19 detained video game continuation
2022. Over the past five years, the new Age of Empires, Devil May Cry, Street of Rage, Crash Bandicoot has been. In the near future, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord and Postal 4 will come out of early access.
The gaming industry does not lag behind the cinema, reviving the cult and not very game series, declaring an epoch -making.
I propose to recall the sequels that have passed through a long period of time. Let’s try to find out the reasons for such a delay, at the same time remember good and bad games.
There will be a long blog where I will increase the gap between games. I will also write whether it was worth it or not. I will try to be objective, but I think everyone understands that subjectivity cannot be avoided.
And yes, I could not play all these games physically, so I tried to rely on information from third -party resources.
10 years of expectations. Fallout 3
In 1998, Fallout 2 was released, and despite the painstaking study and a large amount of content, the game fails, sold by a circulation of 36 thousand copies. A year later, InterPlay releases a collection of the first and second part with a price of 9.99 dollars. Let 286 thousand copies be sold, it did not bring good profit, but the developers from Black Isle were given a green light to create a continuation.
But unfortunately, the low sales of both Fallout, Descent 3, Freespace 2 and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II counted Interplay in 2004. Black Isle was closed, Fallout 3 (aka Van Buren) was canceled, and all the rights to the series were sold by Bethesda studios.
Prototype Fallout 3 by Black Isle
The same, in turn, released TES 4: Oblivion in 2006, undertook to develop a game in the new universe. Having issued Fallout 3 to the public in 2008.
And what can be said about the third part? This is … a good game. Yes, we no longer have that isometric classic RPG with multi -level dialogs, a step -by -step tactical fighting and oppressive atmosphere.
Now Fallout is funny adventures on the wasteland, with a large designed world in terms of design, unusual situations, interesting secondary quests and memorable companions. With not the best action and not expressive color palette.
I sincerely believe that the new developers looked back at past parts when creating a game, modernizing the series.
Bethesda made a series more popular than ever, what sales in more than 12 million copies are talking about.
The expectations were worth it.
10 years of expectations. Star Fox Zero
In 2006, Star Fox Command was released on Nintendo DS, and it turned out to be normal. No revolution in the genre and assessments 10 out of 10, just a good “letaos” on a portable console.
And finally, after a long development and 10 years of waiting, changing the platform from Nintendo WII to Wii U. We got … a normal game.
Both critics and players were divided into two camps: some talked about innovation in gameplay with management, beautiful graphics, which finally came out a full -fledged Star Fox for a large Nintendo console. Others exclaimed: we already saw this in Star Fox 64. Add to this inconvenient management and intentional points for unique console functions.
Having received estimates above average, the game was well sold. Let by disappointing part of the players.
I will say that the expectations were not worth.
11 years of expectations. Devil May Cry 5
Everyone thought that the Devil May Cry series ended in 2008 with the release of the fourth part on a high note, but not.
Five years later, the restart developed by Ninja Theory is released. And let the new image of Dante seemed bad, the gameplay remained as dynamic, and the game itself became much more colorful.
Be that as it may, due to disappointing sales (more than 1.2 million copies), plans for the continuation were frozen.
Then CAPCOM armed herself a veteran of the Hideaki Itsuno series and the re -Engine game engine to make a new part of the best in the series.
And in 2019, a fifth is released and drowned in laudatory reviews and high marks from all. Stunning graphics, magnificent setting, excellent and slightly modified fighter, as well as incredible music.
CAPCOM did not fall into the mud in her face, selling 2 million copies in two weeks.
The expectations were worth it.
11 years of expectations. Alice: Madness Returns
American McGee’s Alice 2001 Great game with an interesting Levl design, incredible atmosphere and amazing music. The developers managed to process and adapt the original fairy tale of Lewis Carol in a video game format. And no matter how the linear gameplay was scolded, many fell in love with this game.
However, the departure of American McGi from EA could put an end to the continuation.
But what was the surprise of the fans when in 2009 the same EA announces the sequel. McGi returns with a new developer team.
And after three years of hellish development, carved content and a small budget. The continuation of the worthy original came out. Beautiful graphics, an interesting plot with your finds, a curious gameplay. May music and atmosphere are no longer as good as before, the continuation is just as pleasantly played. Although players and critics will not agree with me.
