Shenmue - you either get it, or you don't.

For those who do, Shenmue becomes an indescribably personal experience. Think of it as the ultimate "slice of life" simulator, where you can virtually interact with everything that you come across in the game world - to be able to have so many options back in 2000 was absolutely mind-blowing. With the passage of time, open world games have become mainstream, yet when Shenmue dared to create the blueprint, it did so with an attention to detail that modern games could only ever hope to achieve.

Some may call it meandering, boring - I say otherwise. Shenmue is the kind of game that excels in the mundane - tasks that are "boring" in real life are presented in such an intimate way, that by the time you complete a Shenmue game, you will have completed a personal journey, feeling like you deeply know the citizens and towns you visit.

Shenmue truly is in a class all its own - my only hope is that you give it a try, and hopefully it clicks with you. If it does, boy...are you in for the journey of a lifetime!

Don't expect these games to be anything like Yakuza. Their similarities are only superficial at best.

The Shenmue games are first and foremost life simulators where you're expected to stop and appreciate the minutiae of Ryo Hazuki’s life and of the world around him. You are at the mercy of the game's in-universe clock, and it's up to you how you spend your time between story segments, just like you would in real life.

For this remaster, they’ve added a bunch of QoL updates to make the experience a lot smoother. Load times are practically non-existent, as can be expected of most older games running on modern hardware. Players can warp near instantaneously to other areas of the game from Ryo’s house, which shaves off some of the backtracking you have to do. You can also save at any point throughout the game, meaning that you can save scum for vending machine prizes and other optional goodies.

I won’t pretend this series is for everyone, but if you have an open mind about this sort of niche Japanese stuff, then you may get some enjoyment out of playing Shenmue.

If you're on the fence about it, consider buying this collection at a deep discount.

Let me open this review by asking a simple question: do you know what the most popular achievement in Shenmue is and what you need to do in order to get it? Might seem like a weird thing to ask in the beginning, but it will make sense very soon – just stick around a little longer.

If you have no idea what the answer is, don't worry – I've got you covered. The most popular achievement in Shenmue is called "Gacha Catcha"; to obtain it, follow these simple steps:

• watch the opening cutscene and shed a manly tear if that seems appropriate;
  
• as you gain control of the main character, Ryo Hazuki, step outside and go for a walk;
  
• after a couple of minutes, you will inevitably encounter two capsule toy dispensers;
  
• insert 100 yen into any of the two machines and wait for 10 seconds;
  
• add the very first toy to your collection.

Congratulations! You are now one of 35.1% of players who have earned this achievement!
Err, wait... um-m... *checks notes* yep, 35.1%. But what the hell? Does that mean 64.9% of people who own Shenmue haven't even made it past the first two areas?

All right, all right, let's take a look at the achievement which is granted for beating the game. How many people have actually completed it? Let's see... Oh, well, um, that will be 12.6%. It means if you had 10 people playing Shenmue in one room, approximately 9 of them would soon have something better to do with their time.

But wait, you might say, there must be a mistake! I've heard that Shenmue is a legendary masterpiece, where do these horrible numbers even come from?

So, here's the part where I explain
                                                You see, I grew up playing this game with my older brother. Like most brothers, we fought quite a lot and rarely agreed on anything; however, some of the best moments we've had together are invariably connected to Ryo Hazuki and his breathtaking adventures. It is no surprise then that Shenmue has a lot of sentimental value for me, and when I started playing it again a week ago, I made a promise to write the most informative and useful review this world had ever seen. I would describe everything in such vivid detail that any reader would be compelled to buy the game immediately and plunge head first into its rich, unique world.

Have I succeeded? Well, look through the text, this whole thing screams failure. I abandoned my initial goal because I finally realised: if you hadn't played Shenmue as a kid, chances are that you are not going to become a part of the 12.6% club anyway.

So now you're thinking that with such bold claims, I'd better have substantial evidence.
Allow me to proceed, then.

