Shenmue III’s unlikely to appeal to series newcomers, but it’s clearly come a long way as it closes in on its 19th November release date. The long-awaited sequel now looks like a bona fide successor to the cult classic SEGA Dreamcast games, with the franchise’s trademark atmosphere brilliantly intact in this trailer.

As the China-set adventure nears launch, developer Ys Net has increasingly started to showcase the gameplay loop, which emphasises exploration and elements of lifestyle simulation. As with the original two titles, you can chat with anyone and interact with a wide-range of mini-games – including arcade cabinets and gambling hotspots.

Our only criticism at this stage is that the combat doesn’t appear to have quite the same snap as the originals, but considering there are still a couple of months until release, there’s hope that this issue may be ironed out. To be fair to the project, it’s improved a lot since our first look at it a couple of years ago, and we now can’t wait to get our hands on it later this year.

[source youtube.com]