Fans have been clamouring for a sequel to cult adventure game Shenmue 2 for so long, it’s become something of a running joke that they’ll never see it happen. It’s right up there with Half-life 3.
Except that it’s actually, genuinely happening now. In one of the craziest moments of a consistently surprising E3 2015, series creator Yu Suzuki popped up on stage during the Sony press conference to announce his Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3. And thus, the internet exploded.
For those of you not in the know, the Shenmue series is an action-adventure game with a focus on real-world locations, which follows protagonist Ryo as he tries to track down his father’s killer. Unlike most video game heroes, Ryo doesn’t have endless reserves of cash to fund his search, so players spend much of their time working part-time jobs and gambling in order to earn some money.
Shenmue 3 will continue Ryo’s story, and takes place in China. It’s powered by the Unreal 4 engine, and several members of the team responsible for the original games are returning; Suzuki himself, composer Ryuji Iuchi, environment designer Manabu Takimoto, Ryo’s voice actor Masaya Matsukaze, and writer Masahiro Yoshimoto.
Even better, the series is coming to the PC for the very first time! $29 will net you a digital copy of the game on either PC or PS4, while $100 will also net you a ‘trial version’ of the game which is presumably to be released prior to its official launch.
Suzuki is asking for $2 million for the project. You won’t be surprised to know that rabid fans have already raised $1,633,914 of that as of this post, with 31 days left to go on the campaign. Expect record success here people, probably even greater success than that enjoyed by Koji Igarashi’s Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Stretch goals for Shenmue 3 include supplementary skill and ‘rapport’ systems, and new mini-games.
