A few years after it becameKickstarter’s most successful video game project,Shenmue 3has finally released. The new game begins right where its prequel left off over a decade ago, with Ryo Hazuki continuing to seek out his father’s murderer, and players are now getting an idea of just how long this new installment will take to play through.
Shenmue 3takes players to a new setting in 1980s China, where they have both the main plot to follow and side tasks available in the many towns they pass through and characters they interact with. All in all, the game hasmany optional activities(and difficulty settings) that make its estimated play-time quite different depending on who is playing.
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As of November 19,Shenmue 3has officially become available to any and all who wish to play it, and it’s now being revealed that the game can take anywhere between 18 and 25 hours to complete in full. Basically,Shenmue 3has four different difficulty settings that players can choose from: Story Mode, Recommended Mode, Challenge Mode, and Nightmare Mode. And, as one might assume, the game takes longer to beat when played on the higher difficulty settings, whereas players who opt for the simpler Story Mode will likely finish after around 18 hours of gameplay. Then again, playtime can also be reflected in how many of those side-activities a player chooses to complete, so those whospend their days leisurely fishingwill obviously take closer to 25 hours to completeShenmue 3.
The game doesn’t offer any trophies for beating it at higher difficulty levels, so some players might be further tempted to just blast through it quickly. However, while most reviewers agree thatShenmue 3most definitely doesn’tbring anything new and differentto the series, it’s also agreed that a little side-questingisworth players' time if only to feel more immersed in the world. At the end of the day, the game’s length suits it; it’s not too long, but not too short, and players should be able to spend a nice chunk of time onShenmue 3without losing weeks and weeks to it like some of the gargantuan RPGs out there.
Hopefully, the game has smooth sailing now that it has launched; the months leading up to its release came with somelight controversy over its Epic Games Store exclusivitythat resulted in limited refunds becoming available for some Kickstarter backers.
Shenmue 3is available now for the PC and PlayStation 4.
