Open world is a term you see everywhere, but these days it's less a genre and more something synonymous with the very idea of video games themselves. An expansive world to explore and exist in is simply par for the course for modern games. But things weren’t always there, and you can even trace the idea of “open world” back to a single, monumental title — Shenmue. Simultaneously one of the most revolutionary games ever created and one of the most criminally overlooked, Shenmue’s influence can be felt in nearly every facet of video games.
Released on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, Shenmue is the magnum opus of Yu Suzuki, an incredibly influential video game creator behind the likes of some of the biggest arcade games of all time — Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, and Virtua Fighter, to name a few.
