Sega announced today that Shenmue III is coming out on August 27, 2019. The open-world action-adventure game is releasing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
It’s been a long wait for Shenmue III. The first game released for the Dreamcast in 1999, with Shenmue II following in 2001. The games were never big commercial hits, but Shenmue was a pioneer in open world design, giving players the choice to pursue the revenge-focused main plot or waste time doing things like play darts or old Sega arcade games. The series developed a cult following.
Shenmue III raised over $6.3 million on Kickstarter back in 2015, following a surprise announcement at Sony’s Electronic Entertainment Expo event that year. That remains the highest amount gathered by any video game project on the crowdfunding site.
An HD collection of the first two games, Shenmue 1 & 2, is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on August 21. So you’ll have a whole year to catch up before Shenmue III comes out.