Before open-world storytelling became the norm, Shenmue showed us what immersion could truly mean. In this episode, we explore Yu Suzuki’s ambitious Dreamcast epic — a cinematic adventure that blended RPG, simulation, and real life in a way few games had before or since. We’ll talk about Ryo Hazuki’s quest for vengeance, the revolutionary (yet polarizing) QTE system, and how Shenmue’s influence can still be felt in modern titles like Yakuza and Life is Strange. It was a game ahead of its time — maybe too far ahead.
