IF THE BEST WE GET IS RYO INTERROGATING NPCS ABOUT SAILORS, IT JUST WON’T DO.
Why we shouldn’t get complacent about what to expect from a Shenmue revival
Back in 2015, when Shenmue III was unveiled at E3 the reaction was overwhelming. Series creator Yu Suzuki later compared this to “cheering as if a deceased child just came back to life”. But even though I was caught up in those emotions at the time, I’m beginning to think of Shenmue’s revival as more like waking from a decadelong coma.
Picture high school dropout Ryo Hazuki out of his slumber, understandably feeling stiff. Forgive the poor lad, he just wants to get back to avenging his father, and the rest of the world has moved on.
Have no doubts, Shenmue was a groundbreaking game. It pioneered all the features we’ve come to expect from action adventure games: open worlds, scores of NPCs, real-time weather, QTEs. But when current big studios can do all this with far greater sophistication, can Shenmue III’s meagre budget possibly compete, let alone bring anything new to the table?
If we look back at Suzuki’s career at Sega, he’s always been a pioneer, from the immersive arcade experiences of Out Run to the first fully 3D fighting game, Virtua Fighter. It doesn’t mean Shenmue III needs to reinvent the third-person adventure, but if the best we get is Ryo interrogating NPCs about Lan Di or more damn sailors, it just won’t do.
TO BE REPEATED
There’s also a chance die-hard fans won’t care as long as they get to continue the next chapter of the story. It’s a complacency of expectations that’s been prevalent in revivals like Yooka-Laylee’s 3D platforming throwback or Sonic Mania’s 16-bit nostalgiafest. The developers clearly love the original games but where do they go from there?
We’ve still not seen actual Shenmue III gameplay, so perhaps Ys Net is keeping the innovative features under wraps to blindside us with later. But if you’re not imprisoned by nostalgia, it’s fair to say that Shenmue was never buried, not really. In fact, Sega continued evolving it over the years, creating more complex stories, characters, and greater freedom of exploring its world. The result is Yakuza.