Video games get sequels all the time if they get big. Some of them saturate the hype and brand identity of an IP by making too many sequels, while the rest of them meticulously work on making the best follow-up game that far surpasses the previous entries.
In the list below, we will be taking a look at a few of these types of video game sequels that have made their mark in history as some of the best follow-up titles ever.
Best Video Game Sequels
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 was such a revolutionary sequel to the popular single-player FPS from Valve that it completely discouraged them from moving forward with the next entry that would continue the story.
Half-Life was a game that showed up at a time when video games needed to evolve out of the structures of progression through levels and boss fights, something that had been the norm for ages.
This franchise placed the first few stepping stones in what would become the seamless immersive sim genre, with storytelling and cutscenes blending into the atmosphere. Half-Life 2 was built further on the ideas and became the pinnacle of first-person shooters back in the day.
Silent Hill 2
There are only a few video game franchises that have been super influential to the horror game sub-genre, as most contemporaries still chase the ideas that they once invented. One of them is the Silent Hill series, which was developed by Konami for the original PlayStation.
It’s hard to think how that game was able to create a horror atmosphere on limited hardware. But the genius of relying on fading environments eventually became the hallmark trait of the franchise.
Silent Hill 2 on the PlayStation 2 took the established ideas of this incredible game design and used its development time to focus on storytelling. What we eventually got was one of the biggest survival horror media ever conceived.
Street Fighter 2
It does not really register in everyone’s mind that the iconic Street Fighter that everyone remembers so well is actually a sequel to an old arcade classic. It’s hilarious to see people find out about the original game, which did not really age well.
Street Fighter 1 was a very experimental title for the arcades, introducing direct player vs player combat to a lot of people. The sequel far eclipsed anything ever conceived in gaming back in the day.
Till this day, Street Fighter 2 is considered one of the most important video games ever created, for multiple reasons. Including the invention of combos and the original idea of an esports tournament between players.
Batman Arkham City
In 2009, developer Rocksteady Studios created one of the most generation super hero video games of all time. This was Batman: Arkham Asylum, which far outclassed the type of movie-tie-in superhero video games the fans have been getting all those years.
Prior to that, Spider-Man was the only superhero IP to receive some of the most influential video games. Batman’s Arkham series disrupted things further when the sequel came out. Arkham City decided to tackle and open world approach to the Dark Knight’s gameplan.
Allowing players to step into the shoes of multiple other Gotham heroes. Batman: Arkham City is most definitely the most influential sequel of all time.
Spider-Man 2
We would like to clarify that when we mention Spider-Man 2, the video game, we are especially talking about the PlayStation 2 game, which is based on the movie starring Tobey Maguire. The second Spider-Man movie game was developed by Treyarch Corporation.
This is the game that invented the very philosophy behind how a Spider-Man game should feel. Which is an unprecedented freedom in air mobility through web swinging. 3D Spider-Man games prior to this had a very automated feel to webswinging, not completely capturing the fun behind it.
Insomniac Games, the developers of the hit Marvel’s Spider-Man, have also deliberately pointed out how much the PlayStation 2 game was influential in designing the webswinging for the modern titles.
Assassin’s Creed 2
When Ubisoft moved away from The Prince of Persia franchise to focus on Assassin’s Creed, it was really heartbreaking for a lot of fans. But by the second entry, this new stealth action game series became one of the best-selling franchises for Ubisoft.
Assassin’s Creed 2 gave us the story of Ezio Auditore, a character who went down in the history of the series as one of the best protagonists. The franchise is now fumbling to chase the same kind of glory with its modern games, and things are looking dire.
Halo 2
The original Halo was one of the most influential first-person shooters that shaped the image of the Xbox. Things were only supposed to look brighter for the franchise from this point onwards, but Bungie made sure to knock it out of the park.
Halo 2 became not only one of the best first-person shooters of all time, but also one of the best video games ever made. It was also a title that was at the precipice of when video games were entering the online multiplayer era with Xbox Live.
The dual narrative storytelling of Master Chief and The Arbiter is also one of the greatest things ever created in video games, which sums up one of the best Halo sagas of all time.
