Sega Canceled A More Ambitious Shenmue Remake But Decided To Opt For A Shenmue Remaster

Eurogamer published an article accompanied by a video revealing that Sega had started developing a remake of Shenmue with a fresh design before opting for the remaster released last August. Sega issued a press release confirming the information reported by Eurogamer and justifies the abandonment of the initial project due to the lack of consistency of the result.

“Sega and d3t had actually started exploring the possibility of a full HD remaster for Shenmue I & II. That said, we quickly realized that this project was not without its challenges. Working with the original animations and characters by matching them with improved HD visuals gave a game that we didn’t think would meet the standards Shenmue fans expect and deserve,” the press release stated.

“Rather than continue with a release that could have disappointed fans, we chose to focus on porting classic games to PCs and modern consoles so that new players could discover Shenmue’s original charm,” Sega continued.

Sega Canceled A More Ambitious Shenmue Remake But Decided To Opt For A Shenmue Remaster

According to Eurogamer, this Shenmue remake, which can be seen in the video below, had been in development for a considerable period before being canceled at the end of 2017, apparently due to budgetary constraints and delays in development.

The work was apparently entrusted to the British studio d3t, the same one that finally contented itself with reworking the Dreamcast game’s source code as best it could deliver the remaster we know, not without a number of bugs that suddenly take on their full meaning if the studio only had a few months to prepare it.

The video, which also includes drafts of Shenmue II at a less advanced level, suggests more complex textures, improved work on shadows and geometry, and the addition of an ambient occlusion that significantly improves the rendering.

Looking back, Eurogamer insists that this video represents only a small part of the work that had already been done on the Shenmue remake and that it was, in fact, more advanced than we can see in the video.

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