Yu Suzuki, creator of the Shenmue series, hopes that he can make Shenmue 4 now that the third game in the series is out.
At the end of Shenmue III, after the credits have rolled, a thank you letter written by Suzuki and addressed to his fans appears on the screen. Metro published the letter in full, but the relevant bit at the end reads: “I sincerely hope that, together, we can continue to spin the tale of Ryo and his adventures in Shenmue 4.”The wording of Suzuki’s letter alludes to the fact that Shenmue III was only possible due to a successful Kickstarter. Without that initial funding the game would probably not have been realised so it’s understandable that Suzuki is appealing to fans to help him with Shenmue 4.
News of a possible Shenmue 4 isn’t a surprise given that Suzuki recently said that Shenmue III will not be the end of the series. He added that he didn’t rush to tie up the plot with Shenmue III as that “would have made for a flat game.”
Speaking to USgamer back in June, Suzuki said that Shenmue III gets through about 40 percent of Ryo’s story. Back in 2015, during a Reddit AMA, Suzuki revealed that there are a total of 11 chapters in the Shenmue story. “Over the past 14 years I originally planned for there to 4 or five games to the series,” he said. “If at all possible, I would still like to realize the full story of 11 chapters.”
Shenmue III came out on November 19, four years after the Kickstarter announcement, and 18 years after Shenmue II came out on the Dreamcast. Our review is on the way, but in the meantime, you can read our final Shenmue III preview to find out why we're excited about it. Hopefully we won't have to wait as long as we did for the third game for the next one.
Chris Priestman is a freelancer who writes news for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
