Joe Pring – Shenmue 3
We know exactly what you’re thinking. “How can anyone be excited about Shenmue 3 when Yu Suzuki had nothing to show off except for an announcement that the game might be a reality if the public can get behind it on Kickstarter?”
No, we’re not mind readers, it’s just a logical thought that anyone would have before they’d open their arms in acceptance of a sequel that fans have been waiting to see for fourteen agonizing years. But we’re in a post-E3 world now, and Shenmue 3’s fundraising campaign has been more than just a little successful. In fact, the game reached it’s $2m goal so fast that it broke records, and if that isn’t enough indication that Shenmue fans still exist, we don’t know what is.
If you never owned a Sega Dreamcast (seriously, shame on you), you might even be totally unaware of why everyone loses their shit every time the word Shenmue is uttered. The long and the short of it is this; the original game, released all the way back in 1999, lit the gaming world on fire due to how pioneering some its features were.
Aside from the unprecedented open world and visual fidelity (for the time), Shenmue’s world perfectly captured its setting – that of an 80s Japan that was slowly becoming more and more influenced by American culture. While the overarching narrative of the series has always been about protagonist Ryo Hazuki finding the man that killed his father, Shenmue’s draw has always been about how well it personifies the term ‘the devil’s in the details.’
Arcades (with real Sega games to play), shops, nine-to-five jobs, sleuthing and exploration – it was all there, and you were encouraged to do it in whatever order you wanted, whenever you wanted. Why are excited about Shenmue 3? Well, it’s the realization of a dream – not just of Yu Suzuki’s dream, but every single fan who has spent over a decade waiting for the dream to become reality.
Will it live up to the hype? Only time will tell.
