Stranger than Heaven is Yakuza except set between 1915 and 1965 in five different cities—including Kamurocho
The new project from Ryu Ga Gotoku was given an airing at today's Xbox Partner Preview showcase. Formerly known as Project Century, part of what attracted me to Stranger than Heaven when it was shown last year was that it seemed to be disconnected from the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series, which is something Ryu Ga Gotoku hasn't really done since Fist of the North Star.
But no: Stranger than Heaven seems undeniably linked to the Yakuza world, at least to the extent that it'll return to the ageworn stomping ground of Kamarocho. That's confirmed as much in the new trailer, which looks, honestly, incredible to me, despite my slight disappointment that it's not a whole new thing for RGG.
The trailer confirms that Stranger than Heaven will take place across five eras and five cities, and of those, it looks like we'll be exploring 1960s Kamurocho. We've previously only seen Kamurocho as far back as the late 1980s, so it'll be fun to see what the series' fictionalised Kabukichō looks like decades before that.
Other cities make a return, including RGG's interpretation of Osaka. The trailer even specifies which years the game will take place in: 1915, 1929, 1943, 1951 and 1965. Put that on the back of the box! RGG's close quarters scraps are also making a return, obviously, though it's hard to get a sense of how it works in this trailer.
Stranger than Heaven strikes a very different tone to the most recent Like a Dragon games: it's not as outright zany as the Ichiban Kasuga outings or Goro Majima's recent dalliance with piracy. As far as I can tell at this point, there are no returning characters in Stranger than Heaven, which makes sense given its time period but then, a 19th century spin-off didn't stop RGG from trotting out the face of Kiryu.
It's also utterly gorgeous, and the time periods promise a lot of fresh exploration for those who might have grown tired of exploring the same old cities in the last (checks Google) 12 Yakuza games. A more complete presentation is scheduled for May 6.