RGG Studio Dropped 20 Years of Cool for a Muddy Brawl in Stranger Than Heaven
The shift from cool to gritty reflects a deliberate design philosophy: the protagonist Mahiro Oto is an ordinary young man, not a martial arts master like Kazuma Kiryu, so the combat system is built to let players grow alongside him, with skills developing based on how they fight.
Key Facts
- Stranger Than Heaven is set to release on January 15, 2027, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
- The game is developed by RGG Studio, known for the Like a Dragon series.
- The story follows protagonist Mahiro Oto across five eras and cities: 1915 Kokura, 1929 Kure, 1943 Osaka, 1951 Atami, and 1965 Shinjuku.
- The combat system requires separate guards for left and right attacks, with players controlling each side of the body independently.
- The development team studied real fistfights between amateurs to achieve a gritty, muddy brawl aesthetic.
Reporting from 2 sources: 4Gamer.net, Denfaminicogamer.
RGG Studio, the team behind the Like a Dragon series, is making Stranger Than Heaven, a new action-adventure game set for release on January 15, 2027, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The game follows Mahiro Oto, a young man of American and Japanese parentage, across five eras and cities: 1915 Kokura, 1929 Kure, 1943 Osaka, 1951 Atami, and 1965 Shinjuku. In an interview at gamescom 2026, producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto and director Mikinori Abe discussed how they deliberately abandoned the refined, cool combat style honed over 20 years of Like a Dragon games. Instead, they studied real fistfights between amateurs, finding that real brawls are gritty and messy, not clean. The game features a unique battle system where players control the left and right sides of the body separately, including separate guards for left and right attacks. The team, known for making fights look cool, had to correct each motion to remove martial-arts-like polish. The result is a raw, muddy brawl that emphasizes weight and realism over flashy effects.
The team behind the game cut backwards compatibility with past consoles to start fresh. Producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto said all design resources were rebuilt from scratch, and no past data from the Like a Dragon series was used. "So what remains is only the 'mindset.' Things like 'let's value this' or 'let's be particular here'-the 'soul' part."
Director Mikinori Abe joined RGG Studio as a new graduate during development of Like a Dragon 7, the game that switched the protagonist to Ichiban Kasuga. He said he approached this title recalling the "birth pains" of creating something new back then. Abe also drew on his own experience living overseas and returning to Japan, feeling he "had no place to belong." He gave direction at motion capture sessions like "make this a bit more Japanese-like" as Mahiro's mannerisms and word choices change over time.
Early versions of the combat felt like a "tech demo," Sakamoto said. The team settled on "brawl-like movements" where combos connect, and added interrupt processing for a huge number of input branches. Guarding also splits left and right, similar to boxing games, and works in ground-and-pound situations. Location-specific expressions are built in, so tackling someone on stairs makes both fighters tumble down together.
The game uses "showbiz" as a motif across its timeline, with Mahiro working out "how to make a hit in that era." It will support Arabic in addition to wider multilingual support.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.