Shenmue I & II Reviews

Uhm. Excuse me. Have you seen any Chinese?

I played the first Shenmue for the first time back in 2001 - 2002 and I found it amazing, I never got past the early parts of the game but played it again in 2013 and really enjoyed it. I tried playing the second part but a while had passed since I beat the first one so I had forgotten some of the plot details. I bought the game earlier this year and beat it for a second time trying to do more of the content that I most likely missed and I'm starting the second part now. I don't think the game has aged too badly, even though I know Quick Time Events are dreaded by games, I don't mind them too much. Especially since I save constantly and redo things if I don't get them right the first time. It might not have some of the gimmicks modern open worlds have but it does have a very nice and engaging world to explore. Really recommend this game.

Aged like milk. Grandpa of "Yakuza" games, though. Play it to get to know history. Just know that it's "product of it's time" type of game: really clunky controls and cutscene simulator because people were chasing "cinematic" feeling in games back then with all that mo-cap gear and orchestral music.

Combat is way to clunky. Plenty of games I can waste my life playing and this is not one of them! Spare yourself the frustration.

[h1]A Timeless Classic Reborn – Shenmue I & II[/h1] I've been a Shenmue fan since 1999, back when the Dreamcast was still ahead of its time (and my biggest worry was feeding the kitten outside Ryo’s house). So when I saw this remaster on Steam, I knew I had to jump back into Yokosuka and continue the journey to Hong Kong — this time, from my Steam Deck, using a custom community controller layout (huge shoutout to the fans keeping this alive!). Let’s be clear: this is not a remake, it’s a remaster. You’re playing a game originally made for the Dreamcast in 1999/2000. That means some of the controls feel quirky, some NPCs walk like they’re in a trance, and yes, the voice acting is gloriously awkward in the best way possible. But that’s all part of the charm. Shenmue wasn’t just a game — it was THE game that pioneered open-world exploration, real-time weather, NPC daily routines, and QTEs (love them or hate them, they started here). It walked so games like Yakuza, GTA, and even modern RPGs could run. Playing on the Steam Deck felt like magic — portable Shenmue is something 1999-me could only dream of. The community layout made the controls smooth and intuitive, and I had zero issues diving into forklift races or spending way too much money on capsule toys. 🎮 TL;DR: If you love video game history, open-world storytelling, or just want to see where it all began, give Shenmue I & II a shot. Go in with patience, appreciate it for what it is — a remastered piece of gaming history — and you’ll be rewarded with a one-of-a-kind experience that’s still unforgettable. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have sailors to look for.

You should play this game just for the gaming history, especially the first one. One of the first open world games, great story. Not as much action as you think with the game being a bit more simulation, but the one thing Shenmu 1 does better than any other game, the build up to the final "boss". You go through the story, living day to day, learning martial arts. You don't get into as many fights as you would like or think, but the final fight makes it so worth it. I don't want to ruin it for those who have not played, but take a bathroom break right before the end of the game, you will have a blast with the final fight to the point you won't want to get out of your chair for a while and will want to replay it a few times. It's a very, very fun fight that tests all the skills you learned while playing. Also, forklifts.

This game is about robots behaving themselves as robots, thinking as robots, communicating with each other as such and doing robots things in utterly robots world - the saga of a professional samurai-loader

Shenmue is a very quirky avant-garde game that demands a lot of patience from the player. By no means a bad game, I actually enjoyed it a lot, but I could see why a lot of people wouldn't be into it. It is obsessed with realism to a fault. Sometimes you will make appointments to meet people at a specific time and you actually have to wait until the correct time in-game. To get between areas you need to take the bus which has a timetable like in real life and you might need to wait for a minute or two before the bus arrives, especially if you just missed it. To call people on the telephone you need their number which you have to punch in yourself. If you forget the number you need to put down the phone and open your notebook and look for the number. Slight spoiler: [spoiler]At one point in the game you get a job and you actually have to work several whole work days in game, it's not an insignificant time investment and it may make you frustrated. I did find this section relatively enjoyable actually but it's a very big ask of the player and I definitely started to lose my patience a little bit toward the end[/spoiler]. If any of this sounds even the slightest bit appealing to you I'm sure you will love Shenmue, it is a very bold game which I promise you is completely unlike any other game you have ever played. The combat is really satisfying too, you can't really mash buttons like you can largely get away with in the Yakuza series (which you could argue is kind of a spiritual successor to Shenmue), especially in the boss battles you need to read your opponents' moves and respond accordingly. Which brings me to Shenmue II. I find it deeply sad (truly) that most of the achievements for Shenmue II on Steam are rare achievements which less than 10% of players have gotten, even story achievements that you get automatically for progressing. Shenmue II is one of the most surreal and wonderful gaming experiences I have ever had which I think everybody who appreciates video games as an artform should experience. It's by no means perfect, it even shares some of the same flaws as the first game, but there is something about it that is just very special. At times it is so bizarre that it feels like you're in a dream and other times it is so beautiful that it left me speechless. It's possible that these games simply won't resonate with you and that is to be expected with games like this which have a strong, uncompromising artistic vision. However, I promise that no matter what it will be an experience you will never forget. In my opinion games like this are such a treasure and we as video game enthusiasts are lucky that they exist. Especially when they are big budget games like Shenmue (which they say was at the time the most expensive video game ever made). We don't really see that many big budget arthouse games, especially nowadays.

Really cozy game with funny (if played with eng dub) dialogues and scenes but really serious if played with original audio. Combat is actually fun but simple. I recommend you to play this with frame generation in your GPU or Loseless Scalling to get smooth 60fps and download 2 mods from nexus, because damn this "remastered" port suckacockie if you do not download upscaled textures and original japanese audio.

Its cool but due to frame drops, input lag with QTE, and mostly because I can't get Shenmue II to launch unless its running on my SSD (Took me 2 days to find that out, after I spent 53 hours on Shenmue I) I recommend finding another way to play this. I'm also running into trouble with the mods.