Stranger Than Heaven really is living up to its name as a new trailer reveals another appearance one would hope to be there in heaven by now. At Summer Game Fest 2026, Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio revealed a short trailer that mostly there to reveal the release date (it’s in January 2027) and a few more of the cast.
That cast now includes the appearance of Tupac.
The fame rapper that died in 1996 will be making a posthumous appearance in Stranger Than Heaven in a currently unspecified role. This is the second star in the Stranger Than Heaven cast that no are no longer with us, following Bunta Sugawara.
On the stage at Summer Game Fest 2026, fellow Stranger Than Heaven cast member Snoop Dogg said he worked together with Tupac’s estate to bring this appearance.
Tupac has made posthumous appearances before. In 2012, he appeared as a hologram alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre at Coachella. Coincidentally, Hatsune Miku—the vocaloid by Crypton—has also appeared as a hologram for concerts and has performed at Coachella. The Venn Diagram between the two artists are now more overlapping than ever as the two now share the commonality of appearing in a video game published by Sega.
Stranger Than Heaven also revealed that Takashi Ukaji, Takaya Kuroda, Kouhei Tsuji and Yasukaze Motomiya also joins the cast alongside Tupac and the previously announced list of talents. Notably, Takaya Kuroda is the voice actor of Yakuza/Like A Dragon’s long-running face of the franchise Kazuma Kiryu, and Yasukaze Motomiya recently played the role of Kiryu for the Nihontoitsu adaptation of Yakuza.
Stranger Than Heaven launches on January 15, 2027 for the PS5, PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) and Xbox Series X|S.
Update 7/6/2026: In a press release by Sega, the portrayal of Tupac’s character in Stranger Than Heaven, named Amaru, is done “with permission and ongoing supervision” of Amaru Entertainment, Tupac’s estate. Tupac’s appearance in Stranger Than Heaven treated “with the utmost respect for his legacy, crafting every aspect in close collaboration without the use of AI, including his character design based on archival footage and photographs.” In 2024, the estate threaten to sue Drake over AI-generated voices of Tupac on the track Taylor Made Freestyle, a Kendrick Lamar diss track.
On the other hand, it’s important to note that as of 2016, Amaru Entertainment is not managed by founder and Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, following her death. The estate is managed by music executive Tom Whalley. Sekyiwa Shakur, Tupac’s sister, sued Whalley, accusing him of “embezzling millions of dollars” from the estate in 2022. More recently, Daz Dillinger also sued the estate over royalties for the song All Eyez On Me.