Stranger Than Heaven – PAX AUS 2026 Preview

The Stranger Than Heaven demo at PAX AUS 2026 focused mostly on three combat stages of increasing difficulty. It had no story content, which was a little disappointing given how big and confusing this time-spraying next-gen IP from RGG Studio is, but it gave me a better idea of the combat the studio is using in this game.

Stranger Than Heaven seems to strike a balance with the brawling mechanics the team is known for in games like their Yakuza/Like a Dragon Series, but with a more focused system that requires you to dodge and parry to succeed. 

The first combat encounter, set in the early 1910s, was just a group of what I took as the regular goons you’ll run into as you move through the game. But it was a good way to understand the basics. The LB, LT, RB, and RT buttons on an Xbox controller handled a mix of heavy and light arm- and foot-based attacks you could also charge up, while two face buttons were dedicated to dodging or blocking. The first several enemies were easy to dodge and then hit back. 

On the second stage, a bigger and tougher enemy was introduced to the bunch with a weapon. You can try to dodge this guy, but he has a wide attack, and I learned that blocking was more important here, so I held down B and let him get his moves in before going on the offensive against the other enemies. Taking out the smaller ones left him open. Dealing enough damage, or knocking an enemy into the group, lets you trigger a big-damage or finish move by pressing two attack buttons at the same time.

The final and ‘hard’ stage was maybe a boss battle, or just a much stronger enemy either way. A samurai-type enemy waits for you at a bridge, and you take him on one-on-one. Here, the game tested what I’d learnt so far, and it took me three tries to beat him before the twenty-minute demo timer ran out. 

For this final enemy, you’ll need to parry to deal the damage you need and take him out fast, because he pulls out some high-damage moves. These seemingly unblockable attacks send you flying to the ground, with a katana coming straight at your face. The parry system is interesting and requires you to pay attention to the direction your enemies’ attacks are coming from. Hold B to block, but tap LT or RT at the right time, depending on the attack’s direction, to parry and stun, then land a devastating counterattack. 

Amongst the blocking and dodging, you’ll sometimes get knocked to the ground. Even this requires timi:as you need to press A to dodge-roll out of the way several times before the game lets you get up, but if you spamll, you’lrollng into the enemy’s attacks. You also can’t spam attacks, because you’ll end up mid-attack animation while an enemy hits you in the face with a fist, a brick, or something even worse. 

I tried exploring the demo’s limited city areas, but it felt very confined and mostly just pushed you toward combat encounters. I found a random stand that gave me a pre-combat health boost, and I also picked up some cigarette butts. What they could be for- feel free to give me any ideas. 

In combat, I didn’t find any framerate issues, but the game did chug a bit in the bigger city sections with other NPCs and shop fronts. It’s not too concerning to me because RGG Studio has experience with these sorts of games, but the game is also out in a couple of months, so I hope this was an older build.

I was surprised by how patience- and timing-focused the combat in Stranger Than Heaven was, given the studio is more known for brawlers. Still, it helps separate it from their other series by adding more depth and difficulty. In a world where the Like a Dragon series has now moved to a turn-based RPG, the spin-off games like Judgment still deliver the beat-em-up of the earlier games; this will add a third type of combat entry to the series ongoing library of games, and allows them to feel different enough and hopefully bring in some of the same players, but also open it up to players who are after a different type of combat experience.