9 ways Shenmue 4 could change to fund further sequels

Few games are free of criticism and Shenmue 3, while excellent, is no exception with its issues being particularly well-documented. While adjustments are planned, further, more wide-ranging changes aimed at a mainstream audience are likely needed for Shenmue 4 to fund the series through to its final planned entry in Shenmue 5.

While the upcoming ‘Shenmue The Animation’ anime might promote the brand enough to generate funding for Shenmue 4, the game itself presumably needs to sell more units than its predecessor due to its presumably larger budget. Making wholesale changes is easier said than done however, as most suggestions to increase sales fail to make sense four games into the story and often go against the core values of the series. Making the protagonist a gun-wielding maniac covered in blood, for example, would be far too dramatic a change for the wholesome Ryo on his hero's journey, but something likely has to change to drive up sales.

With that, I bring you 8 ways Shenmue 4 could change to fund Shenmue 5.

1) Serious story-based Action Shenmue 3's Open-Worlds were filled with a bit of everything, but it was a very relaxed re-introduction to the Shenmue universe after 18 years away and had very few story-based battles, which does it marketability no favours. After all, how many open world series' are you aware of that don't shove its gratuitous violence down your throat? That's right, there's only one - Shenmue. While it doesn't have to turn into its spiritual successor in the Yakuza series, Shenmue 4 does need to include every single possible action mode and mechanic that the series has used up to this point, with 70-man fights, battle rally-esque battles and QTEs coming out the wazoo.

There also needs to be a return to the incredible spiritual storytelling through its numerous martial art masters that not only imparted wisdom applicable to Ryo and the player's life, but gave Ryo's journey meaning and a purpose in Shenmue 2. Unfortunately, entry no.3 discarded any meaningful storytelling and made its main martial arts master a drunk who sent you on missions to catch chickens and fetch alcohol.

2) Fighting system additions If the number of fights is increased then their variety needs to follow suit . It goes without saying that before anything else, Shenmue 3's fighting system needs to re-introduce throwing moves and a dodge button. Within the fights themselves, a new fighting technique where you could press a button to go into a first-person mode to dodge attacks with QTE inputs and finish the character off with a combo would allow QTEs to be included without too much cost. Another battle addition could include a team of 2-3 characters going up a large group with the ability to switch between them when fighting. Oh, and destructible environments. I want to kick someone through a wall.

3) A reminder of Iwao's death, or at least the serious threat of someone else's. By the 4th game, Ryo's father's death - and any significant reminder of it - would have been 3 games ago, which is far too long ago both chronologically and for a modern gamer's memory. To deepen Ryo's temptation of revenge and to remind the player of what a genuine threat the evil Chi You Men is capable of there's needs to be a genuine threat to someone's life or Iwao's death needs to be a huge theme in Shenmue 4. As of right now, the only thing the Chi You Men seem capable of is regularly offering a 5 star service to its 'captives' with the occasional cackle of laughter at the front desk. Killing someone does go against the Shenmue grain, which is especially true for the relatively sedate Ryo, but the series needs an injection of actual danger, not just another kidnapping that will inevitably result in Ryo saving the day.

4) Choices with consequences Now that the story has Ren back in the fold, it would be the perfect opportunity to use him and Shenhua as a vengeful demon and redemptive angel on Ryo's shoulder, to sway his moral choices and branch the story into separate Ren and Shenhua sections that ultimately re-join at the end. Imagine a 'bad' choice resulting in the death of a character. I'm already tearing up here. Once again, this is clearly out of character for dear old Ryo, who rarely strays from the correct path of a martial artist, but it would be an incredible inclusion.

You might be sensing a theme here - this series needs to take on a darker and more serious tone. After all, how many of the bestselling single-player PS4 experiences were happy and light-hearted playthroughs? The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2 and GTA 5. None. They aren't the most representative and appropriate comparisons, but sales have to be prioritized and its not as if the series hasn't already made significant changes in tone and design already.

5) An 'Arcade mode' Without a huge budget to innovate, why would new fans jump into the series four games in? Action, of course! If you give the player an 'arcade mode' in addition to a more scenic Shenmue mode then you can appeal to a new audience as well as the existing one. The arcade mode could restrict playthroughs to action and important story points only, leaving all the searching, fetching and waiting tasks to the 'normal mode'. This, at first glance, might be counterproductive in the grand scheme of things and actually end up diluting the charm of Shenmue, but something extreme is needed to extend this series an extra two games.

6) Fewer unnecessary NPCs I know, I know. This series is built upon seemingly unnecessary NPC conversation. It's what made Shenmue 1 one of the most immersive games of all-time. In Shenmue 3 though, and especially in Niaowu, the conversations were throw away comments tagged on the end of sales pitches by the many shop/stall owners, which not only made the conversations pointless, but it didn't place them in the world or expand it even slightly, making the NPCs feel like isolated individuals and unrelated to the town. The resources spent to create this kind of NPC depth and conversation should instead be invested in developing relationships with the 3 main characters. To that end fewer but more meaningful and memorable NPCs should now be the focus.

7) Re-use resources Up to this point Shenmue hasn't revisited any of its locations, but to save on resources and to develop on some of the aforementioned ideas, Bailu should be re-used, not only giving the development team access to a large group of existing characters but ones which deserve more time to develop their characters. Not to mention the fact that the Shenmue tree and Shenhua clearly have some history that needs explaining. You could even go wild and kill off some of the residents.

8) The new area should be focused on NPC relationships and action, not meaningless exploration and visual detail.

In order to achieve as much action as possible in Shenmue 4, Ryo and co. should move from Bailu into a small rundown town close to the base of the Chi You Men with they plan their siege on the enemy castle/base. In hatching their plan they get to know the residents, who all want the Chi You Men gone, which in turn gives meaning to the NPCs existence and allows Ryo to develop a deeper relationship with them than almost any NPC in Shenmue 3. Perhaps Ryo could even save the town from the Chi You Men in his advance into the area. Essentially, the series needs to actually get stuff done in this next entry and random exploration - which Shenmue 3 almost had too much of - isn't particularly needed here.

9) SEGA IP This would likely require SEGA to be the publisher for Shenmue 4, which seems unlikely at this point, but bringing back Suzuki's arcade games would be an obvious win, and what of their other famous franchises? Yakuza, Persona or Sonic inclusions would bring some welcome publicity. If the anime is successful, giving the graphics a hint of cell-shadedness or Persona 5-esque graphics instead of its current style might also be more palatable to a new audience. So those are my suggestions for getting the series through to Shenmue 5. What does everyone think? Am I one gatcha gatcha toy short of a set here?