Shenmue creator has considered Yakuza 0-style prequel to continue series
"I want Shenmue 4 to be enjoyable for newcomers."
Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki has discussed the possibility of a fourth game in the series, and the idea of developing it as a more approachable prequel, similar to Yakuza 0.
Shenmue 3 was released in 2019, 18 years after the second game, but was aimed predominantly at fans of the series who backed the project on Kickstarter.
"I want Shenmue 4 to be enjoyable for newcomers," Suzuki said now, in an interview with IGN. "To make that possible, the most important thing is to make it enjoyable without knowing previous events in the story. I don't think that a new player wants to know 100 percent of the story. 20 or 30 percent could be enough.
"In Shenmue 3, we implemented a digest movie that teaches the player the main events of the previous games, but for Shenmue 4 I want to integrate that part into the main game. It would be great if the player could naturally learn about previous events just by playing the game. For example, rather than watching a separate movie, having playable flashbacks could be a way to do it."
To be clear, Suzuki didn't confirm if Shenmue 4 is in production - although he did still go on to discuss the series' future.
Could a prequel like Yakuza 0 - a turning point for that series, especially in the West - act as a more approachable entrypoint for newcomers for Shenmue?
"Yes, I have [thought about that]," Suzuki said. "I cannot go into detail at this point, but it is something I have been thinking about.
"I think recreating the streets of Dobuita with modern visuals on a new engine alone would make it worth doing," he continued. "It also connects to the topic of not simply expanding in size. Making an even more detailed Dobuita than the original Shenmue is an interesting idea, especially if it's not a remake but a prequel with a new story."
Still, even without Shenmue 4 explicitly in development, Suzuki said he's keeping busy. "Besides Shenmue, there are various ideas for other games that I would like to make," he said. "And while I cannot go into detail about it today, we are working on a new game right now."
For now, arcade shooter Air Twister will release on consoles and PC on 10th November. A return to Suzuki's arcade roots, it was previously an Apple Arcade exclusive, released in June 2022.
"The master of the 80s arcade spectacular returns to familiar stomping ground for a game that's fascinating if not exactly finessed," reads our Eurogamer Air Twister review.