Shenmue’s creator wants to make a „more compact” title for the sequel, despite calling open-world games trendy nowadays.

Shenmue, Virtua Fighter, Out Run – a few franchises that Suzuki has created at SEGA. IGN Japan interviewed him to look back at Shenmue III, which launched in November on PlayStation 4 and PC (Epic Games Store), about eighteen years after the second game. Suzuki said that he wants to „completely update the facial animation,” as this was one of the most criticised points of Shenmue III.

„I think there is an image that the open world is a magic word and all the gorgeous games are heading towards that, due to the current fashion of games, but then it will be difficult to differentiate in the open world. I wonder if it’s interesting to have a closed space instead of sticking to the open world,” he said. By differentiating, he likely meant certain regions of said world.

„If there aren’t many people, it doesn’t look like China, so I’d like to increase the number of characters walking in the city at the same time. If the city is made the same size as Niaowu if the density can be quadrupled. Because I’m an engineer, I like to take on new challenges even if they are not that exciting. For example, making in-game movements in a small space smoother. It’s more realistic if it’s cramped but if the path is too narrow, you could get caught and have a lot of problems. That’s why the path in a game is always wide. I don’t think any studio has accomplished smooth movement or exploration in a small area,” he added.

So he is likely planning Shenmue 4 by now for the next-gen platform(s?) (PlayStation 5, maybe Xbox Series X?), as well as PC, but not as an open-world title.

Source: WCCFTech

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