Ys Net has polished off a brand new Shenmue 3 trailer at the Tokyo Game Show 2019 this week, offering a detailed look at the game’s environments. Despite not having the backing of a triple-A budget, Shenmue 3 is looking mighty impressive, although to be fair, I personally wouldn’t mind one bit if it looked like a 20-year-old Dreamcast game at this point.
Shenmue 3 TGS 2019 Trailer
Check out the Shenmue 3 trailer below.
Shenmue 3 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4 and PC on November 19. Creator Yu Suzuki recently said that it will be possible for Shenmue 4 to happen if this game sells enough, so hopefully it’ll find an audience.
Then again, Shenmue has always been something of a cult franchise. The original game launched for the Dreamcast in Japan back in winter 1999 and arrived in the US and UK the following year, and at the time was the most expensive video game ever created. It pathed the way for modern open-world RPGs, offering a then-unprecedented level of freedom and visual fidelity unseen in games of the time.
Shenmue II turned up in winter 2001 for the Dreamcast in Japan and the UK, but due to the Dreamcast’s demise (SEGA announced in March 2001 that it would be exiting the console business), US gamers had to wait until 2002 to receive an Xbox version of the sequel.
Pleasingly, SEGA remastered both games for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the shape of the Shenmue HD Collection last year.
Shenmue 3 continues protagonist Ryo Hazuki’s mission of revenge against Lan Di, the mysterious Chinese martial artist who murdered his father at the beginning of the first Shenmue. The game takes place in a remote community in China, and it’s packed full of everything you’d expect from the series, from mini-games, martial arts training, awkward dialogue pauses, and epic fight scenes.