my previous joke review aside, this is probably one of the best demos ive played that excellently showcases what the final game has to offer, all while giving this short tongue-in-cheek adventure where ryo has to find segas director and basically be a bodyguard to him before 7pm, and you gotta find where he is without much help, by asking if anyone on the street has seen him, admittedly you cant do much of the stuff you can in the final game, mostly just talk, admire the scenery, look at a couple objects and then have a chase that introduces you to the quick time events, which are weirdly brutal in their timing as you can fail them while the indicator is still on the screen. i havent played shenmue (yet) but i can only hope those either improved in the final game or at least the somewhat recentish remasters. the game also has a missed oppritunity to show off the combat, as it ends on a thug showing up to harm the director, but that just gets resolved without you (the player, not ryo) doing anything. its not much, but if you're interested in shenmue at all, or even just the substories in the yakuza games (as this demo just feels like the precursor to those) this is a short and sweet novelty that i recommend checking out. theres an english patch you should be able to find rather easily.

Reviewed on Mar 27, 2024


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