When you think of Sega’s Shenmue series, there are many things that come to mind. Sailors, quick-time events… but sooner or later, your mind will settle on forklifts. Well, there’s good news for hardcore fans – Ys Net has confirmed in a recent tweet that forklifts are making a return in Shenmue 3.
More details are promised in this week’s issue of Famitsu, but make no mistake – it’s a forklift. The significance of the vehicle can be traced back to Shenmue 1. Protagonist Ryo Hazuki takes a forklift job at the harbour district to learn more about the Mad Angels biker gang. For some reason, he was also able to participate in forklift races to earn a unique Capsule Toy.
While the story context of forklifts in the sequel is still unknown, there are heaps of other details we know. Shenmue 3 will be twice as long as its predecessors and starts out relatively slow as Ryo gains the trust of various NPCs (along with mastering over 100 combat techniques in the meantime). Shenmue 3 is slated to release on August 27th for PC and PS4.