Stranger Than Heaven adds optional cheat items

Stranger Than Heaven will include optional cheat items and difficulty settings to soften its demanding combat. RGG Studio producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto also confirmed to IGN that the game is built only for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Steam lists a January 14, 2027 release.

Sakamoto made the comments in an interview with IGN at Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show 2026 this week. The new game from the makers of Yakuza and Like a Dragon tells a story that spans several decades of early 20th century Japan.

Key facts

How will Stranger Than Heaven's cheat items work?

Combat is a step up in difficulty from RGG's previous games. IGN's Michael Higham, who has played it, called the parry-focused system "demanding". You have to read both the timing of an attack and the direction it comes from.

Sakamoto said the team fine-tuned difficulty balance and control responsiveness based on feedback from people who played demos at shows. The game will have difficulty settings and plenty of support features, starting with cheat items that boost health regeneration.

According to Sakamoto, equipping those items makes you much harder to defeat by automatically restoring health and adding other perks. For anyone who still struggles with blocking, there are assist items that let you clear encounters using basic left and right punches alone.

Streamers won't be able to hide it

There is a typically cheeky RGG twist. The cheat items are available from the very start, but they work as "handicap" items that your character wears as clothing. As Sakamoto put it, anyone watching your screen will immediately notice. So no switching on cheats and pretending to be a parry master on stream.

Sakamoto asked struggling players for a little perseverance and pointed to a lengthy tutorial section early in the game. At the other end of the scale, the highest difficulty is "extremely challenging", so veterans will still have something to chew on.

Why skip last-gen consoles?

In a second IGN piece, Sakamoto said Stranger Than Heaven will be RGG's most technically accomplished game. The team set out to make a completely new game, so it dropped previous-gen platforms like PS4 and focused on current-gen hardware such as PS5.

That is a real shift for the studio. 2024's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was developed across two console generations. This year's Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties dropped Xbox One but kept PS4 support. Stranger Than Heaven is the first to leave the old consoles behind entirely.

More characters on screen

Sakamoto explained that hardware limits used to cap how many characters the team could show at once. By fully using the PS5, they were able to put more characters on screen than ever and raise character quality. In his words, the result is a richer visual experience with a stronger artistic identity than anything RGG has made before.

Price and languages

On Steam the game costs $69.99 in the US, €69.99 in Europe and £64.99 in the UK. Full audio is available in English and Japanese, with subtitles in a range of other languages including French, German, Spanish, Korean and Chinese.

For more from RGG, read about Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, or see our news on another tough action game, Phantom Blade Zero.

Frequently asked questions

When does Stranger Than Heaven come out?

Steam lists a January 14, 2027 release date, while IGN gives January 15, 2027. It launches on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Is Stranger Than Heaven coming to PS4?

No. Producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto said the team dropped previous-gen platforms like PS4 to focus on current-gen consoles such as PS5.

What do the cheat items in Stranger Than Heaven do?

They automatically restore health and give other perks. There are also assist items that let players who struggle with blocking clear fights with basic left and right punches.

Sources

• IGN: Stranger Than Heaven features optional cheats to make its combat easier
• IGN: By skipping last-gen systems, Stranger Than Heaven is allowing RGG Studio to fully leverage current-gen consoles
• Steam: STRANGER THAN HEAVEN store page