It's been four years now but the long-awaited Shenmue 3 is very nearly upon us. Fans have wanted this sequel so badly that, when it was announced as a Kickstarter project, it raised $2 million in less than seven hours. The game's image was tarnished somewhat during the recent Epic Games debacle, due to backers who were promised Steam keys being told that they wouldn't receive them at launch but Epic Games has tried to make some amends by offering refunds for those upset with the decision. With this controversy seemingly now buried, developer Ys Net and publisher Deep Silver are focused on ramping up fans' excitement by releasing a brand new trailer for the game.
The trailer isn't particularly long, but it manages to show off two major aspects of the game for players to look forward to experiencing. The first of which is the range of arcade games for protagonist Ryo to partake in. Due to being set in 1980s China, don't expect to see crane games or Virtua Fighter cabinets, but rather old-fashioned games like a pinball table and some sort of RC game. The trailer also features a marketplace where Ryo will no doubt be able to purchase items to help him on his adventure.
The real meat of the trailer, however, is arguably the combat. Apparently Ryo will be able to take part in fighting tournaments against other professional martial artists. At one point, we see him fighting some monks at a temple, which could be how Ryo trains and learns new moves. All of this will remind some players of Sega's Yakuza series, which makes sense as that was a spiritual successor to Shenmue.
While Shenmue 3 is still a few months away from release, certain backers of the title will be able to try out a trial version next month, which will contain a standalone act set during the game's first area. While this will surely keep fans satisfied for a while and give an early glimpse at the final product, it does come with the caveat that the PC players will need an Epic Games Store account to access it.
And although the aforementioned Epic Games controversy has been resolved somewhat, it was reported a couple of months ago that backers won't be entitled to the game's Season Pass or Digital Deluxe content. Not only that, but there was apparently no mention of a Season Pass on the game's Kickstarter page. Time will tell whether any of this will affect the game's reception.
Shenmue 3 will release on November 19th for PC and PS4.