Shenmue creator will 'never give up' trying to complete the series

After 18 years, Shenmue 3 is finally out in the wild, but creator Yu Suzuki is not finished with the series, pledging to complete the story as long as there are people who still want to play.

"For as long as there are those who wish to see Shenmue live on, I will never give up on my own personal journey to complete its story," Suzuki wrote in a thank you letter to players. "As with Shenmue 3, the Shenmue story is with you. I sincerely hope that, together, we can continue to spin the tale of Ryo and his adventures in Shenmue 4."

Shenmue 3 will take players around 40 percent of the way through Ryo's story, according to an interview with Suzuki earlier this year, and in a Reddit AMA in 2015 he'd planned for about four or five games to tell the 11-chapter story.

While it's taken the better part of two decades just to get from 2 to 3, crowdfunding means the next wait probably won't be quite as agonisingly long. Shenmue 3 ended up with more than $6 million in pledges, though the campaign didn't go off without a hitch, especially after Deep Silver announced it would launch exclusively on the Epic Games Store first.

I feel a bit sorry for Ryo, honestly, given that he's still pretty far off avenging his dad. Maybe Suzuki should consider wrapping it up so the poor guy can settle down.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.