Page 73 - PC Gamer - UK (February 2020)

RE VIE W
something magical about getting to
know a place, its people and its
routines. At night you’ll see Wang and
Liu, the village watchmen, retreat to
the Drunken Panda pub for a beer or
three. In the afternoons you’ll find
Lei, a young trainee martial artist,
practising his form in the grounds of
the local temple.
Bailu feels like a place, not just a
movie set, and when it was time to
move on in the story I was genuinely
sad to leave it behind. It’s clear
Shenmue 3 is a relatively low budget
game, with visuals that feel slightly
sterile. Even so, Bailu is gorgeous to
look at, its evocative art design
triumphing over its technical
limitations. At night the sky floods
with stars and moonlight falls over
the cottages, smoke billowing from
their chimneys, lights glowing
warmly inside. By day it’s all
butterflies, blooming flowers and
bright blue skies. It’s just incredibly
cosy, a tradition I’m glad to see the
third game continue.
Joining you this time is Shenhua,
a local girl whose father has gone
missing and whose fate seems
somehow entwined with Ryo’s.
We’ve always had allies in this series,
whether it’s Guizhang in the original
or Ren in the sequel, but they usually
take a back seat, conveniently
appearing when you’re
in trouble. But in this
game Shenhua is much Takeastroll
more of a companion, through the
frequently wildflowers
accompanying Ryo into
the village as he and pick
pursues his next line of some herbs
inquiry. People in the
village can be more
cooperative with Shenhua in tow.
And because Ryo is staying at her
house you speak to her every night
before bed, catching up on the day’s
events and planning your next move.
It’s wonderful watching their
relationship blossom. Over the hearth
they’ll ask each other questions about
their lives, hopes and regrets, and in
these moments we see a new side to
Ryo. He’s always been a closed book,
rarely expressing himself – even to
people who care for him. But
somehow Shenhua manages to tease
his feelings out and it’s heartwarming
to hear him talk about his life in
Japan and fondly reminisce about his
friends and loved ones.
It turns out that Ryo is pretty deep
when you get past that stoic facade,
which was a pleasant surprise. He
GLOBE TROTTER
Ryo Hazuki’s journey so far
GUILIN
HONG K O NG
YOKOSUK A HONG KONG
1 A city located 2 In the second 3 Hot on Lan Di’s
about 40 miles game Ryo follows
south of Tokyo and Lan Di to Hong
the hometown of Kong, a city where
Ryo. The first game he feels out of his
is set here, mostly depth. Later he
on Dobuita Street: a travels to Kowloon
real-life shopping
Walled City, a
district that you can cramped, lawless
still find today. city within a city. meets a new ally.
has layers and it’s a joy to see them
being peeled away.
At a certain point in the story, Ryo
and Shenhua leave the relative safety
of Bailu behind and find themselves
in Niaowu, a bustling port city that
suddenly and massively increases the
scale of the game. After hours spent
in the close-knit, pastoral Bailu
Village, stepping off the
boat here is a real
shock to the system.
It’s beautiful too,
especially at night, with
glowing lanterns and
traditional Chinese
architecture. Niaowu is
huge and a thrilling
change of scenery,
recalling the stark contrast of
Yokosuka and Hong Kong in the
original games. The story also picks
up here, although I say that in
relative terms; it’s extremely slow.
Here’s the thing: despite waiting
almost two decades for a conclusion
to Ryo Hazuki’s story, this isn’t it.
Creator Yu Suzuki always intended
Shenmue to be at least a five-part
series, and I have to admire him
sticking to his guns. That said, I was
expecting a little more in terms of
pushing the story forward from this
sequel – although there are some big
revelations, as well as a few smaller
ones that fans will get a kick out of.
Ever wondered what Tom the hot
dog vendor from Dobuita Street is up
to these days? Or how Nozomi is
getting on in Canada? Shenmue 3
Shenmue 3
answers some of these lingering
series questions in a satisfying way.
So it’s clear I really enjoyed my
time with Shenmue 3, but I do have a
few gripes. Design-wise, some of the
character models are comically
YO KO S U K A inconsistent. You’ll talk to a relatively
normal, human-looking NPC one
minute, then some kind of
exaggerated, hideous caricature the
next. It’s like they’re from different
games. There are also a few points in
the story where you have to raise a
big chunk of money, which means
the narrative grinds to a halt as you
GUILIN spend days splitting logs, gambling,
trail, Ryo ends up in or shifting crates around. And I found
Guilin, a having to buy and eat food to keep
mountainous region my stamina up a little like needless
of China. Here he busywork at times, especially when I
finds the cave absent-mindedly stumbled into a
where the stone for fight with half a health bar because
the Phoenix Mirror
was quarried and I’d been sprinting around too much.
SLOW LANE
One complaint I don’t have, however,
is with the slow pace. Some people
will undoubtedly find it maddening,
especially when they play it for an
hour and achieve basically nothing.
But I really do love the lazy, laid back
rhythm of the game. It’s hypnotic and
absorbing like nothing else on PC,
perfectly recapturing the strange,
sedate, melancholy magic of the
original games. Wise old masters are
forever telling Ryo to slow down, to
have patience, to resist the urge to
rush headlong into a confrontation
with Lan Di. And honestly, it’s advice
that anyone playing Shenmue 3
should take to heart.
Take a stroll through the
wildflowers and pick some herbs.
Shoot the breeze at the bridge
leading into the village. Work on your
capsule toy collection. Tell Shenhua
about growing up in Japan. In an
increasingly loud and relentless
world, Shenmue 3 is an ocean of calm.
Step back into 1980s China and just
go with the flow. That’s when that
curious, hard to define Shenmue
magic emerges and you find yourself
entranced by it. Will Yu Suzuki ever
finish his story? I’m not sure, but
being invited back into his world is a
rare treat we may never experience
again. So may as well savour it, eh?
VE RDICT
A seamless continuation
of the series that makes
up for its limitations with 83
pure heart. It’s like Ryo
never left us.
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