After waiting 19 years, Shenmue fans were finally able to discover the rest of the adventure thanks to Shenmue III, whose sales and critical reception were unfortunately disappointing.
As reported iGamesNews, which relays the translation of Video Games Chronicle, Yu Suzuki expressed himself a few days ago in the columns ofIGN Japan about what it could do if a Shenmue 4 went into production. Without formalizing anything, he seems to think that the title will come one day:
But if I had the opportunity to make Shenmue 4, and I think I will have it, I know how to satisfy casual players, so I want to make a game that would appeal to everyone. With Shenmue III, I really responded to fan requests, so I didn't necessarily think about making money. But as I run a business, I have to think about what can sell if I want to be able to continue.
To satisfy the casual players he talks about, Yu Suzuki has several ideas, especially centered around comfort options, and a less open but denser game:
There are different things like adding quest markers, improving quick travel, functions to speed up time and make the user interface easier to understand. I would like to use the quest markers to separate the main quest from the side quests for exchanging money or fighting. We could also sit on a bench to advance time more freely. I have ideas on how we can incorporate improvements without betraying the Shenmue feeling. From a business perspective, it's important to understand what people who don't know Shenmue have thought of Shenmue 3.
I think "open world" is a magic word that guides current trends, with all of the wonderful games now taking this direction, but it seems to be difficult to differentiate within this genre. Next time, I wonder if it's worth having a closed space instead of sticking to the open world
The creator ends his interview by declaring that he hopes that the players who asked for Shenmue 3 for almost 20 years will continue to request further action, namely Shenmue 4.
By MalloDelic, Journalist igamesnews.com
MP
