We interviewed RGG Studio's head Masayoshi Yokoyama about Stranger Than Heaven using Tupac's likeness, story connections to previous games, and incorporating Japanese history.

Stranger Than Heaven is both a major departure from and cut from the same cloth as the Yakuza and Like A Dragon games before it. Sega's RGG Studio uses many of the touchstones of its previous games to tell a more serious story about a hapa man in early 20th century Japan over the course of decades and how his life evolves with the changing times and the budding criminal underworld. It is tied to RGG's previous games, but it's meant to stand on its own. However, it's turned some heads with casting big names to lend their voice and likeness to its key characters. And the one that left everyone bewildered, was using the likeness of rapper Tupac Shakur, who has been dead for 30 years. I walked into a dimly lit room with executive director and studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama sitting across at a bosses desk with a chair directly in front like I was either being investigated, or perhaps the interviewee. While it was fit to theme the vibe of Stranger Than Heaven, I had an open conversation with Yokoyama (through translation) at Summer Game Fest after getting my hands on the Stranger Than Heaven combat demo, and we talked about the shift in combat system, how extensive its world will be, and