Shenmue 3
FANS COULDN’T HAVE ASKED FOR A MORE AUTHENTIC SEQUEL. www.deepsilver.com | US$49.99 | PS4, PC
SOMEHOW, IN NO small part thanks to the massive funding the game received on Kickstarter, Shenmue 3 is both massive and richly populated, oozing detail everywhere you look across its two large areas, namely the beautiful Bailu Village and the city-esque district of Niaowu. And it really doesn’t let on that this is the case for a great many hours. The opening scenes in Bailu village look nice, certainly, and the dialogue has that clunky Shenmue charm, but it isn’t until about 15 hours in that you realise just how ambitious this design is. Quite how it all would have worked on Dreamcast is hard to say, but it certainly does work on PS4.
Now, let’s get this out of the way early on: despite running decently well, Shenmue 3 displays all the idiosyncrasies of the now rather aged Unreal Engine 4. Textures load in after a second or two, water reflections actually ‘reflect’ any 3D object above it on the screen space, shadows and details visibly pop in in the distance, and materials look just a little more ‘matte’ compared to real life. Even so, there are many moments of obvious beauty, with gorgeous lighting and phenomenal detail, and all despite the impressive scale. You can run across the city in one go and then examine individual fruit skewers on a market stall, all without a loading screen. Given that the game holds up to such scrutiny, the few technical hiccups are entirely forgivable. Somehow Shenmue still impresses even though it’s not really up to the highest modern standards. Maybe it’s because it still feels like a Dreamcast game, even emulating some haze filters typical of first-party Sega titles back in the day, making you feel impressed that Shenmue could look this good.
So many modern reworkings and sequels have ripped up cherished, established canon recently, but not Shenmue 3. This game works because it’s so genuine, honest and feels 100% authentic next to the originals. Despite its wholly predictable flaws, it’s a better Shenmue 3 than I ever dared imagine and feels like no other game except its own predecessors. Fans couldn’t have asked for a more authentic sequel.