Developer Ys Net has updated the official Shenmue 3 website with a brand new design as the studio knuckles down on production of Yu Suzuki’s hotly anticipated action-RPG sequel.
The company accompanied the redesign with a New Year’s message for fans, promising it is working to deliver a sequel worth of expectations among gamers. Check it out below and be sure to have a look at the all-new Shenmue 3 website.
"Happy New Year!
Thanks to Shenmue fans everywhere, 2015 saw the start of Shenmue III. 2016 will be a year with noses to the grindstone to make the next installment of Shenmue worthy of the expectations you have entrusted with us. We would like to again ask you for your support and cooperation for all that lay ahead this year."
Shenmue 3 is still some way off completion, with the game currently scheduled to appear in December 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PC. Hopefully SEGA and Suzuki-san will come to some sort of arrangement on a possible high-definition re-release of the original Shenmue and its sequel for current-generation consoles to keep fans tiding over until launch.
The long-awaited follow-up to 2001’s Shenmue 2 was announced during Sony’s E3 press conference last summer, where it was launched as a kickstarter project. Any concerns that interest in the Shenmue series had diminished in the years since the last game were quickly put to bed when the project became the fastest video game on Kickstarter to reach one million dollars, with Shenmue 3 ending its run with $6.3 million raised. It was later announced that a Slacker Backer campaign had been launched allowing gamers to keep donating funds to the project.
Shenmue 3 will feature the return of series veteran Corey Marshall, who voiced protagonist Ryu Hazuki in the original game and its sequel. The game picks off immediately after the events of Shenmue 2, with Hazuki-san now in China on the hunt for the mysterious Lan Di, who killed Ryu’s father, Iwao, at the beginning of the original game. Check out the latest details on Shenmue 3 to see how it’s shaping up.