A considerable chunk of gameplay consists of Ryo walking around and asking different questions. These range from "On the day of the incident, did you see a black car?" all the way to "Tell me, have you seen men in black suits and black ties? Most people are incredibly unhelpful and will either scold you for accosting them or simply say that they don't know; the voice acting often sounds robotic and uncanny unless you select "Japanese" in the audio settings.
You cannot enjoy that if you hadn't played Shenmue as a kid.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2095888791
When you feel tired from questioning strangers, you can go to an empty parking lot and train a little bit – let's not forget that this is a game about fighting bad guys, not interrogating schoolgirls and elderly gentlemen. Ryo has a rich arsenal of around 50 moves. Each one can be honed to perfection and thus do more damage; in order to master, say, a move called Elbow Assault, you need to press right+right+X exactly 940 times, looking at the same animation over and over again, probably contemplating suicide at this point.
You cannot enjoy that if you hadn't played Shenmue as a kid.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2096240782
More bad news: Time is just as brutal and unforgiving as it is in real life, meaning that if you have 6 hours until an important meeting that will let you progress through the story, you will have to WAIT.
You guessed it – it is virtually impossible to derive any enjoyment from this process if you hadn't played Shenmue as a kid.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2097142908
I could go on and tell you all about this forklift job where you have to move wooden crates from one warehouse to another for 5 (!) consecutive (!) days, or about how Ryo can open almost any drawer pretty much anywhere, but the animations are so slow and uniform that it's painful for newcomers and most people apparently never make it past the first room with a wardrobe and a bookcase. My girlfriend, who is a backseat gamer, asked me if we could do something else after an hour of watching me open random drawers to take a look at folded shirts or forks or candles or whatever. She left shortly after, I don't know if she's coming back, she hasn't left a note or anything and all her stuff is gone.

Don't be fooled by the blue colour of this review; I "recommend" Shenmue merely because giving it a thumbs down feels too much like betrayal. It's a great game, but only for those who still remember it. If a 15-second animation of Ryo opening a cupboard, seeing a box of matches, lifting it and saying "Huh?" evokes bittersweet feelings of nostalgia, then you should buy it. However, if it doesn't sound familiar, there's absolutely nothing here to keep you engaged.

It pains me to say that, but... you are not welcome.

Years ago... I was Chinese.

My grandmother bought me Shenmue on Dreamcast, I will admit I did not appreciate the game as much as I should have. I didnt care about story modes, the day and night aspect or the slow pace.

fast forward almost 20 years later and I just gave it a second shot. And while the pace seems still a tad slow. I can say for sure that I missed out on a great game when I was younger.

Grandma always knew what was best for me.

Shenmue 1 & 2 are amazing no matter what, but do understand that Sega did not have the original files for these games, they had to pull the audio from the Dreamcast CDs and use those for this port. The soundquality is not good, and the cutscenes are 4:3 aspect ratio. There is no way to change this. It's not lazy, Sega did the best they could.

I'm going to say that this review has been typed up in advance, because I think it's only fair to state a fair warning about Shenmue to potential newcomers.

Don't get me wrong, I love Shenmue, just as much as all of the dedicated people this small but passionate fanbase has for the games and franchise, but the harsh reality is that Shenmue is not for everyone and it is because of its biggest strength and greatest weakness: Pacing.

Shenmue 1 and 2 (Especially 1) are paced EXTREMELY SLOWLY, with each passing day ingame you'll be making very small and minor steps toward progressing the story, this is all by design, to give the game an unparrelled and almost realistic sense of immersion. If you want a world you feel like you truly live and breathe in, you'll enjoy Shenmue. If you HATE the idea of needing to wait before you can progress the story because you made an appointment at 2pm ingame thus causing you to essentially stand around doing nothing, you will NOT like this game.

The rest of this review is basically me talking about the games and their history, I'm not going to talk about any bugs or FPS caps or anything. If there are issues with the port, I'm sure other reviews will let you know.

So yeah, enjoy.
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Gosh I don't even know where to start... Shenmue is returning after more than 17 years.

A lot of you may not know about this series, but to us Sega fans that played the games way back in 2000, Shenmue was something so special that for a lot of us, its impact has been unrivaled to this day. Literal tears were shed when Shenmue 3 was revealed to the world at E3 2015 after 14 years of hoping and wishing. That is how much we invested ourselves into the world and story.

It all begins with beloved and respected developer, Yu Suzuki, responsible for some of Segas most well known and adored arcade franchises such as Virtual Cop, Virtua Fighter, Hang On and more. What was going to be an open world RPG staring members of the Virtua Fighter series intended for the Sega Saturn, instead grew into a 16 chapter magnum opus based on the principles of family, friends, pride, courage and revenge.

Shenmue 1 costed roughly an astronomical 47 million american dollars to create back in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast, a lot of this money would also cover the development of Shenmue 2.
So, what is Shenmue? It's hard to describe, but to try give a brief idea, it's essentially a story driven RPG with a heavy emphasis on immersing yourself in the world Yu Suzuki created, they tried to create a new genre for the game called F.R.E.E which stands for Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment, but it didn't really stick, but it goes to show how ambitious this whole project was to Yu Suzuki.

Shenmue 1 takes place in Yokosuka during 1980s Japan and players are dropped into the life of Ryo Hazuki who returns home to see his father be murdered by series antagonist, Lan-Di whom also steals a mirror your father had hidden. Wanting to avenge your fathers life and to find answers, you set out to uncover the mystery of this man and what exactly he intends to achieve, which carries over into Shenmue 2. It's almost spoilerish to talk about Shenmue 2, so I'll refrain.

You're probably wondering, "What do you even do? And who is the girl in my dream?" well both games have essentially two core modes. First is what sandbox game enthusists will be intimately familiar with, Free Roam, in which you can explore the world, ask questions to characters and follow leads to advance the story. The second is a refined fighting game using the Virtua Fighter engine in which you fight thugs and criminals.

By now I imagine you might not be too impressed, but honestly this only scratches the surface of the games real qualities. While many will praise the story, myself included, the real star of Shenmue 1 and 2 is the immersion it provides.
You need to remember that this was all in late 1999. Shenmue dared to push boundries that even most games today explicitly ignore, I refer to the overwhelming amount of detail that every town, city, pier and interior offer.

The draws in your bedroom? You can look in there. You want to get a closer look at that cassette player? You can pick it up. What's in the fridge? Open it up and see. That's a nice looking tree, oh, I've triggered a memory flashback. Every single one of those apartment rooms in the Three Birds building? All decorated and examinable.
I need to get a lightbulb, better go to the shop and get one, Oh I can get a drink at the vending machine, yeah okay why not, I can buy a bag of crisps? Sure, oh a capsule machine? Okay I'll buy one, oh cool I got a Sonic toy.

They even went as far as to incorporate real weather data into the game from 1986, if it snowed or rained on a certain day in real life, it will snow or rain in the game. NPCs have daily routines, Shops open and close at specific times, a wonderful night cutscene plays when it hits 7pm to show you to dynamic change in the world. Special events happen on certain days, there's just so much.

Topping this all off are interesting, likable characters with personality, everyone related to our protagonist all have at least a little bit of depth to them and many of them have arcs that you can choose to persue. A good example is a young boy you meet at the beginning of Shenmue 2, Using the afforementioned examination system, you can walk into a fishing shop and you can see a picture of him holding a fish which triggers a cutscene. The tackler speaks highly of the young boy, even though he wishes he wasn't that much of a rascal.

and I must talk about the Soundtrack.

The Soundtrack is nothing short of incredible. A fully orchestrated symphony performs the score and it's magnificent, a wide variety of instruments all coming together to create a musical epic. The main theme still gives me chills to this day.
So many areas have unique pieces of music assosciated with them, one night time piece for one part of Wan Chai is not the same as another, heck, one of my absolute favorite tracks in the games is apartment music of all things. (Da Yuan apts. for anyone curious)

Now I've already mentioned Shenmues biggest turn off for many, MANY people at the beginning of this review, which is pacing, but I do need to bring attention to the English VA dubbing. It's not exactly House of the Dead 2 levels of...Questionable, but to say it has aged well would be lying, I love Corey Marshall and I think it's amazing to think they got him to speak over the re-release trailers, but even my guy has to admit he probably could of done a better job in the actual games.

Due to the large number of NPCs that populate the games world, there are a lot of stock characters, especially in Shenmue 2, the voice direction for many of these NPCs and some of the supporting cast are just very poor.
Thankfully with the re-release comes the option for the original Japanese VA for those who think the English VA is unbearable, so you can choose to listen to native tongue, or embrace the cringe. It's up to you.

I read through this review I've typed up and there is so much I haven't covered, like the arcade where you can play games, hidden character arcs, events, Duck racing, gambling spots and so much more but I just don't know how I can do it all any sort of justice.

