The Stranger Than Heaven cast includes Snoop Dogg and Snoop Dogg's son, along with some other celebrity names, who have surprisingly meaty roles in the new game from the studio behind the Yakuza series.
Xbox and developer RGG Studio last night lifted the curtain on Stranger Than Heaven, a new action game that looks like it's borrowing the Yakuza (or Like A Dragon) series' knack for violent stakes and over-the-top zaniness, in a half-hour stream embedded below.
![[EN-4K] Xbox Presents: A Special Look at STRANGER THAN HEAVEN - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/I0R3m9woviA/maxresdefault.jpg)
Executive director and studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama reveals the game is set to launch this winter for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, and PS5. But perhaps the more unexpected news is that hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg is leading the game's celebrity cast.
The rap icon plays Orpheus, "an international smuggler who only has one rule: Taking what's meant to be, where it's meant to be," he says. "If you want it, I can get it for you." Orpheus catches our main protagonist Makoto Daito, a US-born American-Japanese orphan, trying to hitch a ride to mainland Japan as a stowaway on his smuggling ship.
Snoop Dogg's son, Cordell Broadus, is also part of the Stranger Than Heaven cast, though the developers are remaining tight-lipped about his unnamed and unseen character.
The rest of the celeb ensemble is rounded out by actor and singer Dean Fujioka, Shogun's Moeka Hoshi and Tokuma Nishioka, J-pop star Ado, singer-songwriter Tori Kelly, the late Bunta Sugawara, and the long-time Japanese voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid, Akio Otsuka, per a Sega blog post.
Stranger Than Heaven itself looks lush, too. Set across 50 years and five cities from 1915 onward, the game sees Makoto carve a path through the cutthroat showbiz business via bloody combat and an ear for music. RGG Studio also detailed a really interesting system that has Makoto collecting sounds around the world before assembling them into a full composition, as well as recruiting and managing entire bands to play in your shows.
Interestingly, the livestream makes mention of the Yakuza series' Tojo Clan. Make of that information what you will, but this being a Yakuza-adjacent game means, yes, of course, there will apparently be plenty of mini-games. It's tradition.
For now, check out the upcoming Xbox Series X games and upcoming PS5 games to not miss a single release.
