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While Bunta's inclusion might make a lot more sense given the subject matter, Yokoyama insisted that selecting Tupac wasn't simply stunt casting, but that the understood relationship between Snoop Dogg and Tupac mirrors the relationship between the characters of Orpheus and Amaru. "Tupac's character, Amaru, is a character in the game. So Orpheus and Amaru have a relationship, but there's also a lot of other characters we haven't seen that have relationships," Yokoyama explained. "And we wanted to make sure that all of these characters had not just a relationship to the character of Orpheus in the game, but something that if you know Snoop Dogg and you know these characters and you know their relationships, it would feel really right to have this person in this role, because their relationship with both Snoop Dogg is mirrored in the roles in-game." As for whether RGG Studio would use AI to replicate the late stars' performances, Yokoyama said, "We have not used any AI for this at all. I can't speak to the future, but we're not using any AI right now for these characters. For both Sugawara Bunta and for Tupac, the voice actors that we picked to play them are somebody who had a relationship with these people, both those people, before they were deceased, and made sure that both them and the family were okay with the casting and that everyone would, once again, do full, due respect to those people's memory." It's worth pointing out that Amaru is not only a notable name for Tupac's legacy (see here for more (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/itFec0wSy5s) on the origins of Tupac's name) but is notably the very name of the company originally created by his mother that not only administers his music but also manages the trademark for his name and the posthumous use of his likeness. "Tupac’s portrayal of the character Amaru in Stranger Than Heaven is made possible with the permission and ongoing supervision of his estate, Amaru Entertainment," Sega wrote in a press release (https://www.gamespress.com/TUPAC-SHAKUR-JOINS-SEGAS-STRANGER-THAN-HEAVEN). Stranger Than Heaven will be released on January 17, 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles.