Shenmue II

Shenmue II is an action-adventure game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Dreamcast in 2001. It was directed, produced and written by Yu Suzuki. Like the original Shenmue, Shenmue II consists of open-world environments interspersed with brawler battles and quick time events. It features a day-and-night system, variable weather effects, non-player characters with daily schedules, and various minigames. The player controls teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he arrives in Hong Kong in 1987 in pursuit of his father's killer. His journey takes him to Kowloon and the mountains of Guilin, where he meets a girl who is part of his destiny. Some of Shenmue II was developed alongside the original Shenmue, which was the most expensive video game ever developed at the time. The Dreamcast version was only released in Japan and Europe; Microsoft secured console exclusivity in North America, and released an enhanced port for the Xbox in 2002 and other territories in 2003. The Dreamcast version of Shenmue II received positive reviews for its story and scale. Reviews for the port were mixed, with critics finding its graphics lacking compared to other Xbox games. It has since appeared in several "greatest games of all time" lists. Shenmue II sold poorly and further games in the series entered a period of development hell lasting over a decade. In 2015, Suzuki and his company Ys Net began developing Shenmue III for Windows and PlayStation 4 following a successful crowdfunding campaign. In 2018, Sega released high-definition ports of Shenmue and Shenmue II for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.