After all, everything could be worse. (Read more about games was told by Katerina Krasnopolskaya in her video)
12 years of expectations. Mega Man 9
The Mega Man 8 on the PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn, published in 1996, turned out to be a passing game. Meager graphics, lack of new ideas, small sales and average grades. So Capcom was covered with a shop.
But unexpectedly for everyone, in 2009 the ninth part in console online stores is released. The development was a little delayed, due to the change of the platform from the Nintendo DS to the main consoles.
And the game shows that it is made on the portable, with the desire to cause nostalgia for the first parts. And graphics, and gameplay, and the plot talk about it. However, there is nothing new for the series or the genre all the more.
If you like this approach, then I have nothing against. But play the same and the same game for the ninth time, at least, strange.
I believe that the expectations were not worth.
12 years of expectations. Starcraft 2
The first Starcraft, published in 1998, remained one of the main e -sports disciplines and an example of a verified balance in RTS. Do not forget about a convenient interface, an interesting plot and a map editor. This helped to sell a game with an 11 millionth circulation for all the time.
And after the release of the addon in the same 1998. Blizzard, although she supported the game, was in no hurry with the continuation. After the release of Wacraft III: Frozen Throne, development began, and only in February 2010 was a beta version, to which professional e-sportsmen was invited.
Having spent more time and resources, the game was released July 27, 2010.
There were fears that for 6 years of release of some additions to Wow, the company has forgotten how to make games.
However, the sequel immediately replaced the original in e -sports, received many awards and high marks. Excellent graphics, amazing cats, an interesting plot. And let Gameplaino still be a game from 1998, but this does not interfere with enjoying a wonderful game, in the genre that the developers have already forgotten about.
The expectations were worth it.
12 years of expectations. Diablo III
Having left in 2000, Diablo II remains LtcCasino a reference game in the Hack and Slash genre. High sales, excellent grades and critics. It seemed that the continuation would not be long in coming.
But during a series of events: the vacation of employees after the second part, the inability to form the concepts of new games (Diablo III, including) and the constant backwardness of technology, Blizzard North closed in 2005. (Read more about this by Ivan Loev in the history of the series)
After that, Blizzard Entertainment independently took up the game, simultaneously developing a continuation of Starcraft and additions for Wow. As a result, having shot the second Starcraft in 2010, it is accepted for the active development of Diablo III .
And two years later the long -awaited continuation comes out. And it turned out … strange. With a beautiful graphics and epic cats, we get a plot with self -reproaches, a bright color palette and a more casual gameplay, for new players. And such a diablo has a place to be, but there is nothing to catch hardcore fans here.
In defense of developers, we can say that they never worked in this genre.
The game may not be as good as many wanted. But I will say that everything could be worse.
12 years of expectations. Might and Magic 10 Legacy
Might and Magic is one of the oldest video game universes, the bright representative of which is the heroes of the sword and magic. However, it all started with Might and Magic RPG games (1986), created by New World Computing. It, in turn, in 1996 bought The 3Do Company, known for its failed 3DO console.
In 2002, in parallel with the fourth part of the heroes, the ninth game of the main line is released. A good plot, good graphics, boring gameplay, bad balance, a small world and a large number of bugs did not help sales and assessments of the game.
Add to this the other failures of the publisher, who declared himself bankrupt in 2004.
The rights to the Universe acquired Ubisoft by publishing good games: Heroes of Might and Magic V (2006) and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (2006).
And so, in 2014 there is a soft restart/continuation of the series. Pleasant graphics, uncomplicated gameplay, an interesting combat system, a good plot with poor optimization. The game is not enough stars from the sky.
The efforts of new developers are visible, although not without problems. It was interesting to look at such a vision, but we did not see the continuation.
And the expectations were worth.
13 years of expectations. Syberia 3
The atmosphere of a fairy tale, amazing design, curious puzzles, interesting characters – this made the first two Syberia with cult games with good grades and sales. The final of the second part said that this is all.
But such success contributed to the discussion of the creation of a third part. To which the founding father of the series, Benois Sokal, immediately said that there would be no continuation, citing a logical conclusion.
