Stranger Than Heaven is the newest game from RGG Studios, the makers of the Yakuza franchise. The action-adventure game tells an epic story that spans across five eras, and it looks like it has the potential to be one of 2027’s best games.
Recently, CBR attended a preview of Stranger Than Heaven at Summer Game Fest Play Days. During the preview, we had the chance to preview the combat across three eras. Not only was the game fantastic, but it felt like a successor to one of the best open-world games ever, Sleeping Dogs.
Stranger Than Heaven Feels Like a Sleeping Dogs Successor
The Stranger Than Heaven preview was entirely focused on the game’s combat, but even though I didn’t get to experience the game’s story, I was still impressed by what I saw. The demo was divided into three difficulties and eras, with the game’s main character, Makota, growing older as time went on.
In Stranger Than Heaven, Makota’s left and right sides are controlled independently, which made combat feel very involved. Makota frequently fought groups of enemies during the demo, and I had to look for openings to take down my opponents.
The first era had an encounter where Makota fights a street gang using only his bare hands. It immediately made me think of one of the most underrated open-world games ever, Sleeping Dogs, not because the fighting styles are the same, but because of how the action is presented. Every single hit felt real and gritty, which made the combat much more satisfying.
After that beginner stage, the preview moved onto the next era, where Makota starts using weapons in combat. While adding in weapons led to very different fights, the flow of combat still felt familiar, and clearing out a group felt natural. Boss fights, however, are a different story.
Stranger Than Heaven Has a Brutal Boss Fight
The final era of the Stranger Than Heaven demo was a boss fight. With no real context, Makota is suddenly attacked by a man wielding a blade. This boss fight was brutal, with only two people in my group managing to beat him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them, though I came close.
In this era, Makota is armed with either a knife or a sledgehammer. What makes this boss so difficult is how much damage he can deal with a single hit and how little damage he seems to take in return. Players also have access to two kinds of healing consumables: one works instantly, while the other restores health over time.
Most of the fight felt like chipping away at his health with very little impact. After a while, I finally got close to beating him, only for one hit to take away half my health. I’d have liked to keep going, but time ran out.
While the boss fight felt like it could use some balancing, Stranger Than Heaven‘s combat seems especially engaging, especially compared with the Yakuza games, which can feel like button mashers. Here, players need to adapt and think through their attacks.
If the rest of Stranger Than Heaven is as deep and interesting as its combat system, it has the potential to be fantastic, and it’s a title that Sleeping Dogs fans won’t want to miss. With Stranger Than Heaven scheduled to launch early next year, it should get 2027 off to a fantastic start.
Stranger Than Heaven is set to launch January 15, 2027, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
- Released
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January 15, 2027
- Developer(s)
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Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
- Publisher(s)
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Sega
- PC Release Date
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January 15, 2027
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
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January 15, 2027
- PS5 Release Date
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January 15, 2027