It was one thing for Sony to open its E3 2015 conference with the return of The Last Guardian, now a PlayStation 4 exclusive. That game had at least been announced before. It’s just wonderful to finally get proof that the project is in fact alive and kicking when most gamers had long since written it off as vaporware.
Let me be clear: The Last Guardian is back, and it looks absolutely incredible. And it is scheduled to launch sometime in 2016.
As hard as it may be to believe, the other two games were the real show-stealing surprises. Two games that fans have been asking for and asking for, seemingly to no avail. But they are happening.
Oh wait, what are the two games? Surely you already know by now, but of course I am referring to Final Fantasy VII Remake (not final title) and Shenmue III. And they say dreams can’t come true.
Square Enix has confirmed that full production is underway on Final Fantasy VII Remake for PS4. The wording during the announcement stating that the game is coming “first to PlayStation 4” would seem to indicate that eventually the remake will come to other platforms. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
The project is in development led by a team of key original Final Fantasy VII developers, including producer Yoshinori Kitase, director Tetsuya Nomura, and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima. This shit’s going to be epic!
Shenmue III is another story. Legendary Sega game designer Yu Suzuki took the stage to announce the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to get the sequel funded for release on PC and PS4, powered by Unreal Engine 4. The minimum funding goal is set at a hefty 2 million dollars. 2 million shmillion! Within hours of going live, the campaign has already raised more than 1.3 million dollars. With 31 days to go, Shenmue III is probably going to smash the Kickstarter record for funding of a video game.
Don’t go getting too super, duper excited just yet though. Even once it’s funded, Shenmue III isn’t expected to release until December 2017. Oh who am I kidding? This is Shenmue III we’re talking about. You deserve to be super, duper excited.
Now let’s roll the video tape for proof that yes, these three glorious, long sought after games are really, you know, real.