All of the hype for the return of this franchise has me wanting to play some Shenmue. I'm only a casual Shenmue fan, but I did enjoy playing the original on Dreamcast quite a bit. Unfortunately, my old consoles are currently in storage and I will not have access to anything outside of my X360 and XBone for a few months (contemplating picking up a PS4 soon). So, does anyone have some alternatives? What games give you the most Shenmue-like experience or feel?

I'm thinking cinematic story, open world, melee combat (QTE or not) and a certain Japanese/Asian je ne sais quoi. Off the top of my head, the games that come to mind are:

• Yakuza series - Never played these
• Sleeping Dogs - Played the main game, absolutely loved it

I've also heard from multiple people who are much more into Shenmue than me, that one of the most Shenmue-ass games out there is actually Deadly Premonition. I never played it, but it's obviously not set in Asia. Anyway....thoughts?

Yakuza bro. Shenmue was all about the atmosphere of Japan, and exploring the nuances that create it, coupled with a soap-opera story and ridiculous combat. Yakuza does all that. The only real difference to me is that Shenmue felt very "nice". Just about everyone was concerned about you and very apologetic. Yakuza is a little more brash, but really not that much. You can play like 18-hole golf and crane games and help old ladies cross the street for fuck's sake. I'd say Sleeping Dogs is only like Shenmue insomuch as it's Asian atmosphere is very strong, but otherwise that is a much more violently-played game.

This is coming from my experience with Yakuza 3 only, and having played Shenmue 1 and 2.

None of those games are like Shenmue. Its more like a Telltale's Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us.

Shenmue has very very little combat of any kind and its limited to when they want you to do some combat. Its a walking around and talking to people simulator with the occasional QTE or street fight.

You know what Shenmue, Yakuza and Deadly Premonition have in common? Weird unrelated attention to detail. Shenmue was filled with these things, the most famous being those vending machines. In Yakuza there's going to a bar and ordering a whisky and finding detailed information on it. And in Deadly Premonition there's conversations that basically acts as that type of thing.

Either way, the closest you'll get is still probably Yakuza.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, because you spend periods of that game hanging out with your cat and working various service industry jobs. You can also play a top down shooter game within the game world.

As I understand Shenmue, having never played them, that is essentially what those games are.

I can see where they're going with the Deadly Premonition comparison. You can cruise around town and just explore. Talk to weird locals and do little unimportant side quests. But outside of that, the similarities pretty much end.

@thiago123: Just adding on my previous comment because I didnt even come close to answering your question, Sleeping Dogs is miles away from being in the same vein as Shenmue so that one is out(just my opinion). DP also just barely shares any similarities to what your looking for.

Yakuza would be the closest to fitting your criteria but to me its still way more of an action game then an adventure game. I mean Shenmue is a linear story in an "open world"(its not all that open) with a million little distractions, I guess that fits with the Yakuza series but I didnt get any of the same feel out of the 2 games I have played.

Agreed. I never understood this comparison. If someone had played and liked DP and then asked you to recommend another game like it, you would never say Shenmue.

Says they've already played Shenmue & Sleeping Dogs and finds them similar in some ways, everybody else says fuck you you're wrong.

THANKS FOR THE HELP!

Shenmue 2 hasn't aged that badly IMO.

You can play the Xbox version on the 360, if that helps.

LA Noire. Just replace the half-assed fighting with half-assed cover-based shooting.

Yakuza is a shoe-in. In fact, I think it shared some of the development team.

Persona 3/4, in so far as you feel like a native Japanese teenager exploring the country's sights and culture.

@lonelyspacepanda:Definitely agree on Persona, don't know why I forgot about it on my list. Maybe I was only thinking about home consoles and I played the Persona games on Vita.

@johnnymcginley:Good thought. My copy of Shenmue 2 is in storage too, but I might be able to get one somewhere. I think it was mentioned in a podcast though that the resale market for the first two went up considerably because of the 3 hype.

@tournamentofhate:This had me LOLing.

@71ranchero: Thanks for clarifying, cause I had a hard time looking past the Telltale comparison. Very good point on the reverse suggestion of Shenmue for DP fans.

@71ranchero: I'm drawing a blank as to how Telltale's games are anything like Shenmue. Shenmue is a game about exploration, whereas those are modern choose your own adventure games.

Also, whereas Shenmue doesn't have a lot of combat it's still an important part of the game. A kung-fu epic without the kung-fu is absolutely nothing.

@retris: Well yes the choose your own adventure part does not fit, but its the environment in service of narrative that I am talking about. Maybe those games are not as good of an example as I had thought. I think of Shenmue as an open-ish world point and click adventure game. I would never expect someone looking for more games like a Sleeping Dogs or GTA to jump into Shenmue and have a good time, but I feel like you could totally go from a Telltale game to Shenmue. Im not trying to be combative, I just have had 15 years of thinking about Shenmue to form some possibly atypical opinions about it. For me, even at the time I was very aware that Shenmue was a crap game with a great story to tell. You really dont do much besides walk from point to point talking to people and then sometimes race a duck.

Yakuza is Shenmue if it was more of a video game and had competent writing. It is far less detailed and not really a life sim, but unlike Shenmue it's actually fun to play.

Yakuza had the most similar gameplay, but i could never get through any of them.

@71ranchero: Not trying to be abrasive either. I agree with you on Sleeping Dogs and GTA not being good games to compare Shenmue to. To me Shenmue has never been about being a point and click adventure, it's more like a zen garden with ninja attacks. To me the magic of the game comes from all the details you can find in the world (especially in your house) as you take a leisurely stroll. Then, when you're feeling completely relaxed and serene you're suddenly taken off guard by a QTE.

The big problem Shenmue always had was that even when it came out the exploration controls were clunky as all hell. Ryo walked like a robot and trying to target the thing you want in first person was a chore. This seriously needs to be fixed in the next game.

Yakuza 5 is going to be the best yakuza game. I recommend picking it up when it comes out here

@retris: But how much time do you spend doing any ninja attacks? Thats what I am saying. We will have to agree to disagree here. At the end of the day we all get what we want out of it.

With dual analog sticks as standard this time around, they almost couldn't improve the controls. One would hope anyways.

Omikron, right down to the horrible controls and half-implemented combat system.

Is the kickstarter budget all they're working with? If it is then I'm worried cause it's a tiny tiny budget for a game like Shenmue.

@rollingzeppelin: nope, there is a lot more money than just the Kickstarter funds.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/24/8842103/shenmue-3-budget-sony-kickstarter-yu-suzuki

Heavy Rain in some ways I suppose.