The Shenmue series, first introduced for Sega Dreamcast on in North America in 2000, became one of those series where while not selling huge numbers, gained a rather sizable cult following.
At the time of release, Shenmue was a groundbreaking title which allowed for very detailed gameplay. Some residents were home at only certain times of day, stores had business hours, among many other things. The city of Yokosuka, Japan was a living, breathing environment. While considered expected in an open-world game these days, this was long before the Grand Theft Auto series took the world by storm and made features like that achievable.
While a sequel was quietly released in North America in October of 2002, that was the last anyone would see of the Shenmue series. That is, until 2015.
During the Sony press conference at E3 2015, Director of Third-Party Production at Sony Computer Entertainment Gio Corsi stood on stage and talked about many games upcoming for the PlayStation 4 platform. When Corsi mentioned a title gamers had been waiting a long time for, excitement began to build. As a feather fell and the Shenmue music began to play, the venue erupted, with some in attendance literally shedding tears. Series creator Yu Suzuki then took the stage to announce the title the delay in development.
A Kickstarter to fund the title was kicked off after the announcement, asking for $1 million dollars. The Kickstarter was fully funded in less than 24 hours.
Shenmue III released in North America on November 19, 2019 for PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as PC. While reviews were mixed, the third installment in the series proved a worthy successor to the previous games. Keeping the same control scheme as the two previous title seemed to hold the game back some, as the controls felt rigid as compared to open world games these days. In addition, some graphical obstacles drew some away from the immersion. The story, however, made Shenmue III a must play for fans of the series.
While Shenmue IV is not in development nor have any official word of it been revealed, Series creator Yu Suzuki has expressed his hope to create it.
