Stranger Than Heaven Will Drop Yakuza Series’ Signature Humor for a Realistic Story

The studio is betting on authenticity. Stranger Than Heaven will have fewer of the signature absurd scenes found in Yakuza, and the history of Japan in past decades is meant to be what surprises players.

Stranger Than Heaven will be more serious than the Yakuza series. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio wants to show almost half a century of Japanese history through the story of Makoto Daito, who gradually moves from poverty to wealth.

Director Mikinobu Abe said in an interview that the absurd situations and comedic scenes the studio is known for will have less room in the game. Instead, the developers plan to draw on the particular features of the eras in which the story takes place.

When we started researching the eras we wanted to show in the game, we found that the world several decades ago, and even a century ago, already looked vivid and unusual. The differences in values and in what people considered normal back then are surprising and interesting in themselves. So instead of deliberately creating situations purely for laughs, we decided that introducing players to the social norms and values of that era could be an incredibly unexpected experience in its own right.

At the start of the game, Makoto sneaks onto the ship of a smuggler played by Snoop Dogg, and he then faces prejudice in Japan.