A trusted source close to Atlus USA, today revealed to me that Shenmue HD Remaster will be released this year. Both games, Episodes 1 & 2, may be released together rather than separately. They are presumably being geared up for launch to precede Shenmue 3, which could possibly slip into 2018. This will come as no surprise. Last year Sega hinted strongly that a Shenmue HD remaster was on the cards and then towards the end of last year, Sega registered the domain ShenmueHD.com. Furthermore, many have known of the existence of a Shenmue HD Remaster for some time. Way back in 2010, a Shenmue II remaster appeared on Microsoft’s Partnernet – the online ecosystem for Xbox 360 dev kits. So it was a always case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ a Shenmue HD Remaster would appear. The appearance of an HD remaster will be vital for the success of the forthcoming Shenmue 3. While it raised a colossal amount of money via kickstarter through long-time series fans, the vast majority of gamers won’t know the events of the first two games. Such a story rich experience would be impossible to appreciate without knowledge of the events so far – and so it’s an important step for the series to find a new, broader fanbase. No further details have been revealed to us regarding the release. We were told it is ‘safe to assume a PC/Steam release’, there has been no indication that the Shenmue HD Remasters will appear on any other platform. Source: Rice Digital