In April 2009, Microïds President Emmanuel Olivier said that the company is ready to finance the game. However, in February 2011, Benois said that the development of the game did not begin due to insufficient financing. Therefore, at the end of 2012, Sokal signed a contract with Anuman Interactive to write the Syberia III script, after which the old team of developers is going together and begins to make a game.
And so, in 2017, the sequel is released and receives medium-native grades. The dead world, poor optimization, uncomfortable management and plot, which is quite logical, but is felt unnecessary after the end of the second part.
The game is not terrible, but did not live up to anyone else’s expectations.
And I agree that the expectations were not worth. (You can find out more about the series here)
13 years of expectations. Desperados 3
Helldorado: Conspiracy in 2007 completed the series from the point of view of all. The finished plot, hardcore complexity, the lack of new ideas and bugs that did not allow the game to pass normally.
Spellbound Entertainment lasted another thirteen years, releasing several passing games. And in 2012 she was sheltered. Atari first bought the rights to the series, and a year later, this Nordi bought them.
The official announcement of a full -fledged third part occurred in August 2018. The development was entrusted with Mimimi Games, which had previously released the Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (2016).
And after a few transfers, the tricel was released in 2020. High marks of players and critics were obtained for a beautiful schedule, thought out variable gameplay, reiglabiness, and the appearance of old and new characters. Yes, and returning to this world of the Wild West was pleasant.
I think many will agree that the expectations were worth.
15 years of expectations. Golden Ax: The Beast Rider
Everyone thought that in 1993 Golden Ax III buried the series. The crushing reviews of critics, the idiotic distribution of the game in North America through the failure Sega Channel, the degradation of the gameplay compared to the last part. The game was not terrible, but the lack of ideas was visible. As a result, the Sega scored on the series, except for the passing fighting game on Sega Saturn.
However, 12 years later, the development of a new large continuation begins for the seventh generation consoles, and a year later, the announcement occurs. The game receives a rating M due to priority and nudity, the main character will be Tyris Flair, the Amazon from the original. In parallel, developers talk about planned continuations.
Having suffered another two years, the players received a passing game. How would Secret Level do not try to refer to the past games of the series, they got a boring gameplay, meager Levl-design, a passing plot, disappointing battles with bosses. Despite the good style inspired by Conan Barbar, playing is not interesting. (You can find out more in the analysis of flights)
The expectations were not worth.
15 years of expectations. Duke Nukem Forever
3D Realms Duke Nukem 3D of 1996 is one of the best classic shooters in the manner of the original doom (1993). It contained a cool main character, interesting enemies, a variety of weapons, in a good way a trash plot and a large expanse for continuation.
Unfortunately, the development was delayed for a long 15 years, making a continuation of a household name in relation to other protracted creatures of games.
Over the years, five engines have changed, at least three prototypes were created, 3D Realms closed, the rights to DNF sailed from one publisher to another. Also courts, theories about the falsification of the game in 2009. All this did not accelerated the development.
Trailers of all prototypes Duke Nukem Forever
And in the end, 2K Games, who gave the development of Gearbox Software, found the right to play the game. Together in 2011, they made an official announcement of the new part on May 3 of the same year. True, the exit had to be postponed to June 10.
But the game came out and received crushing reviews from players and critics. Bad graphics, boring gameplay, a rejection of the ability to wear many weapons, fresh comments and jokes of the protagonist. The game even managed to blame sexism. And it seems that such a hero as Duke Nyukem simply cannot exist today, which is sad. Add low sales to this (almost 400 thousand copies in the first month), and we will not see new games about Duke.
The expectations of it were clearly not worth.
16 years of expectations. Age of Empires 4
The era of empires is one of the most famous RTS series. I, like many, spent a huge amount of time on the second part. Verified balance, pleasant graphics, campaign where you participate in historical events and help famous personalities. This made Age of Empires cult strategies, with high ratings and 2 million copies sold in three months. In parallel with this and the release of additions to Microsoft, she acquired a studio with all her games in 2001.
But after the release of a worthy third part in 2005 and the release of additions, Ensemble Studios took up Halo Wars developing. At the same time, Microsoft reports that after the release of the game, the studio will be dissolved due to economic reasons. The publisher did not deceive and closed Ensemble in 2009.
