Stranger Than Heaven preview: RGG Studio's bold new combat system impresses at Summer Game Fest

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio showed off Stranger Than Heaven at Summer Game Fest — a new action game tracing the founding of the Tojo Clan across five decades of Japanese history. It launches January 15, 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Pricing runs $70 for Standard, $90 for Deluxe, and $130 for the Collector's Edition.

The headline feature is a combat system that controls protagonist Makoto Daito's left and right sides independently. The bumpers handle faster, lighter strikes while the triggers deliver heavier blows — hold them to charge up punches and kicks. Directional blocks and parries let you counter at the right moment, and squeezing both triggers grabs or tackles opponents. Journalists played three combat scenarios across three eras: unarmed in 1915 Kokura, armed in 1929 Kure, and a tense one-on-one knife fight against a swordsman in 1943 Osaka. That last fight demanded precise parries — one mistake wiped most of the health bar. Game Informer's writer took seven attempts to beat it. The cast is also notable: Snoop Dogg appears alongside the late Tupac Shakur and beloved Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara.

Studio head and executive director Masayoshi Yokoyama explained the design philosophy: "It's not really about the systems; it's about the experiences. You're able to customize the experience to fit the story, like it's an extension to accentuate it in the best possible way." He pointed to Like a Dragon 7's turn-based system as another example — it fit Ichiban Kasuga's story of fighting alongside friends, so that's what they built. The same logic drove Stranger Than Heaven's visceral, deliberate combat.

Reactions from the preview event are mixed but lean positive on the combat itself. Game Informer and Polygon both praised the system once they found their rhythm, while GamesRadar flagged a camera that struggles to track the action in multi-enemy fights. Kotaku raised broader questions about the game's thematic direction and what Makoto actually fights for — a narrative concern that the combat-only demo couldn't resolve. RGG is simultaneously developing two distinct Like a Dragon fighting systems and the fighting-game mechanics in Virtua Fighter Crossroads, which makes the ambition on display here even more striking.