In IGN Japan's recent interview with Yu Suzuki at TGS 2023, host Esra Krabbe mentioned having spoken earlier in the livestream with a developer working on an upcoming game that was influenced by Shenmue, among other inspirations. The game's name is "Last Time I Saw You" and is set in Japan in the 1980s.
The studio founder, who is Spanish and has been living in Japan for several years, is also responsible for the game's artwork and has captured the atmosphere of the Shōwa era of Japan perfectly. The beautifully-portrayed townscape is sure to make fans of Shenmue feel right at home:
The game's tag line describes it as a narrative-driven coming-of-age adventure about a first love. The protagonist of the story is Ayumi, a 12-year-old boy, who "wanders the melancholic countryside of Japan in search of the mysterious girl he has been seeing in his dreams" - another element that evokes a parallel with Shenmue.
The art is breath-taking and completely hand-drawn, with an anime style that employs parallax scrolling, and small but detailed animations throughout. Game play is set to a melancholic ambient soundtrack. The locations are brought to life with other characters who can often be spoken to, as well as various animals, including a dog - and yes, petting it is possible!
A demo is available from the game's Steam page, and this looks to be well worth adding to the watch list of any Shenmue fan. Release is scheduled for 2024. The studio, Maboroshi Artworks, can be followed here on X (Twitter).
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| No 1980s story set in Japan would be complete without a run-in with the local thugs! |
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