Shenmue 3 backer demo plans revealed

We're a mere handful of months away from finally - finally! - being able to play Shenmue 3, and if you're one of the backers of a certain tier of Yu Suzuki's hugely anticipated return you're just over a month from being able to play a slice of the belated follow-up.

Kickstarter backers have received details of a forthcoming demo which is currently scheduled to drop 'the second half of September'. It'll offer a standalone act around Shenmue 3's starting area, Bailu Village, and will offer around an hour's worth of play - with the option to go back and replay it as many times as you want 'until the trial expires'. There'll be no cross-save with the full version of Shenmue 3, which is coming in November.

It sounds sort of similar to What's Shenmue?, a demo that launched before the original game that had you tracking down Sega's then managing director Hidekazu Yukawa, the final scene depicting him surrounded by boxes and boxes of unsold Dreamcast consoles. Late 90s Sega really was the greatest.

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