After the long wait, Epic Games Store haters will finally get to try Shenmue 3. After a year-long exclusivity deal, Shenmue 3 will join Steam’s library in less than two weeks, on November 19th.
This game was highly anticipated prior to its release – Shenmue 3 launched last year after almost a 19 years gap separating the new game and its previous installment. The game started out with a Kickstarter campaign and fans of the series managed to crowdfund more than 7 million dollars for it. But that wasn’t enough for a game of this scale, so developers started to search for some additional investments. Sony, Deep Silver, and Epic Games pitched in.
However, upon the announcement that Shenmue 3 will be a timed Epic Games Store exclusive, many backers demanded refunds. We wrote about this story way back in the day, saying that Epic Games covered all the refunds in order to keep Ys Net’s development funding intact.
Many of you might be curious as to why this seemingly simple game got so much attention. Here’s a quick history lesson – the original Shenmue (released in 1999) was the most expensive video game ever developed at the time. The game featured open-world environments, brawler battles, quick-time events, featured day-and-night cycle, weather effects, many interesting characters, and interesting mini-games. For a 90s game running on Dreamcast, this was a work of magic… And while the game received a lot of fans and even a cult-like following, it never achieved commercial success. Until Shenmue 3…
If you wish to see what all this fuss is about, be sure to give it a try!
