A story about a half-Japanese man struggling to find his place in the world – I feel particularly suited for covering RGG Studio's upcoming narrative-driven action game Stranger Than Heaven. After playing a new three-hour demo, I had a conversation with the director Mikinobu Abe and lead actor Yu Shirota, who plays the protagonist Makoto Daito, and was able to connect with them on what it meant to create a story about growing up and growing old as an outsider within your own culture.
Abe himself lived abroad and had to learn Japanese when coming back, and Shirota is of mixed heritage, which played a significant role in his career trajectory in acting and music. All of this informed Stranger Than Heaven, alongside the idea that music can break barriers, and that manifests as one of RGG Studio's most intricate in-game side activities yet. And while there are some curious decisions about casting for its characters (see, the digital resurrection of Tupac), having the J-pop idol Ado act and sing for this game is fascinating on its own – I got to the bottom of how that collaboration came together.
Below is our full conversation about all that and more, which has been edited for clarity and readability. For more on the gameplay experience, be sure to read my Stranger Than Heaven extended hands-on preview or watch the video version below.
IGN: The thing that stood out to me most was the theme of music being a core part of gameplay, story, and characters.
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