Fifty-year-long brawler Stranger than Heaven looks like a sprawling, ambitious titan of a game, but also deeply weird, which I almost value even more. As a standalone prequel to the entire Yakuza series, it's heir to a legacy of weirdness — how many out-of-context clips of those games have you seen floating around online? Employing a chicken as a financial advisor feels like it pales in comparison to bringing Tupac Shakur back from the dead, though.
Its cast is already massive, which is a necessity to handle a story spanning five decades and five cities, but it has grown by a few more, according to a recent trailer. Take Takaya Kuroda, the voice of Yakuza series protagonist Kiryu, who's back in an unrelated role. That would have been the headliner if not for one more reveal: a character modeled after the deceased rapper Tupac will somehow factor into a story set in midcentury Japan. He's even got the bandana.
According to his friend Snoop Dogg, who is also in the game, Tupac's estate signed off on the use of his likeness and he will be voiced by another actor. Just in case you thought it might be another AI Darth Vader situation.
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