Shenmue 3 launches on November 19, nearly two decades after the previous game’s cliffhanger ending. While there’s little that could dissuade Shenmue fans from picking the new game up at launch after all this waiting, the broader audience might be waiting for Shenmue 3 reviews – and contrary to publisher Deep Silver’s early embargo instructions, all reviews for the game will land on launch day.
Previously, UK-based (and other European) outlets had received instructions to hold reviews until November 21 – two days after the Shenmue 3 street date. VG247 deputy editor Kirk McKeand tweeted that fact over the weekend, which led to a whole lot of worry from prospective players, as a post-launch review embargo is historically not a good sign for a game’s quality.
Now, Deep Silver says on Twitter that was all a bit of “confusion,” and that “the global embargo date for press reviews is November 19 – launch day.” Other outlets now report that the EU embargo has been set for November 19, the same date US outlets had already been given.
We expect to see Shenmue 3 reviews start dropping this evening at 16:00 PST / 19:00 EST / midnight GMT. We’ll update this story with a full round-up of the critical response then.
In the meantime, check out some of the best open world games and sandbox games if you’re looking for more from the genres that Shenmue helped to create all those years ago.