RGG Devs Applauded When I Defeated Stranger Than Heaven’s Swordsman Boss – He’s That Difficult

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Genuinely, Stranger Than Heaven has one of the oddest, but also one of the best combat systems I’ve seen in recent years. It’s what I imagine the general Yakuza series could’ve achieved if the franchise had revolutionized the main games (or remakes). Even then, beyond the fundamental combat, there’s a great deal under the hood of RGG Studio’s highly-anticipated game that should intrigue longtime RGG fans, and newcomers as well.

Sega and RGG recently shocked people by revealing the inclusion of the late iconic figures Bunta Sugawara and Tupac Shakur in Stranger Than Heaven. Even though the studio received approval from both of their family estates, it’s still… weird. Even having Snoop Dogg in the game has been strange enough. But we won’t know the full extent of what RGG is planning until the game comes out. In the meantime, we do know a bit about the combat and time periods.

I had the chance to go hands-on with Stranger Than Heaven at Summer Game Fest 2026, briefly playing through three settings over the course of about 30 minutes. The goal was to showcase how the game evolves from the early 1900s to the mid-1900s. First, I fought a group of enemies in 1915, then another stronger group in 1929, and finally a boss in 1943. In each setting, I was given the opportunity to use my character’s fists, a crowbar, or a knife. Each one had its own pros and cons, and alternating throughout a fight was best.

The combat in Stranger Than Heaven works by controlling each arm independently. You use L1/L2 (or LB/LT) for your left arm – for quick, light attacks – and R1/R2 (or RB/RT) for your right arm, which delivers slower, more powerful attacks that can be charged. Blocking also requires using both arms strategically; simply holding the block button (Circle/B) isn’t enough. You need to block with the arm corresponding to the incoming attack to avoid draining your stamina and taking damage. This system applies to all weapons, so even when using a one-handed weapon like a knife, you’ll need to mix in attacks with your other hand – for example, a knife strike followed by a punch combo – to stay effective.

It’s easy to dismiss this system has being straightforward (or even rudimentary), but it’s anything but. Stranger Than Heaven’s combat style is built entirely into mimicking a real fight. If your opponent is guarding their left side, you have to strike with the right, and vice versa. It brings a whole new level to everything from simple one-on-one fights to group fights to boss fights. At first, it was tough to get used to. Like everyone else, I felt invincible and thought I could easily take down a small group of fighters with my fists, but I failed the first time. After that, I respected the difficulty and level of focus required to stay alive, and then I succeeded. Sometimes that meant swapping between my knife and crowbar when multiple enemies were attacking at once.

In general, Stranger Than Heaven requires reshaping your mind around combat. Nowadays, fighting is limited to one or maybe two buttons, primarily for quick and special attacks. Everything else is associated with dodging, parrying, and rolling. But for this game, it’s all connected, forcing you to think beyond light and heavy attacks and more on what your enemy is doing. This was especially true for defense. If you’re not careful and you get knocked down, you better hope you have enough stamina not only to get up but to get up in time before you’re attacked again. You can’t imagine how difficult that was with the boss in 1943.

This opponent was notoriously tough – so much so that the developers would applaud anyone who managed to defeat him. Nobody beat him on their first attempt. My strategy involved a knife attack followed by quick jabs, but his speed and my limited stamina forced me to constantly retreat and start over. I had to dodge his powerful takedown move frequently, as it took a huge chunk of my health if it connected. While parrying was challenging, a successful parry allowed me to strike his neck, dealing a small amount of damage. I kept repeating this process until I finally won.

Many players attempted to defeat the boss by repeatedly attacking with knives and blocking his sword attacks, but this strategy consistently failed. The key to success isn’t just raw power; it’s about using clever tactics and outsmarting your opponent. This idea will be central to Stranger Than Heaven.

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2026-06-11 23:19