Shenmue III's PC Demo Is the Nostalgia Hit You Need Today

Well I dont see how this game can make new fans in the age of Yakuza, Judgement and other games from EGG Studio. Shenmue III is late to the party. For fans of the series only.

Can the map direction thing on the left be turned off? I want to play this game on ps4 old school Shenmue part 1 style,with no map.

@get2sammyb How about Skyrim, Horizon Zero Dawn or The Witcher 3?

All I see is a guy walking around in stilted slow motion asking stupid questions. I feel like - of what I just watched of the first 5 minutes - it's in need of a fan makeover in the style of one of those "Donkey Kong in Unreal Engine 4" vids.

To be fair, and I do understand this is what they are going for - it's looks like part 3 of the game remade in the HD engine they used for the remasters, but who wants that? FF7R is being REMADE for a reason, so it doesn't look like it did 20 years ago. When they made the Star Wars prequels - as horrible as Jar jar is - they didn't make it look like the original trilogy.

TLoU, as great as it looked, doesn't look as good as TLoU2 does. Things improved. Does anybody want to see HalfLife 3 look like it came out after HalfLife 2? Are we expecting BG&E2 to look like it came out a year after BG&E?

20 years from now when people play the Shenmue trilogy it will all make sense, but I don't think it's making any converts.

Game might not sell all that well, anybody and everybody who wanted this is a kickstarter backer, already paid for it.

I know this is what you wanted, and I'm happy for you, but the reality is you may be among the few on this one.

That reminds me, I still need to play the first two. Have had them in plastic for a couple of months. Will get around to it eventually.

@get2sammyb If by "different" you mean better. Than yeah .. Yakuza is very different than Shenmue.

I don't want to anger a Shenmue fans, but others should buy Yakuza 6, or Judgement. Shenmue is really niche game.

@get2sammyb If Super Mario Odyssey looked like it released a year after Super Mario 64 you don't think people would have complained about the graphics? Mario fans may be fanbois who give way to much credence to Mario 64 but even they don't want to play games that look like N64 games on the Switch. Well some of them do, they'd probably be the few on your side on this one. 😉

I understand that I'm not the target audience for this game (seems they're only catering to nostalgic fans of the other 2 and not trying to get new players) but the game...just looks bad.

@rjejr I can name over 1000 games that look a whole better than shenmu but play like an absolute ball sack in comparison. If you are under the impression that good graphics make a good game then you are wholeheartedly delusional my friend. There was a reason the 1st and 2nd were remastered the way they were and the majority of people who bought it were that reason.

@get2sammyb I picked 6 because of good story, and nice graphics. But you can pic any Yakuza game.

And don't twist my message. I said that if you are fan, than enjoy. But I just don't see how this can atract any new players. Who didn't play first two games.

@Kidfunkadelic83 "look a whole better than shenmu but play like an absolute ball sack in comparison"

So you've played Shenmue 3 and 1,000 other games that look better and Shenmue 3 played better than all 1,000 others?

Maybe they can use that in an advertising blurb -

"Shenmue 3: It looks worse than 1,000 other games but it's more fun than playing with your ball sack!!"

@get2sammyb "What are you even trying to say anymore? I don't think you even know."

That's hilarious coming from a guy who just wrote -

"It's like Mario is just a dude in dungarees running from left-to-right, yeah?"

I think your nostalgia glasses are clouding your judgement. 🤣

Sorry to ask again,but will we be able to turn off the map on the left side of the screen pictured in this aricle? I desperately want to play this in a Shenmue part 1 old school style.The map just breaks the immersion for me.

@rjejr you were insinuating that a game that looks 20 years old cant possibly be good or wanted which is not true. Not every game has to look like judgment or yakuza.

You are correct. Playing shenmu 3 would be alot better than playing with my ball sack. Alot more play time out of shenmu 3.

@hulkie Just been trying to find out if it can be disabled, but the website for Shenmue 3 does not appear to say anything, and I cannot find any tweets/messages from the developers saying if this is possible. It may be a case of waiting until closer to the time unfortunately.

@MS7000 Thanks..

is there a way to get this now without having backed it?

19th November. Not long now. I need to replay the second game before I play this.

@rjejr Sounds a bit like your comment on TLoU 2 just being dark and violent and dialing the story back compared to the first - without actually knowing what the story is and how it pans out

With Shenmue 3, even if it sells poorly, the whole point of a kickstarter is to get enough money to have it made, which it has done...🤔

@EnragedGibbon I'm sure a lot of people - who have already played 1 & 2 - will enjoy 3. But those people shouldn't expect the people who haven't played 1 & 2 yet to be all excited about 3.

I think the kickstarter premise was "for fans of the originals" or something like that. Those fans shouldn't even bother trying to convert others, and they shouldn't be hurt or surprised that the game isn't doing a good job of selling itself to newcomers.

I'm all for fans of a series enjoying more games in that series, but they shouldn't be offended that others don't want to play it. That attitude it too fanboy for me.

Everything is so... robotic

Quick everybody, someone is looking forward to the next game in thier favourite series lets pile in and try to ruin their fun.

@majklpetr @rjejr so much effort you guys put into making a smaller niche game appear "overrated". Is it so hard to let fans just be? Yakuza is awesome, but wouldn't exist in that form weren't it for shenmue.

@rjejr personally I would want no part of a shenmue that tried to ape and imitate the games you've mentioned. It is it's own thing and I think the way they've updated it is spot on.

@hi_drnick And that is the way too lok at it. For the Shenmue fans who have waited 15 years for Shenmue 3 this is the game they backed on kickstarter. But for those of us who haven't been waiting, we've moved on to Skyrim, Uncharted, TR reboots, Yakuza etc, don't expect us to be all "OMG greatest game ever!" about it. I know some people get that way when lost games are discovered as "new" but I'm just fine if they stay lost.

@tameshiyaku Here's your problem, you have it backwards.

It's not us non-Shenmue fans who are trying to make niche Shenmue appear over-rated, just the opposite, it's the Shenmue fans who are incredulous that their niche game doesn't appeal to everyone. We're just trying to explain what niche means to them. 😉

I'm happy for anyone who enjoys the game, but if you tell me there's something wrong with me b/c I don't want to play it, well maybe thou doest protest too much.

@rjejr Interestingly despite having played the first few hours of Shenmue on DC back in the day, relocation overseas prevented me from playing more and it was only this year that I played both I and II for what was essentially the first time. Of course, being an older gamer probably helps me to appreciate Shenmue's style more than someone raised on the PS3 / PS4 generation but in my estimation playing Shenmue now was even more enjoyable because it didn't sport a lot of the common tropes of modern games.

Each to their own of course but I just want to be FREE.

@hi_drnick "Each to their own of course but I just want to be FREE."

I see.

I see the detractors in the comments making the same old tired, worn-out arguments.

Shenmue III is exactly what it needs to be and more, as a unique experience that standards apart from much else in the gaming landscape. It has absolutely as much right to exist as any other game, nothing has supplanted or replaced it. Don't @ me about Yakuza, because anybody who has played and appreciates both knows that isn't true. Why not replace Yakuza with GTA, by that stretched, flawed logic? You wouldn't dream of it, so stop punching sideways at Shenmue.

I've seen more people coming to this series in recent years than at any point prior since the release of Shenmue II in 2001. The idea that there is a finite amount of people who will appreciate what these games do is foolish. Like basically everything else, if you put it into the hands of people who are receptive to its rhythm and cadence, then they'll likely love it. It's earnest and uncynical, which we need more of in games these days.

If there is any justice, Shenmue is here to stay until it finally reaches its natural conclusion.