But what was the surprise when in 2017 the announcement of the fourth part occurred on Gamescom 2017. Microsoft promised to return the same Age of Empires, which we know so well and love.
And the developers from Relic Entertainment, known by the Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, did not disappoint. At the exit in 2021, we received a beautiful and worked out strategy. Yes, there are problems with the plot company and, in general, this is the second part with slightly redesigned and new gameplay features. However, this does not cancel the fact that the game came out excellent.
And I boldly declare that the expectations were worth it.
19 years of expectations. Rune 2
Rune published in 2000 was a solid game. Good graphics, not an intricate plot, a solid fighting. The game Human Head Studios left a positive impression after passing. However, all this did not help to sell the game with a large circulation.
But after 17 years of release of average games with low sales, the studio decided announced the continuation that no one asked for. With the support of Epic Games, and later Bethesda, the game somehow released in 2019 under the publishing house Ragnarok Game.
And Rune 2 turned out to be a completely passing game. Outdated graphics, poor optimization, bugs, boring gameplay, lack of a normal plot. Add to this the overall imperiality of the project on the release and get the crushing reviews of players and critics. The studio closed and the game failed in sales.
The expectations of it were clearly not worth.
19 years of expectations. Fear Effect Sedna
Fear Effect 2 of 2001 received high marks. An interesting plot, all the same good gameplay as in the previous part, reiglable increased and non -linearity appeared.
A year later, the trailer for the new part for the PlayStation 2 with the Inferno subtitle was shown on E3. However, in 2004, they officially announced the cancellation of the project due to the lack of interest of publishers. As a result, Kronos Digital Entertainment closed.
The same trailer
After 14 years, Fear Effect Sedna came out from SUSHEE developers who collected money for Kickstarter. Bad balance, bugs, not the best graphics. However, you can see the efforts of developers to make a good game. And returning to this world with old characters is pretty nice. The game caught his share of criticism and small sales.
I can only say that the expectations were not worth.
22 years of expectations. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
Games of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy on PlayStation 1, were exemplary platformers for their time. The third part, published in 1999, became the best in the series at the time of the release. High marks of players and critics, more than 3 million copies sold.
The continuation was inevitable. The two games on PlayStation 2 received mixed reviews. Scolded bugs and lack of new ideas. And maybe the sales were good, but they abandoned the idea of continuations. And the series fell into anabiosis.
Since 2011 there have been many rumors about revival. So far, at the PlayStation Experience exhibition on December 3, 2016, an official announcement of a collection of remasters of the first three games of the series released a year later.
And after shooting in the same 2018, the trilogy remaster, Toys for Bob took up the active development of a full -fledged fourth part of the famous series, making games after Crash Team Racing (1999) not canonical.
Having left in 2020, the game received high marks of players and critics. Stunning graphics, diverse gameplay, excellent levl-design, stylization of locations and a logical continuation of the plot. And most importantly – playing interestingly. The four challenges the most hardcore players and fans of the series. The developers reminded everyone how to do three -dimensional platformers, as they are talking about successful sales.
Whether we will see someday a continuation? Maybe.
In the meantime, I will say that so many years of expectations of the fourth part.
26 years of expectations. Wasteland 2
The first Wasteland of 1988 was an excellent, albeit outdated graphically by the game, inspired by Interplay and Black Isle to create Fallout. And despite good grades and sales, there was no continuation.
However, after the bankruptcy of InterPlay, Brian Fargo founded the Inxile Entertainment studio in 2003, bought out the rights to the EA series. And in 2007 he said:
“I really impatiently return the game that gave rise to the Fallout series. Stay with us … “
Brian Fargo
Then I gathered key members of the developers of the first Wasteland.
Together they started raising funds using Kickstarter in 2012. Over 3 million dollars were raised in 4 days. Active development has begun on the Unity engine, promises to let the game on all platforms and many languages.
And two years later, the continuation finally came out and received generally high marks. The game has not become a breakthrough in the genre, but this is a pretty good game. A good plot, solid graphics, non -linearity, reigree, cool atmosphere and good music, albeit not the best performance.
