Tupac Shakur will appear as a character in Stranger Than Heaven
The late rapper is appearing with permission from his estate
Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have announced that Stranger Than Heaven will feature Tupac Shakur.
The rapper, who also went by his stage name 2Pac, was killed in 1996 but will appear in the Like a Dragon / Yakuza studio’s next game as one of its characters.
It was already previously revealed that fellow rapper Snoop Dogg will appear in the game, and he took to the stage at Summer Game Fest to explain that Shakur’s likeness is being added to the game with permission from his estate.
“The Tupac estate and my son and myself, we work very closely together,” he explained. “So it just made sense to put him in this game, because his likeness and his spirit still lives on, I just felt like it was so connected to what we’re doing.”
The rest of the game’s cast includes Yu Shirota (Hana-Kimi), Dean Fujioka (Fullmetal Alchemist), Snoop Dogg (Training Day), his son Cordell Broadus, Moeka Hoshi (Shogun), Akio Otsuka (Lupin III), Tokuma Nishioka (Shogun), Takashi Ukaji (Tokyo Park) and the late Bunta Sugawara (Battles Without Honor and Humanity), as well as singers Tori Kelly, Satoshi Fujihara and Ado.
The game opens in 1915 and follows Makoto Daito, a young man born from an American feather and a Japanese mother.
“A man of industry, Makoto’s father travelled all across the world, settling in many different places,” executive director Masayoshi Yokoyama explained during the presentation.
“The family eventually settled down in his father’s hometown in America. However, not long after they arrived, Makoto’s father abruptly passed away. A Japanese mother and child with little English proficiency were left alone without the protection they once knew.”
As Makoto and his mother are met with prejudice from society, his mother eventually dies too, leading Makoto to decide to move to Japan.
“It’s here he’s met with a pivotal decision,” Yokoyama explained. “Stay in a dangerous and potentially damning America, or to try his luck in Japan – his mother’s home country – a place where many should look just like him.”
