Confession time: I haven’t really taken the time to dive into the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series. That’s not because the games don’t look good; in fact, I’ve heard nothing but good things about them. The problem that I keep running into is simple: I want to play the games in order, especially since several of the games share an overarching plot and plenty of characters, and, well… there are a lot of games I need to work through.
So, you can probably see why I was immediately sold on the idea of Stranger Than Heaven. Not only is it completely removed from the more modern day setting of the other games, but as a standalone prequel, it doesn’t feature any younger versions of existing Like A Dragon characters. For a series newcomer such as myself, this was music to my ears.
Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity to go hands-on with Stranger Than Heaven at this year’s Summer Game Fest. And no, while I didn’t get to shake hands and conduct business with the likes of a virtual Snoop Dogg or Tupac, I did get to try out a handful of enemy encounters, and put Stranger Than Heaven’s unique combat system through its paces.
Much like how the final version of Stranger Than Heaven is split across multiple time zones and cities, the Summer Game Fest demo that Sega put together was split across three different eras. Kicking off in Kokura, Fukuoka in 1915, I was put into the shoes of a younger Makoto Daito, long before he rises through the ranks of the criminal underworld and forms the Tojo Clan. After bumping into a group of street toughs that are harassing a local, Makoto decides to dish out his own brand of justice after a racial epithet is thrown his way. It’s here where Stranger Than Heaven’s unique combat system begins to shine.
You see, Makoto is a street brawler through and through, but rather than forcing players to remember attack combos or button combinations, you have the ability to control each of Makoto’s hands independently. The left bumper and trigger correspond to a light and heavy attack with Makoto’s left hand, and his right hand is controller by, well, the right bumper and trigger. You can also use both triggers together to grab an enemy, or hold them down individually for charged attacks. It sounds simple enough on paper, and that’s because it largely is, but mastering the timing and cadence to attacks does take some time. Thankfully, this first encounter was an introductory one, so despite being outnumbered five-to-one, Makoto didn’t have any issue laying down a beating and walking away (relatively) unscathed.
For the second, intermediate-difficulty fight, we jumped forward more than a decade to 1929. The snow-lined streets of Kure, Hiroshima looked notably different from Kokura, but Makoto was met with an equally chilly reception after being swarmed by a half-dozen gang members, including one brute who towered over the rest. For this particular encounter, Makoto pulled a crowbar out of thin air and I began wailing on enemies without hesitation. Of course, things aren’t always so straightforward.
Dual-wielding a heavy crowbar comes with its own drawbacks, and understandably, Makoto isn’t as fast or fluid with his attacks as he was when fighting bare-handed. Dodging attacks (especially from armed enemies) is critical, and while blocking was also an option, I quickly discovered that attempting to block every bit of incoming damage would quickly wear down my stamina bar. You can mitigate some of the stamina loss by blocking while also holding down one of the bumpers, allowing you to do a directional block, but this requires a bit of extra concentration, since you need to make sure you’re blocking attacks from the corresponding direction.
Admittedly, the final encounter took me a few tries to complete, but most of that can be attributed to my hastiness. Jumping forward to the sun-kissed streets of Minami, Osaka, in 1943, Makoto squared off against (what I assume was) a rival yakuza member (based on his tattoos and large katana). Not wanting to bring my fists to a sword fight, I pulled out a knife and immediately went on the defensive, knowing that if I rushed in arms swinging, I would be taken down in a manner of seconds. For this encounter, parrying attacks was all but necessary for surviving, and (as a helpful Sega employee eventually informed me), it turns out some attacks can’t be parried at all, and have to be avoided by dodging out of the way. It took several attempts, but after carefully managing my healing items, and parrying and dodging most incoming attacks, I was able to take down the sword-slinging yakuza some time to spare.
There’s still a lot I didn’t get to experience for myself, with Sega mentioning that “Combat” was only one of Stranger Than Heaven’s three core pillars, the other two being “Adventuring” (exploring the game’s five beautifully realized cities) as well as trying my hand at “Showbiz” (aka, being a stage manager). Still, from the three combat encounters I got to try for myself, I’m sold (and, relieved that I finally have a good starting point to try out this series). Separately controlling Makoto’s left and right hands might sound like a gimmick at first, but it actually lends itself quite well to the frantic nature of street fighting and chaotic brawls that the series is known for. To be fair, there’s still a lot more in store (I only got to try out two weapons, and the final game will feature a dozen, in addition to fighting bare-fisted), but from what I’ve seen so far, Stranger Than Heaven shows a lot of promise.
Stranger Than Heaven is set to launch on January 15, 2027.
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