As previously mentioned in our coverage of this year’s Sony E3 coverage, Shenmue III is in the works and in need of crowd-funding in order to come to fruition. Less than a day after the game’s Kickstarter campaign was announced, the project has now reached its funding target. For those of you unaware, the project was asking for the not insubstantial sum of $2 million. Not only has the project reached this target with 30 days left of the crowd-funding campaign, new backers are continuing to throw money at it and, at the time of writing, the amount raised was just shy of $3 million. This makes Shenmue III one of the fastest growing Kickstarter campaigns to date. We’ve covered Shenmue fans’ fervour for the series before and this merely stands as a further testament to the enthusiasm of the fanbase (considering the fact they’ve been waiting 14 years for a true sequel in their beloved classic open world RPG series makes it somewhat easier to understand).

Shenmue III is in development for PC and PS4. The game will be geared towards pre-existing fans, including familiar characters and mechanics, whilst also aiming to draw in new players. The new game will pick up where Shenmue II left off, with protagonist Ryo Hazuki still searching for his father’s killer. His journey takes him to China where “he meets a new travelling companion, Shenhua, and learns of a legend from her village that has foretold their path together.” The plot will thicken, with the Kickstarter page further asking “Will the mystery of the mirrors be revealed? How is Ryo’s father connected to all of this? Will Ryo track down the Chi You Men cartel and face Lan Di in a final showdown?”

There’s no word yet on the development teams intended release window so watch this space and the official Kickstarter page for more details as they are released.