Stranger than Heaven, out this winter, sees the Yakuza devs blend Snoop Dogg into a musical adventure/Tojo Clan origin story that looks fascinatingly quirky

RGG studio's latest work explores "identity, belonging, [and] history" in addition to the usual crime and ambition

Right. So. Stranger Than Heaven, the Like A Dragon/Yakuza devs' hop through different decades of 20th century Japanese history? Snoop Dogg's in it. And, also, it's telling the story of how the Tojo Clan - the famous yakuza group Kazuma Kiryu belongs to - came to be founded. Oh, and it'll have you wandering around town sampling the sounds of brooms sweeping and steam trains chugging so that you can turn these into symphonies, as you plunge headlong into a career in band management.

All of that and more has just been shown off in a fresh look at the game, which is out this winter.

Previously, developers RGG had revealed that this historical take on their usual underworld brawling was set across five Japanese cities in five different decades, running from the 1910s to the 1960s. Now, narrative meat's been put on those bones.

As explained by Dean Fujioka, the voice actor behind one of its two main characters, it's "far more than a story about crime or ambition, it's a story of identity, belonging, [and] history". That story kicks off in 1915 with half Japanese/half American protagonist Makoto Daito choosing to flee the US for Japan following the sudden deaths of his parents. Naturally, as an orphan in an RGG game, he soon meets a lifelong frenemy who'll serve as his on-off mate and rival throughout his efforts to find a place for himself in his new home. That rival's Yu Shirota, voiced by Fujioka, a "realist, sharper and more calculating than most" in contrast to Daito's brash impulsiveness. Sounds very reminiscent of the relationship between Kiryu and original Yakuza antagonist Akira Nishkiyama to me.

Then, the pair are nearly thrown into the sea by Snoop Dogg. Yep, in RGG's latest celebrity cameo after the studio gave actor Danny Trejo and wrestler Samoa Joe fairly big roles in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii respectively, the D-O-double G has made his way into the Kiryuverse as a smuggler named Orpheus. Upon first seeing him, I feared that this might be RGG properly jumping the shark into the territory of such cameos feeling forced and unnatural, but it seems like he might only play a major role in the story's first chapter, helping Makoto get to grips with life in his first Japanese destination, the grimy industrial city of Kokura in Fukoka.

He also helps Makoto discover the latter's talent for singing, kicking off the musical element which serves as a key theme from then on, since it can bridge gaps between cultures and people. From there Makoto's push to find a place where he can belong mirrors early to mid 20th century Japan's formation of its own unique modern identity, as overseas influences like American music and advances in technology blend with and chafe against established traditions. Daito's tale marches from Fukoka to the city of Kure in Hiroshima in 1929, another industrial melting pot where it seems he has his first prolonged battle with a yakuza clan.

Then, it's on to 1943 and the neon-drenched Minami district of Osaka, which looks a lot like glitzy established Like A Dragon stomping ground Sotenbori. Here, the musical aspect of Stranger Than Heaven takes a step up from Daito simply being able to run around town listening to sounds like crows squawking and people snoring to turn these into songs, to him becoming a full "showman". In business with Shirota, you become a band manager of sorts, organising acts, setting up gigs, and scouting for talent. It's far from unusual for an RGG game to go all-in on detailed minigames, and this looks like it'll be the main side-story to sink your teeth into. Honestly, assuming it's not too heavy on recycled busywork from other Like A Dragon entries, I'm down to organise some saxophone players.

From there, with Daito set on his path to form the Tojo Clan as a place for societal outcasts, RGG were understandably a bit more hush-hush on story beats. However, they did reveal that he'll meet an American singer called Suzy during a 1951 trip to the cherry blossom-filled tourist trap of Atami in Shizuoka. Things then come to a head in 1965, with a return to the place Like A Dragon things happen - the Tokyo district of Kamurocho, where RGG teased "a tremendous secret will be revealed".

All in all, it's a blend of both established Like A Dragon series tropes and weirdness with more of an overt focus on painting a picture of how society drastically changes across time than RGG have delivered in a single game up until now. I can help but feel my attitude towards it as of right now is summed up by how I reacted to the major change the studio have made to their traditional brawling combat with Stranger Than Heaven. Rather than pressing one button to throw punches or kicks with whichever limb your character fancies, you can instead now press specific buttons - the left and right triggers/bumpers on a controller - to specifically throw a punch or kick with your left or right hand or leg.

The idea's to offer more control in fights, alongside the addition of tackling/ground and pound attacks. To me, it's an augmentation that'll either fit seamlessly into RGG's wonderfully simple and cathartic scraps, or turn them into an overtly fiddly mess I can't button mash my way to success in. That's Stranger Than Heaven to my eye. A commendable step in an intriguing new direction despite the obvious rooting in what's gone before, and one that'll either be pulled off so well I'll be left wondering why I ever doubted it'd be worth the plunge, or try to spin too many plates and fall a bit flat on its face as it tries to be 50 million things at once.

It's a game about identity and belonging, and I'm very much keen to see whether RGG have found a way to make it coherently fit together in a fashion that'll mean it isn't just remembered as that Yakuza game starring the guy who once dropped it like it was hot.