to current-gen platforms and PC.
Perhaps the biggest departure is the combat. For the first time, players can execute left and right attacks separately using a controller’s bumpers and triggers. There’s also a stronger emphasis on parrying than before. All in all, you’ll need to be a lot more active than before, which may be challenging.
Producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto and the development team are aware of all this, and told IGN at Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show 2026 that, “Based on feedback from players who tried the hands-on demos at various game shows, like [Gamescom Asia], we’ve fine-tuned details like difficulty balance and control responsiveness.
While you can expect difficulty settings, there are also “cheat items” that can tip the scales in your favor (like health regeneration). “We believe that if we offer enough support for action-game beginners, it will give them the chance to play through to the very end.” You can also expect a hefty tutorial in the “early stages.”
“Equipping those cheat items makes you much harder to defeat by automatically restoring health and providing other perks. For beginners who still struggle with blocking, we’ve prepared assistance items that let you clear encounters using basic left and right punches alone,” said Sakamoto.
While the cheat items are available at the start, there isn’t really any downside to using them…aside from the fact that others will “immediately notice” them since they’re technically a “cloth/garment.” Of course, for those who want something “extremely challenging,” Sakamoto promises that the highest difficulty offers just that.
Stranger Than Heaven launches on January 15th, 2027, for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. For more details on the less combat-heavy sections of the game, namely the showman portions, head here.
