After 18 years since the release of Shenmue 2 on the Sega Dreamcast in Japan, Shenmue 3 finally released in November 2019 to mixed reception from fans and critics. While some praised it for its faithfulness to the original series and its refreshing dedication to recreating exactly what made the Dreamcast games so great, many also thought that that exact dedication was to its detriment and that the series now felt outdated. While the success of Shenmue 3 has been hard to gauge given that the game’s sales don’t include the copies sent to Kickstarter backers, it would not be too shocking to assume that Shenmue 3 was not a financial powerhouse. Despite this, it seems that we may not have seen the last from Ryo Hazuki’s quest to avenge his father.
Frequent Resident Evil: Village and PlayStation 5 leaker Dusk Golem (also known as AestheticGamer) has teased that a Shenmue related announcement is coming “within the next few weeks.” While Dusk Golem has not clarified what exactly the announcement will entail, he simply stated “Was told I can tease this: Anyone who cares about Shenmue and its story, there’s a fun kinda’ unexpected announcement coming within the next few weeks.”
Furthermore, Dusk Golem clarified that “It’s not a Steam release or Shenmue 3 coming to another platform, it’s something new.” While there it nothing to go off so far, it seems that this upcoming announcement will not be in regards to some sort of Shenmue 4 or any video game. As they have stated, it also does not appear to be in regards to Shenmue 3 being ported to any other systems such as the PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, or Steam.
While Dusk Golem has had a rocky history with regards to leaking information about the Silent Hill franchise and the PlayStation 5 in the past, this seems like a rather confusing story to fabricate given the fact that Ys Net, the developer of Shenmue 3, has been silent since the release of Shenmue 3‘s DLC earlier this year. It is possible that this could be story DLC for Shenmue 3, but that seems unlikely given that Dusk Golen claims it is “something new.”
Many have speculated that it could be an anime continuing the story of the Shenmue saga or a manga, as Shenmue 2 received a manga tying the first and second games together before it was released. Regardless, it appears that whatever Shenmue announcement is on the horizon, it will likely play a vital role in continuing Yu Suzuki’s 11 chapter plan for the story of the series, which we will hopefully hear about sooner rather than later.
Shenmue 3 is out now for PC and PlayStation 4.
MORE: Yakuza: Like A Dragon Release Date Announced With New Trailer