Cancelled Footage for Shenmue Remake Leaked

Digital Foundry released a video today showing some footage of a Shenmue Remake that was originally planned by SEGA to be released after the Remasters of the first two classic games, this was a more ambitious project than the remastered versions of the franchise, and because of that, this remake of Shenmue was cancelled by SEGA after budget constraints and development delays.

Check out the gameplay video of the cancelled Shenmue remake released by Digital Foundry, featuring some development gameplay footage:

Eurogamer said in a post on their website:

“So, what’s the story here? Well, the details are murky but as we understand it, this more in-depth remaster/remake was in development for quite some time before the plug was pulled due to budget constraints and development delays – and perhaps owing to concerns with the nature of some of the changes being made. We only have a rough idea of what happened and we can’t presume to understand all of the business reasons behind Sega’s change in direction, but the bottom line is that in common with other unfinished and cancelled projects, the work-in-progress video we received adds a further dimension to the history of one of gaming’s most celebrated franchises.”

As you can see in Digital Foundry’s video, a lot of care went into this project. According to information on the internet, this remake was developed by the same team that delivered the remasters that gamers got on August, and maybe the team were even more invested in the project than everyone thought.

About Shenmue

Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. Shenmue and Shenmue II were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Dreamcast in 1999 and 2001 respectively; Shenmue II was ported to Xbox in 2002. Shenmue III, developed by Suzuki’s company Ys Net, is due for release in 2019 for PlayStation 4 and Windows.

The Shenmue games consist of open-world 3D environments interspersed with brawler battles and quick time events. They include elements of role-playing, life simulation and social simulation games, such as a day-and-night system, variable weather effects, non-player characters with daily schedules, and interactive elements such as vending machines, arcades, and minigames. The story follows the teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he travels through 1980s Japan and China in pursuit of his father’s killer.