A demo for RGG Studio's new title, Stranger Than Heaven, was held at SGF 2026. The 40-minute session focused exclusively on the combat system, allowing players to experience the game's new mechanics across three different eras and with three distinct weapons.

The demo featured three settings: Kokura in 1915, Kure in 1929, and Osaka in 1943. Because the demo was restricted to a very small area and focused solely on combat at various difficulty levels, there were no other elements to evaluate beyond the visuals.

Players had access to three weapons: fists, a knife, and a crowbar. Each weapon featured unique speed, damage, special moves, and evasion/defense timing, making it crucial to choose the one that best suited your playstyle.

After spending a full 40 minutes with the game, it is clear that Stranger Than Heaven is no walk in the park. While I quickly adapted to the easy and medium difficulties—despite them being one-versus-many encounters—the final difficulty level, which featured one-on-one duels, was so challenging that it consumed 90% of my demo time.

To put it bluntly, coordinating both hands and feet to land combos while moving your body is no easy feat.

In Stranger Than Heaven, you control both sides of your body independently in every situation except when evading. Both attack and defense require you to press separate keys for the left and right sides. Since there is no lock-on feature, you must manually adjust the camera to face attacking enemies or the direction you need to defend, all while timing your button presses to attack, block, and dodge with both hands.

What makes this interesting is that because the left and right sides are controlled separately, your effectiveness in combat depends entirely on how well you input your commands; you can either dominate or find yourself completely overwhelmed.

The game offers a wide variety of attack methods, including tap inputs, charged attacks, and heavy hits that trigger during combos. There are also multiple ways to respond to situations, such as dodging at the perfect moment to deal massive damage, or using one hand to block an enemy's strike while the other hand quickly counters with a fist or knife.

Once you get the hang of the combat, it feels like every player could develop their own unique style of offense, defense, and overall engagement.

If you successfully push an enemy to the ground, you can follow up with a heavy or special attack depending on the situation. Of course, because I was so focused on frantically moving both hands to block and dodge, it was hard to track exactly which inputs triggered the push or the special attack prompt.

Each weapon has a distinct personality. With differences in attack speed, damage, reach, enemy hit reactions, and special moves, there is a real joy in finding the weapon that fits your style and mastering the different combat flows they provide.

Personally, the knife was the best fit among the three available weapons. The sense of speed and the impact felt when striking enemies were very impressive. Since I was still getting used to using both hands, the knife allowed me to focus on attacking with the weapon hand while using my free hand to quickly parry incoming strikes.

However, compared to its visual impact, the knife definitely dealt less damage than the crowbar. This led to a frustrating situation with the final enemy where, despite landing countless attacks and triggering special moves—feeling like I had hit them ten times over—their health bar barely budged.

You can respond to enemy attacks with dodges and blocks; timing them perfectly triggers a 'Perfect Dodge' or 'Perfect Block.' A Perfect Dodge slows down time and initiates a unique attack motion for each weapon, though these attacks can sometimes miss depending on the enemy's subsequent movement.

One thing is certain: the combat immersion is excellent. Regardless of the difficulty or the level of polish, the game is so engaging that 40 minutes of non-stop fighting felt like it passed in an instant. I suspect this immersion comes from the control scheme itself, which forces you to frantically alternate button presses as if you were physically swinging your own hands and feet to fight.

Whether facing a crowd or a single opponent wielding a long sword, you must actively use both fingers to land effective attacks and trigger combos. This requirement creates a sense of immersion that makes you feel like you are truly participating in the fight.

Stranger Than Heaven, the new title from SEGA's RGG Studio, is scheduled for release on January 15, 2027, for PC, PS5, and XSX|S.