Ben Veress is a Contributing Features Writer at DualShockers based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been covering games professionally since 2021, with experience writing features, lists, reviews, and news across gaming, tech, culture, and entertainment.
Before joining DualShockers, Ben wrote for Kotaku AU, Gizmodo AU, Vice AU, Pedestrian.TV, Quest Daily, Blunt Magazine, Impulse Gamer, and Inkl. At Pedestrian.TV, he served as the publication’s sole tech and gaming writer, leading coverage of major gaming releases and events for one of Australia’s major youth publications. He holds a Bachelor of Communications in Media from RMIT University and was nominated for Best Branded Content Journalist at the Australian Samsung IT Awards in 2025.
The 30th annual Tokyo Game Show just wrapped this week, unfortunately cut short due to Typhoon Dujuan sweeping through Japan on Monday. Still, the event was a major triumph, bringing together some of gaming's biggest names to promote their upcoming titles on the show floor. Sega was a major standout this year, who are gearing up to release the highly anticipated Persona 4 Revival, Crazy Taxi World Tour, and of course, an all-new standalone entry in the Yakuza series, Stranger Than Heaven.
The booths on the ground were grandiose, placing standing rows of players to try out a generous demo focused on the game's combat. Given the developers' pivot into the RPG playstyle with Like A Dragon, and their most recent remake of Yakuza 3 stirring plenty of controversy, I think it's fair to say that there's a lot riding on Stranger Than Heaven.
It's a big step for the developer, who have been biding their time to take the next graphical leap their series needs, and I think it pays off. Stranger Than Heaven looks and feels gorgeous even in the small slice shown in the demo. Bustling crowds fill the streets, and colorful, resplendent lighting soaks the city, giving the setting a slick and next-gen look.
While it was a fairly restricted demo, there's still a lot to talk about, especially if some of your favorite parts of the Yakuza franchise have been its combat.
Tokyo Games Show's demo kicked things off by throwing us into a casual street fight against a mob of generic enemies you'd find wandering the streets in any Yakuza game.
In this fight, you start off as a younger Makato Daito, who, at this stage, has no other weapons besides his fists and a few trusty street chairs to throw at people. One of the biggest changes to combat, as opposed to the Yakuza games, is that your left and right triggers are now your attack buttons, freeing up the face buttons for blocking and dodging. R1 and R2 are light and heavy attacks using your right side, and L1 and L2 covering your left. That's right, it's like QWOP.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.dualshockers.com/tgs-2026-stranger-than-heaven-combat/
