Unless the Series X is more expensive than a normal console at launch, this rumour is probably false. Consoles are sold at cost (or cheaper) to encourage software sales. If a Series X was bought for the purposes of being used exclusively as a Steam Box, Microsoft would lose money from the sale. It’s in their interest to remain the sole gatekeeper.
For anyone who hasn’t played it yet, the Epic exclusivity ends on November 19th, which is the release date for the Steam version.
Since the PS5 is backward compatible with PS4 games, that is another good option. With Shenmue III’s framerate being variable and targeting 60fps on PS4 Pro, but falling short of that target, we can expect a consistent 60fps on the more powerful PS5 hardware.
I finished playing through the game a few months ago on PS4. While I enjoyed the game, I have to say the pace felt too slow compared to Shenmue II. But I guess they were going for a smaller game like the original Shenmue to lay the groundwork while rebuilding the new systems in UE4. With the groundwork done, I’m optimistic we’ll see a larger scale game with Shenmue IV.
Shenmue III is on GOG now as well, which is nice:
But, with Sega showing no interest in GOG, the first two games appear to still only be available on Steam and consoles.
I am glad it is on GOG, but at this point it has been way too long for me to still retain interest in the series. I vaguely remember the plot points, but it hasn’t held up for me as much as some of the other Sega classics and will probably continue to be a pass for me.
Shenmue 3 was really a big disappointment. Both in gameplay and story. You spent most of the game earning money, which is fine if it was fun, but it was not fun in any way. And they in no way whatsoever, expanded the story in any kind of meaningful or important way. Basically, there was no continuation of the story at all.
It’s sad for me to say this but: I’m probably never going to replay this game again. I’ll just keep going back to Shenmue 2. And this is coming from a longtime Shenmue fan.
I knew I probably won’t like it based on all I’ve seen but I checked it out finally (PC). Despite a lot of amateur hour presentation (loading screens, texts, Ryo’s basic walk and run cycle, stuff like that) once you’re in-game it seems to get the Shenmue feel down pretty well as far as Ryo’s actions go. It’s a tad too guided early on (if you stall Ryo runs to catch up) but it makes sense I guess with every day having the time limit and that particular story beat having to play out right at that point instead of have the option to stall that.
It does seem like much of it is just to stall you and pad out the days though (ie how slow you open all the drawers and cupboards, yeah that’s nice and just like Shenmue but come on, make it faster and more organic like modern games with that time limit, Ryo’s so slow he can’t even check all the cupboards in the house before having to go to bed, lol, there are way too many for a two people household as well, they just put empty cupboards everywhere). Shit I’m glad you can no longer pick up and examine every random object because I’d need to do that for all of them and it’d take me a week to get out of the house.
Other than that basic gameplay feel, I don’t really like the design of the first area they chose to introduce the game with. It’s a remote village that gets few visitors but apparently everybody runs some kind of game attraction to play just to show you it has stuff like Lucky Hit to remind you of the old games? What?
And yeah NPC models are really weird, many are normal like Ryo and whatshername and others are just sad caricatures that try to be unique and special and characteristic but end up looking out of place and more cartoony than the rest of the design elements. If at least every character was stylised like that I wouldn’t have a problem. I don’t think they have attention to detail to give everything a sense of place any more and I don’t think they’re very dignified designs either, ie, okay, the obese tai chi instructor is funny and cute but anyone that obese tends to be more aware of their body and dress accordingly rather than try to fit in clothes way too small and end up looking like an obese Hulk. Why couldn’t he wear a gi or something?
I’ll probably just hate this more the more it stalls (I mean, don’t you expect the end of Shenmue 2 to lead to some crazy revelation, it clearly looks supernatural and shit (to the point I didn’t like it at the time vs all the down to earth martial arts) but, well, it doesn’t, lol, at least not right now, they just basically check the place out and go “cool, this took a lot of effort” and go off outside the temple/cave/whatever). I’ll probably play more but right now Yakuza 7 is an actually good game occupying my time (and I’m no stranger to indie games/jank, I love em actually). So far it’s just confirming my thoughts, it’s no good, and I’m not one who expected the next Sleeping Dogs out of a small studio, I’d be happy with a nice small scale adventure in the style of the original game as it was, rather than as what it signified at the time for open worlds and sandbox and whatever stuff some people expected to see expanded for true next next gen large scale AAA sequels.
Here’s some nice footage of the game running on PS5. It looks like a smooth 60fps to me, which I’d definitely prefer over how it performed on PS4.
Digital Foundry analysis please!
This is an interesting story - Shenmue Dojo, a fan site, worked with some of the original actors to add their voices to the game via a mod.
That’s awesome! But, too bad the game itself is still an utter disappointment…
I was recently part of the Dojo’s Kickstarter for their magazine, Shenmue World, and it seems there’s a pretty good relationship between the Dojo and Eric Kelso at least. Real cool that they could make this happen.
Shenmue III is free until the 18th on the Epic Store: