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Shenmue 3, the confused third entry in Yu Suzuki’s cinematic adventure series, is coming back with some much-needed improvements.
While some fans of the series—myself included—had a great deal of fun with the clunky third entry, Shenmue 3 was lambasted on launch for clunky combat, unsatisfying visuals and awful menus. So, how much of this will the so-called Enhanced Edition fixed.
Shenmue 3 Enhanced Edition announced
The reworked version of Yu Suzuki’s 2020 adventure aims to be a huge improvement over its original incarnation with improved visuals, a better camera, increased NPC density and more. Additionally, the game will be released across PS5 and PC with a Xbox Series and Nintendo version releasing at a later date.
The new version benefits from “sharper textures, richer details, faster load times, and smoother gameplay” with a 4K texture uplift for all characters and environments. On PC, players will also be able to use high-quality DLSS and FSR upscaling to hit higher resolutions as well.
On the gameplay side, Shenmue 3 Enhanced Edition has made adjustments to its stamina system as well as adding health restoration before fights, both key gripes with the original release. Additionally, there are now improved interactions with expanded QTE timing for event cutscenes.
In an interesting move, players will also be able to turn off these changes if they want. Dubbed as an “optionality first” enhanced release, publisher ININ Games states the new improvements can all “be toggled to preserve the original experience for purists”.
Players who already own Shenmue 3 on PlayStation 4 and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) will also be able to upgrade to the Enhanced Edition when it releases. However, no release date has been announced for any platform at the time of writing.
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