With a few short months until its release this August, we finally got our first proper look at Shenmue 3 in action courtesy of a new trailer unveiled at this weekend’s Magic festival in Monaco. And it looks exactly like Shenmue – news that will probably delight as many as it disgusts.
We get to see Ryo, Lan Di, Shenhua and an extended look at the new, more pastoral backdrop of Guilin as well as the introduction of several new characters. There’s a cartoon sheen to the designs – which, it’s worth remembering, is in keeping with the original games. The fighting, too, looks faithful to the Dreamcast originals – a boon for traditionalists, though there’s a stiffness there that many, myself included, were hoping might have been ironed out for a more contemporary release.
Really, though, it looks exactly what you’d expect a revival handled by a relatively small team on a comparatively miniscule budget – the original Shenmue was famously, at the time, the most expensive video game production – would look like. If anything it’s surpassed my own expectations, and I’m looking forward to the release later this year even more.