I need to stop this now or I'll probably go on for ages, so I'll finish this with a quote from Better Late Than Never writer BlazeHedgehog, which can hopefully hit home the core of the Shenmue experience:

"All of these mechanics lead to the singular idea that you're not just playing as Ryo Hazuki, you ARE Ryo Hazuki, seeing and experiencing every exciting or mundane moment the world has to offer."

There's never been a better time to try the series than now.

Bring on Shenmue 3.

First of all, contrary to popular beliefs, Shenmue is not like the Yakuza series by any means. The number of side quests you can do are not as expansive, you won't be fighting goons every 2 minutes in Shenmue. Shenmue is all about finding clues, talking to the right people, and solving the mystery behind Ryo's father's death while engaging in some QTE sequences, fights, and mundane activities. It's more akin to old adventure and detective games. Yakuza is an explosive action drama flick, Shenmue isn't. If you're going into this game for "more yakuza," you'll be disappointed.

Shenmue is an experience that outright demands you to take it slowly, immersing yourself in the environment and its mundane routine. To live a life within the world that the game puts you in. The game is filled with details that make the world feel as alive as it could be when it was released. Every NPC have their own routine that you can follow, they'll leave their home at a specific time, engage in their activities like opening a shop, taking a lunch break, and they'll go home when the sun has set.

There are also a lot of details and love poured into the character's interactivity, Ryo will take off his shoes when he's home, and he'll wear them again when he leaves the house. You can open drawers and inspect items that are scattered around the world even though it serves no purpose to the gameplay whatsoever, the game just allows you to for the sake of immersion, impressive for a game originally released on the Dreamcast. The game will often tell you to wait till a specific time or date to progress the story, and in the first game, you really have to kill that time, you can't fast forward the time or skip the wait (they added this feature on the second game).

While calling it a life simulator might be a stretch (considering the only element of life that you really have to keep an eye on is the time itself), The game's effort to achieve immersion might make or break the game for you. I personally really enjoyed it, I love slice-of-life games. But if the idea of waiting 12 hours in-game time isn't appealing to you, please keep this in mind.

The excellent combat system --which is ripped straight out of Virtua Fighter-- is unfortunately underutilized. Due to the heavy focus on clue finding and problem-solving, you won't get into a fight often. One could argue that it makes the fights that did happen feel more impactful, but for a combat system this good to be underutilized is quite unfortunate.

Shenmue is presented with the narrative, visuals, and sounds that are reminiscent of old Japanese cinema and drama. The camera works, how the dialogues are written and how the narrative unfolds, the choreography of the fight scenes, the campy feeling of it all, it feels authentic. I wouldn't call the story a "masterpiece", but Shenmue is an engaging and unforgettable experience.

Shenmue is definitely not for everyone, while the immersion and slice-of-life gameplay might make the game for some, it might break it for others. The game is one of a kind, but maybe there are reasons why this kind of gameplay loop hasn't really been attempted in this way ever since. For the curious, it's definitely worth a shot. It's one of my favourite games ever, and I won't forget it anytime soon.

For what I'm about to say, If you want, put up this emotional OST track of Shenmue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfwprATUrzc&list=PL6393AB2853560583&index=8
because it gets pretty personal and emotional next.

This game is a MASTERPIECE. It's the most influential series to me of all times. Played it when I was a little boy of age 12 and now im 30. It made me the type of gamer I am today.

See, I've lost my father back then and was practicing Karate myself. I am a black belt now for many years and Ryo always came up my mind when I was doing my training or taking part in a tourney. This game was like a motivational therapy for me and helped me overcome many things. Funny how influential a game can be, right? He was kind of the role model of the man I wanted to become when I was 12 and in my adolescence. He helped me to become the man I am today. Strong, kind, focused and calm.

I had no problems with the port, playing on 3840 × 2160 pixels. Only once I had the 'grey' cutscene people complained about. I restarted the game and never had it since. No other bugs, 13 hours in.

Please for those who never played it back then, buy it and play it, let yourself immerse in this world and see yourself what is so stunning about it. You won't regret it. Play it with a controller, I strongly recommend, because it was initially made to be played with a controller.

Wish you all the best on your journey and make sure not to trouble Ine-san too much. Be home before 11pm, okay?

thanks to this game i am now a full-time forklift driver