Shenmue 3 Creator Also Wants to do Shenmue 4

Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki has outlined the funding goals he needs to reach to achieve his grand vision for the elusive third game in the series, and has also discussed potential future entries.

Answering questions on a Reddit interview, Suzuki said that the first of his big ideas could be implemented at the $5 million milestone.

"I will say this," he said. "If we reach the $5 million mark, one of the things I really want to do with Shenmue 3 will become a reality."

According to Suzuki, Shenmue 3 will "truly have the features of an open-world" at the $10 million milestone.

Suzuki didn't elaborate on what these open-world features entail , however, he did detail some of the stretch goals, which include the much-discussed forklift gameplay, additional towns, and extra side-activities.

"There will be part time jobs that will be indicative of those you would find in China," he explained. "In the Stretch goals there will also be the old favorites."

Elsewhere in the AMA, Suzuki indicated that he has a vision for the future of the series beyond Shenmue 3, saying he'd like to complete the original 11-chapter story.

"There are a total of 11 chapters that make up the whole story," he said. "Over the past 14 years I originally planned for there to four or five games to the series. If at all possible, I would still like to realize the full story of 11 chapters."

The original Shenmue is considered to be the first chapter. The second chapter was delivered in the manga, while Shenmue 2 was chapter three, four, and five. Unless Shenmue 3 is massive in scope, it may be that at least one more game after it will be necessary to complete the narrative arc.

Shenmue 3, the long-awaited sequel to a Dreamcast classic, was announced during Sony's E3 2015 press conference, when Suzuki appeared on stage beside PlayStation's Adam Boyes to launch a Kickstarter.

Suzuki said the game would be a "full-on Shenmue experience," and asked for $2 million in initial funding to start work on the project. Within a couple of hours the campaign crossed $1 million mark, and just a few hours later, its funding goal. At the time of writing this it has raised over $3,500,000, with 25 days to go.

Take a look at some of the artwork for the game in the gallery below.

Gallery