Does Shenmue 3 have fast travel? In a way, yes. Instead of traveling whenever you want, the game decides when you can jump from place to place. It also decides when you can fast forward time. Fast travel in Shenmue 3 is called the Jump System.
As you run around Shenmue 3‘s semi-open world looking for thugs to beat up or mysteries to investigate, you’ll be given the option to fast travel to a specific story location at a specific time.
This only happens at certain times: when the story requires it, at night when you return to Shenhua’s house, or in the morning when you leave Shenhua’s house. Called the jump system, it’s similar to the way things worked in Shenmue and the last game, Shenmue 2.
Shenmue 3 Fast Travel
It’s safe to assume you’ve already noticed the action menu in the bottom right of your screen while playing Shenmue 3.
There are four choices (left, right, top, bottom) that mimic the shape buttons on your controller. For PlayStation 4 (PS4), they are square, circle, triangle, and cross. On an Xbox One controller for PC (or most other similar PC controllers such as the Stratus Duo), they are X, B, Y, and A.
The top choice — mapped to “triangle” or “Y” — is the one you want to use to fast travel. Typically, the on-screen symbol is a green sphere with a question mark(?) in it.
However, the symbol changes when you can fast travel — or jump between places and times. It becomes a green sphere with a jumping person inside of it.
When this happens, simply press “triangle” or “Y” as you normally would and several choices will appear in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Depending on how many locations or times you can jump to, sometimes there will be two options, sometimes there will be more.
Fast Travel “Glitch” in Shenmue 3
There’s also a hidden fast travel trigger near Shenhua’s house. It was somewhat of a lucky hit for me because there is no indication it is there.
If you exit the house and face the purple Shenmue tree with the swing, go to the cliff just behind it. If you’re looking toward Bailu Village with Shenhua’s house to your right, the cliff will be to your left.
Go up to the edge of the cliff, and the fast travel/jump menu will appear, letting you go to the village center, Kung Fu, or Jobs. This trigger is useful in a number of ways. If you’re at Shenhua’s house, but can’t sleep and don’t have enough endurance to do anything, you can easily travel back to Bailu for some food.
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That’s all there is to it! It really is that simple.
While Shenmue 3 fast travel is easy, it’s also a bit frustrating. Once you get used to jumping anywhere you want in a game like The Outer Worlds, going back to something undeniably old school is a bit jarring. Especially when you run out of stamina/health before fast traveling!
Be sure to check out our other Shenmue 3 guides while you’re here. We’re currently playing through the game and should have more soon.
From the mind of Yu Suzuki, Shenmue 3 is the latest game in the beloved RPG franchise that began on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999. Shenmue 3 is currently available on the PC through the Epic Games Store for $49.99 and the PlayStation 4 for $59.99.
According to the game’s Kickstarter FAQ page, Shenmue 3 is set to see a wider release on Steam for PC “in the future.” Based on other exclusives released on the Epic storefront, it seems Shenmue 3 will hit Steam in November 2020.
