Today, I invite you to go back in time and visit China to search for a little bit of vengeance. Specifically, back to spring 1987, to help a young Ryu Hazuki hunt for his father’s killer. Of course, you could partake in a spot of tortoise-racing or chicken-chasing while you’re it. That’s right, I’m talking about the weird and wonderful world of Shenmue 3, which sheds its Epic exclusivity and arrives on Steam today.

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Koch Media have announced the very first DLC for Shenmue 3, Battle Rally, will be released on Tuesday 21st January. By the looks of things it’s inviting players to take part in a race (on foot I think?), and you’ll even be able to play as different characters for the first time. Sorry Ryo.

“Battle Rally offers fresh gaming activities in a race unlike any other, as contestants engage in head-to-head battles whilst racing their way through the course,” they tweeted.

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Nothing better captures the magic of Shenmue III than its save files. On one line, the current date and time; above it, the date and time this particular save will whisk you back to. Because that s what Shenmue is: time travel. The opportunity to visit a very specific moment in history. In the case of Shenmue III, China in the spring of 1987. Of course, it s time travel that doesn t fret about the butterfly effect – you spend most of your trip kicking in groins in a way that will surely curtail a few family lineages.

But this sequel is time travel of a second kind, too: a design throwback to 1999, when Shenmue was the cutting edge of blockbuster game development; then the most expensive game of all time, and one that remained so cherished that it raised 6.3 million dollars in a Kickstarter campaign. That’s 6.3 million dollars worth of permission to not change a thing, and so it has largely turned out. Does the ageing design hold up and can it make converts 20 years on? Here’s wot I think.

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It’s only gone and come out, hasn’t it? Four years after its controversial, record-breaking $6 million Kickstarter campaign, Shenmue 3 is finally a game you can pick up and play. Blimey, it’s only been 18 years since the last one. Shenmue’s had a rough road to release, full of publisher scandals and delay after delay after delay. But it’s finally time to pick up where Shenmue 2 left off in 2001, with teen martial artist Ryo Hazuki traipsing around rural China looking for the folks who killed his dear old dad.

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A lot of Shenmue happens in the spaces between the game. I remember my time in Yu Suziki’s sprawling RPGs not as some grand unveiling of my destiny, but as a dude collecting capsule toys, getting a job as a forklift driver, and hanging out at the arcade. I lived a rich little life playing it, though because of it I horribly failed my forklift driver exams in the real-world.

Shenmue 3 has time to fill as well, and here s how you ll do it.

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Epic Games are continuing to slap on a thick coat of cash to smooth over problems with their substandard store, now announcing money is their solution to discontent over crowdfunded games such as Shenmue III becoming Epic exclusives. For games whose crowdfunding campaigns offered keys for the game on a specific store before the game became a timed Epic exclusive, Epic now say, they’ll either arrange keys for the promised store or pay for refunds. I do think people are making mountains out of molehills, but I’m told that’s what the Internet is for. And goodness me, have Epic bought the Thompson Hillsquisher XR300, the ‘Silver Sentinel’? Complete with the optional racing stripes, saddlebags, and pewter bell?

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Let s get it out of the way: I have not played the Shenmues. For some this admission will immediately disqualify me from having a valid opinion on one of the most eagerly awaited (and expensive) Kickstarter throwbacks in history. I know how this will go. I will tell you I have played a bit, that the characters feel wooden, that the English voice acting is laughably bad, that the translation seems questionable, that the whole game appears only to be a big old walkabout with lots of minigames. And then you will tell me to shut the flip up. Wat does this Shenoob know, you ll spit. Who does he think he is? Coming into this beloved world of kung fu and forklift driving decades late and kicking the village dust in our eyes.

But wait, don t roundhouse kick me yet. Because I just raced some turtles in Shenmue III, that game you are determined to like, and it made me happy, too. We re not so different, you and I.

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The will-mue, won’t-mue of Shenmue will continue for a while longer, as Shenmue III is delayed once again. Previously due on August 27th, the open-world brawl-o-RPG is now expected on November 19th. It’s the usual reason: they want more time to finish and make it better. Almost three months might seem a fair while longer to wait but sheesh, it’s been 18 years since Shenmue II so what’s your hurry? Heck, given that the first two only came to PC in 2018, maybe now you’ll finish ’em first. Who’s had time for all that when the Sega series Shenmue inspired, Yakuza, has also started coming to PC?

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