It always hurts when fan favorite game franchises die out, but it hurts extra bad when they go out with a whimper and not a bang. Some of these games die abruptly in the middle of their sequels, while some just vanish into thin air.
In the list below, we shall be taking a look at some of the fan-favorite game series that have been lost to time, silently assassinated.
Fan Favorite Video Game Franchises That Silently Died
Prototype
The current generation of AAA gaming has us swimming in a sea of third-person action-adventure games. Titles that have incredible cinematics, mobility, and action. Things that were rarely seen a few decades ago. Except one title did stand out, and that is the now-defunct Radical Entertainment’s Prototype.
It is quite unfortunate that we never got a third entry in this franchise, making it die with a whimper after the second game. Especially considering games such as Marvel’s Spider-Man are ever popular at this moment, a new Prototype would have definitely banged.
Infamous
Speaking of Marvel’s Spider-Man and other such third-person action-adventure games, we cannot forget about the Infamous franchise. The situation with it is even more unfortunate than Prototype.
This is because even though the other game has had its studios shut down, the Infamous series was developed by Sucker Punch Productions, and they are still around, making Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei.
It seems like this franchise will stay dead for the foreseeable future, with Sony fully leaning on developing more Marvel superhero games.
Darkstalkers
There is a whole history of Capcom franchises out there that are fan favorites but will possibly never see the light of day. The one that comes to mind immediately is Darkstalkers, which was a quintessential landmark in the fighting game genre.
The game is almost magical in a way that Capcom developers were able to conjure it right after the original Street Fighter 2, which was equally groundbreaking. But alas, it has been long since we saw a new entry from the franchise. It can pretty much be deemed the franchise died with a whimper.
Jak & Daxter
Once upon a time, PlayStation used to measure up to Nintendo with whimsical platformers. A lot of which have gotten new entries or remasters, except for one, which is the Jak & Daxter series.
Most who joined the console gaming fray after the seventh generation remember the developer Naughty Dog, which created the Last of Us franchise. It has now become one of the most important pieces of gaming history.
But people do not know that it is the same studio behind the Jak & Daxter series. It is almost sad how this franchise has been lost to time since the PlayStation 2 era.
Castlevania
In this era of AAA video games, it’s surprising to find that 2D side-scrolling games still thrive, especially through the Metroidvania sub-genre. But if you are not aware, you might be surprised to find that one of the video game series that pioneered the evolution of this type of game is pretty much lost to time.
We are, of course, talking about the Castlevania series from Konami. This franchise ascended to new heights with the help of Koji Igarashi. But unfortunately, it died with a whimper after the director had disagreements with Konami and left.
One can say that the spirit of Castlevania games is still survived in the Bloodstained games, but it’s not what we are here for. Castlevania later had a transitional period under a new direction and tried the hack-and-slash action game route, but it didn’t really reach new heights.
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
The death of the Legacy of Kain franchise has to be the most heartbreaking one out of all the games in this list. The developers did not even get to completely tell the story of Raziel and bring a conclusion to the franchise.
For those too young to remember, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is an action game series under the Legacy of Kain umbrella franchise. These games tell the intriguing tale of a Vampire lieutenant who is betrayed and killed by his own lord.
He is revived as a soul reaver and now seeks answers to his current situation. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver games recently got a remastered release for modern consoles, which is pretty much like a bit of sunshine peeking behind clouds.
Dino Crisis
We are back with another dead Capcom franchise, this one especially confuses us, because the current state of gaming is perfect to bring this franchise back. Dino Crisis is pretty much Capcom’s take on the survival horror genre with dinosaurs.
Coming from the masters who pioneered modern 3D horror games with Resident Evil, and are still going strong with new entries, it frankly baffles us as we scramble to answer the lingering question of ‘how has there not been a new Dino Crisis yet?’
Tenchu
Before FromSoftware became one of the most important developers in the modern video game industry, influencing a whole new sub-genre called ‘souls like’, they had some of the most experimental games out there.
One of these is Tenchu, a stealth-action ninja game franchise that introduced groundbreaking systems even with the limited hardware of PlayStation 1. One fun fact about this franchise is that it was about to be revived until it wasn’t.
Because the new ideas surrounding another entry eventually channeled into a fresh and original IP that also won a Game Of The Year award. We are obviously talking about Sekiro, but besides that, we hope plans for a new entry in the Tenchu series are still in the cards.
Shadow Hearts
PlayStation 2 was an incredible era for turn-based RPGs. We saw the Japanese games transition from small 2D sprites in the previous console generation to full-fledged cinematic 3D cutscenes that blew our minds.
But we also lost several JRPG franchises by the time we reached the present era of console gaming. We can point our fingers at a lot of games, but one that we believe deserves our attention is the Shadow Hearts series. Because it died with a whimper, and it deserved to go away with a bang.
Although all hope is not lost, the creators of this franchise have a successor series in development, titled Penny Blood. But unfortunately, they have been unable to procure a publisher for it yet.
Ridge Racer
We have talked about RPGs, metroidvanias, and pretty much all the super-popular single-player video game genres under the sun that have lost some game franchises to time. Now it’s time to bring up another one that’s a bit less talked about, and it’s the arcade racer genre.
In the current era of gaming, the racing genre is just filled with realistic sim racers. It’s a shame that we have lost almost all traces of the glorious arcade racers. The biggest loss is Bandai Namco Entertainment’s amazing Ridge Racer franchise getting lost in time.
Ridge Racer was a household name on consoles, not just because of the hilarious meme, but also because it defined the vibe of the entire genre with its incredible UI, the music, and Reiko Nagase.
