The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter started with a $2 million goal, but Yu Suzuki says it will need $10 million to "truly have the features of an open world." Suzuki offered a few more details about the successful, but still going, crowdfunding campaign in a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread over the weekend.
Suzuki didn't say much more about the expanded open-world stuff, and the Kickstarter's first round of stretch goals actually doesn't even extend to $10 million at the moment. The last one, set for $5 million, promises to further expand the Baisha Village location and introduce the "characters perspective system." Suzuki elaborated on that last point in the Reddit thread, saying it would "highlight different characters' personalities as they go through the story."
With the $5 and $10 million marks being so significant, it makes you wonder what kind of game Shenmue 3 would have been if it it had only just barely met the $2 million goal. Though it was never really going to be made on $2 million, since Suzuki and company have confirmed that they're also receiving outside funding.
Also remember that this Kickstarter is for the next part of Ryo Hazuki's journey, probably not the final part. Shenmue 2 concluded with Chapter 5, to give you an idea of the timeline, and Suzuki said he originally planned for the tale to play out in 11 chapters across "four or five" games.
Then again, maybe it's reassuring that Shenmue is still perfectly comfortable with taking its sweet time even after a 14-year hiatus. Care for another game of Lucky Hit while we wait?
