Shenmue 3, the continuation of the series that served as an incredible piece of advancing the gaming industry back in 1999 (and in 2001), is benefiting from the die-hard fans and love for the former games with the title shattering the record for fastest crowd-funding of a game.
Roughly two weeks after the KickStarter fund’s announcement at Sony’s E3 2015 conference the title has accumulated $3.75 million — nearly double that of the $2 million that Yu Suzuki and his team initially looked to acquire.
This success has prompted the addition of 13 new stretch goals ranging from more expansive language options to other general improvements to gameplay and area sizes.
As excitement continues to build, Yu Suzuki spoke to fans personally on twitch.tv and shared some more details on the stretch goals and on the current direction of Shenmue 3.
What are the Baisha Stretch Goals?
The $5 million Srtetch Goal will focus on the area, Baisha. This will be something new and fun I would like to include for Shenmue 3. It will include siege and infiltration events based off the Warring Kingdoms period in Chinese history. The events will be very Shenmue-like and will fit into the game naturally and will not be difficult to grasp. There is also the Character Perspective System. It is a character change system, but in Shenmue, it will work a little differently. It will allow you to play as Shenhua or Ren, besides Ryo. The choices that Shenhua or Ren would make would be different from those of Ryo’s because their personalities are different. It will bring out their individual character and add another element of enjoyment to the game. There are Stretch Goals up to $11 million, and I would like to explain those next week!
How will Shenmue 3 be different at $3 million, $5 and $10 million?
At the $3 million level, Shenmue 3 will be more story oriented. Going to $5 million, there will be features not present in 1 & 2, features that I really want to see in Shenmue 3 like the Warring Kingdom scenarios. At the $10 million level, the area Choubu will get a big expansion, and be like Dobuita in Yokosuka where you will have a lot of options to explore and have fun. I hope we can shoot for that goal and make Shenmue 3 more open world like.
An exact release date for Shenmue 3 is not yet available, but Suzuki does expect a trial version to release some time in 2017.
Suzuki has also reiterated time and time again the appreciation he has for Sony and how close they are as a partner. While a release on another console besides the PS4 has not been denied, the likelihood that it does appear on any non-Sony platform is very unlikely.
Check out some of the design work from Kenji Miyawaki for Shenmue below:
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