Shenmue/SEGA

Open-world adventure series from the Dreamcast era coming to PC in August 2018. Updated for modern resolutions and controls.

Following the announcement of Shenmue 3 at E3 2016, fans have been anticipating the remasters of the previous two games for quite a while now. Sega has now finally announced the release date for Shenmue I & II on PC, slated to come out on August 21st of this year. The two games are listed as a bundle on the Steam store and will likely sell together as a remastered collection.

Released on Dreamcast all the way back in 2000 and 2001, Shenmue I & II are “open world action adventures combining jujitsu combat, investigative sleuthing, RPG elements, and memorable mini games.” They set the standard for the modern open world genre, featuring “a persistent open world, where day cycles to night, weather changes, shops open and close and NPCs go about their business all on their own schedules.” Shenmue I & II were outstanding when they came out, and it will be interesting to see how well they aged as the some of pioneers of the open-world genre.

Shenmue/SEGA

The remastered graphics certainly look impressive considering the games’ age and will support various graphical options and modern resolutions on PC. The open worlds of Shenmue I & II won’t look impressive by modern gaming standards, but given the cult following of the franchise, many players will no doubt pick this title up. It will also be interesting to see how the developer team will adapt the game for PC controls, and hopefully the game is well playable with mouse and keyboard when it releases. Controller support will be integrated also, and players have the choice between classic and modern control schemes. Audio options include English and Japanese voice packs along with a suite of standard interface languages.

For those who prefer to pre-order their games, the Shenmue I & II bundle is currently available on Steam at 10% off its retail price. The pricing will stay slightly discounted for at least some time until the game officially releases on August 21st, 2018. As the games are still widely considered among “greatest games of all time”, the expectations for the PC port are very high.