All this did not give large sales, which did not stop the studio from starting to make a tricel. Which came out after another six years. He also did not fall into the mud. And it’s nice to see that solid RPG still leave and find their audience.
Well, I will tell the second part that so many years of expectations were worth it.
26 years of expectations. Streets of Rage 4
Streets of Rage 3 in 1994 took a series to a sort of dead end. The game was not bad, but the lack of new ideas was evident. After that, the series went to anabiosis for several years.
There was an attempt to revive the series on Sega Saturn, but in the end the game moved away from the usual gameplay, moving to the full 3D with the new name: Dynamite Deka, which eventually is not part of the series.
Later, a prototype of a full -fledged fourth part was developed at Sega Dreamcast, the gameplay of which can be found on YouTube. Sega was not impressed and did not give a green light to the project.
One of the short excerpts of the prototype for Sega DreamCast. There are five of them on YouTube
But a few years later, in 2012, Ruffian Games presented the video of its prototype of the game, but the investor could not be found then.
Gameplay of this prototype
“Here you have a little gameplay of the playable prototype Streets of Rage. We created it very quickly, and at that time the game was at the stage of the pre-Perm (a lot of pre-prait) alpha testing, but even this did not prevent her from being just charming. So what is the story lies behind this video? Like most developers, we had a huge number of all kinds of gaming prototypes that we did not show the public. Some prototypes were better, some are worse, and with some of them we had to say goodbye.”
Ruffian Games
Then, after another five years. Lizardcube artist Ben Fica wanted to make a remaster of the original Streets of Rage games using the same methods that were used during the Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap remake . However, the programmer of the game, Omar Cornet, said that making the new Street of Rage will be much more interesting, so Fica and publisher Dotemu turned to Sega with a proposal to create a full -fledged continuation of the series, to which she agreed. And the production of the game began in 2018 by two studios: Guard Crush Games and Lizardcube.
And after a little announcement, the game was released in April 2020. The game was praised by players and critics for a beautiful picture, amazing animations, worked out and refreshed gameplay and respectful attitude to original games.
The developers reminded everyone how to make Beat ‘Em Up, without going to extremes.
I think that sales of more than 2.5 million copies say that expectations were worth it.
30 years of expectations. The Bard’s Tale IV: Barrows Deep
And the largest gap between the parts belongs to Inxile Entertainment, which in 2018 released a full -fledged fourth part of The Bard’s Tale 30 years after the third part.
The first three games of the series developed by InterPlay are religious RPG with great influence on the genre and industry. The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate received positive reviews and good sales, but the series father, Michael Kranford, did not participate in the creation. And the publisher – EA, who were not interested in continuing. InterPlay, as a developer, could not do anything and went to develop other projects. I have already told their further fate.
However, it is worth mentioning that in 2004 a full-fledged game of the series was released, which was not connected with the trilogy from the 80s. She tried to make fun of the Fantasy-RPG genre, modernizing the gameplay. Although players and critics praised the game, sales left much to be desired due to poor marketing by EA.
After 11 years, Brian Fargo announces the development of a full -fledged fourth part, a real receiver of the great series. The game collects the required amount in 12 days, the developers are armed with Unreal Engine 4 and ..
And the game is released in September 2018. And how sad it is that the fourth is a passing and outdated game. No one was waiting for a breakthrough in the genre, but when a game with amazing music, a good fighting and a great visual, is absolutely broken on a release with a passing plot and the absence of any noticeable gameplay changes in 30 years. It becomes sad for the whole legacy that the first three parts were left behind.
Unfortunately, the expectations were not worth.
Afterword
Fuh. It was … interesting. As we can observe, the desire to make continued mainly is the desire to make money on the name and legacy of the past. Fortunately, this applies not to all games. And sometimes making a sequel is already a desire to make a good game or realize your own ideas into reality.
I hope that the upcoming loud return of the same stalker or the gate of Baldur will justify themselves and we will get good games.
In the meantime, write comments with what you do not agree, what continuations I missed and where you made mistakes. Thank you all for your attention.
P. WITH. I apologize for not the best blog cover. I tried to do something more or less acceptable, but I have a little hand from the ass t _ t