Ys Net posted a new Kickstarter update recently, announcing a trial demo of Shenmue III made specifically for backers.
The demo reportedly lasts about an hour and features a wide variety of activities. It takes place in Shenmue III‘s opening area of Bailu Village.
After finishing the demo’s main objective, players can still replay the demo and wander about completing other activities up until the trial expires. There’s no mention of what these activities might be, but we hope forklifts will be involved.
Ys Net didn’t say when the trial would expire. However, save data is not transferable to the main game.
Shenmue III’s backer demo is set to release in the second half of September, following a delay caused by the time and effort put into the recent media demo.
In what’s probably not surprising to anyone, the PC version of the demo is tied to the Epic Games Store. It must be launched from EGS.
Shenmue III‘s relationship with the EGS is a brief, but tortured one. There was quite a stir when Ys Net and Deep Silver announced the game would be exclusive to the Epic Games Store. It was enough that many clamored for a refund instead of submitting to the perceived tyranny of Epic Games, and Epic responded by saying it would handle the refund process.
As of now, Shenmue III is set for a November 19, 2019 release date, after suffering some delays earlier in the year.
