Shenmue III Release Date Revealed at Gamescom, Shenmue 1&2 Now Available

Written by Brandon Hofer on August 21, 2018

News: Shenmue fans have something to celebrate today with a release date for Shenmue III as well as Shenmue 1 & 2 now being available.

This is a big day for Shenmue fans as the Shenmue 1&2 re-release is now available on Xbox One and PS4, and we now know when fans will be able to play Shenmue III. Deep Silver announced at Gamescom that Shenmue III is approximately one year away. Yep, Shenmue III is currently slated to be released on August 27, 2019. This announcement was accompanied by a trailer to show off where they are in the game’s development, reuniting series protagonist Ryo with a few old friends during a tour of locales from the upcoming game.

Shenmue III sees the continuation of the beloved epic saga which won fans over with its distinct storytelling and immersive atmosphere. In Shenmue III, players will aide teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he investigates his father's murder. The next chapter of Ryo’s adventure will lead him through an engrossing open world as he searches for clues, examines objects and gathers information from the people he meets, taking players further into enemy territory, deeper into mystery, and even closer to their destiny.

Shenmue III is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Dreamcast classics Shenmue (1999) and Shenmue II (2001). The brainchild of award-winning game director, Yu Suzuki, Shenmue set out to combine action gameplay from his arcade classic Virtua Fighter with RPG mechanics to weave a long-form epic for home consoles. Commonly known as one of the most ambitious game projects in history, Shenmue captured the imagination of players from around the world with its unique setting, intimate and cinematic character-focused story, realistic battles, and fun mini-games. Many of the features pioneered in Shenmue is now commonplace in modern games, including open world and Quick Time Event gameplay. Shenmue III was officially announced on stage at Sony’s E3 2015 press conference and simultaneously launched on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, breaking two Guinness World Records upon raising over $6 million dollars. The game is currently in development at Yu Suzuki’s independent company, Ys Net, located in Tokyo along with many original Shenmue team members.

Take a look at the new trailer below and tell us what you think. Are you picking up Shenmue 1&2? Will you pick up Shenmue III next summer?