Stranger Than Heaven Demo Impressions from Gamescom 2026!

You'll either hate it or fall in love with it

I've been waiting so long to say this—I played Stranger Than Heaven. One of my most anticipated games for the coming years, which caught mainstream attention with its emphasis on stunning style, a world featuring 5 different versions of various cities in old Japan, incredible sound design, and most notably—appearances by Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac in the game's character cast. But I didn't experience any of that in the demo I played—which focused exclusively on its combat system, which will do one of two things—either elevate it to the heavens or drag it down to hell.

You've probably already heard that the game's combat system is built so that each of the R1, R2, L1, L2 buttons controls the right hand, right leg, left hand, and so on respectively. But what I discovered is that the game doesn't stop there, and builds its combat in a way that's reminiscent of souls-like games. The larger enemies really require you to maintain a block (you also need to match the blocking hand to the direction of the strike) and only then land a hit on them, repeating this several times. The demo starts with a fight against regular enemies where you can go wild and try out the three main weapons we've seen so far. Essentially, the weapons set the pace of combat—bare hands deal less damage to enemies but are faster, the knife is a combination of speed and damage, and the crowbar is slow and cumbersome but deals tons of damage.

 When it's just you versus other people, the game is incredibly fun and really feels like a beat 'em up. There's no fun quite like knocking an enemy to the ground, getting on top of them, and starting to punch them until the button for a finisher appears. Later in the demo, a combination of one large enemy and small enemies appears, and I had a bit more difficulty there. That's where I used a health potion for the first time—and its animation made me realize there's really an intention here to build a combat system similar to souls games. Against the large enemy, I planned my moves, built around blocks and dodges, and finally defeated him. The third fight starts in a neon-lit city, stunningly beautiful, and then out of nowhere a small guy with a katana appears—who, like in souls games, doesn't need anyone else beside him because he knows how to deliver fast, unpredictable strikes that deal massive damage to you. Because I was already trained in the previous fight to approach combat like a souls game, I didn't struggle with him too much, but he definitely challenged me. 

My bottom line is that this really is a unique combat system—one you'll have to try for yourself to know if it's for you. And if it is for you—it will likely be one of the most fun games you'll play in the near future.