When I say re-visited, I don’t mean given a make-over and released in some HD collection, or relaunched as a remastered game of the year edition - I actually want more. A new sequel, or even a reboot, I want something fresh to the series. I loved these games so much that I’d love to see them return. So here’s my top ten gaming franchises I’d like to see re-visited.
10. Half-Life
Half-Life just had to appear in this list, but to be honest I’m getting sick of the “will they, won’t they” state of limbo we’ve been left in. I believe the series is far too popular for it not to have a come back at some point, but I’m getting tired of hearing all of the rumours in the mean time.
9. Ōkami
Ōkami is one of the most unique and beautiful games I have ever played. It was originally released for the PlayStation 2, however, the idea to port it over to the Wii was a stroke of pure genius. The way the Wii remote worked with the game play really showcased the motion controls of the Wii. Ōkami was also remastered for the PlayStation 3 and worked equally well with the Move peripherals. There was also a sequel that released for the Nintendo DS, Ōkamiden, but unfortunately this release seemed to fly under the radar for most gamers. I really hope that Ōkami makes a comeback, just think how visually stunning it could be on the PlayStation 4.
8. Catherine
Bizarre, challenging, and absolutely hilarious,
Catherine is one of the few games in my collection that always garners odd looks from my friends. Even more so when I attempt to explain it to them. Almost like a dating sim gone wrong,
Catherine was nothing like I had expected when I purchased it, but everything I wanted from a game. It was funny, it had choices and multiple endings, it had an amazing range of characters, and most of all, it was bloody hard. As far as the story goes, I’m not sure that a sequel could live up to the original; part of the mystery was unravelling the reason behind your sheep infested dreams, so a sequel would have to bring something new to the table. Not only that but the characters all have their issues resolved within the game, So I don’t think re-visiting Vincent and company would really net us any kind of interesting plot. John Harding of Atlus acknowledged the same issue in response to a fan on the
PlayStation blog back in 2013, stating:
There’s nothing planned, and I don’t think the game’s endings set it up for any kind of sequel (maybe it’d have to be a prequel or spirtual successor kind of thing?) but yeah, it’s awesome and totally would be cool.
7. Katamari
I actually experienced the Katamari craze later than most, having first experienced it with Beautiful Katamari. Of course, that didn’t stop me from going back and appreciating its other titles, not to mention I bought a PlayStation Vita for the sole reason of wanting to play Touch My Katamari. This franchise is almost as crazy as Catherine, and almost as difficult in terms of challenging game play too. There’s just some about bizarre and difficult puzzle games that just appeals to me. I’d love to see a Katamari game launch for the new generation of consoles, as much I’d be tempted to play a Kinect version for Xbox One, which I imagine could be really exhausting, I think the Katamari franchise is firmly based in the Sony camp now. Either way, I want more Katamari in my life.
6. Ni No Kuni
I really hope this isn’t one of those awesome gaming gems that everybody loved, but for reason was never re-visited. Studio Ghibli is one of the greatest companies ever, the idea of utilising the awesome animation of Ghibli in a game was simply brilliant. It had all the perfect elements of a Ghibli film, yet they were created in a JRPG world that featured some western RPG staples too. Ni No Kuni was very unique and highly addictive, of course it was incredibly popular and won many awards.
5. Fallout
The Fallout franchise just had to appear in this list somewhere. Like Half-Life, it’s one of those franchises that is always surrounded in rumours about “the next game in the series” but generally they remain as nothing more than hearsay. We all expect to see another Fallout title at some point, there have been a few confirmation that another will be made, yet there’s no solid news on when we’ll actually see it appearing.
4. Monkey Island
Monkey Island has had its fair share of sequels and has even seen some remastered versions too. It’s been one of the luckier LucasArts games when you consider that
Grim Fandango and
Day of the Tentacle have had to wait until now to see the love again. The series has a special place in my heart as
The Secret of Monkey Island was one of the first games I ever played. I’m greedy for more
Monkey Island, with Disney now owning the rights to the series, is it possible we’ll see another
Monkey Island game on the horizon? Back in December of 2012,
Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert told
Eurogamer that he would contact Disney at some point about the rights to the franchise, so I’ve got my fingers crossed they work something out.
3. Viva Piñata
I’m twenty-six years of age and I love games that are generally aimed at children. Now that’s out of the way, I can express my frustration that Rare hasn’t returned to this awesome franchise. There have been a few times where I think a new Viva Piñata game would have been successful, such as when the Xbox 360 and Kinect were at a high as I think a Kinect based Viva Piñata would have worked really well. Also, I’m kind of surprised that nothing has appeared for the Xbox One yet. It was nice to see family friendly titles such as Zoo Tycoon re-imagined, but come on, give us the piñatas already. I’ve played all the Viva Piñata games to death, they’re just crazy, simple, but totally entertaining and I need a new fix. Some new piñata animal types wouldn’t go amiss either.
2. Monster Rancher
The 1990’s were full of TV series and games that revolved around battling and raising monsters. Pokémon was at an all time high, yet it wasn’t the only monster-battling title on my game shelf at the time. As much as I love Pokémon, if you offered me a decent sequel to Monster Rancher over the next Pokémon title, I’d pick Monster Rancher every time. Bear in mind, I said “decent”. You see Monster Rancher, or Monster Rancher 2 as it was known as in America, has had a few sequels in its time, however, I didn’t enjoy any of them nearly as much as the original. Most recently, there was a Monster Rancher game released for the Nintendo DS a good few years back, but I really didn’t rate it highly. I’d love to see a sequel launch for PlayStation 4 that incorporated the creation/summoning of monsters from other discs and returned to form.
1. The Wolf Among Us
The Wolf Among Us was one of those games where you just can’t get enough of it. After playing, I immediately indulged in buying many of the Fables graphic novels that the game was based upon and my addiction to this fictional world is still going strong. Telltale Games recently tweeted about The Wolf Among Us, leading many fans to believe that a second season is on its way. This episodic point and click graphic adventure was definitely popular and it won a fair few awards, so I’ll be really surprised if Telltale don’t revisit this franchise. I’ll also be tearing my hair out if I don’t see a second season within 2015.
Well, those were my choices, but what about yours? Which games would you like to see re-visited, or are you done with your favourite franchises and wish companies would focus on new IPs? Let us know in the comments below.
Meg appreciates gaming on all formats, but primarily spends her time achievement hunting to the extreme. Her passion for gaming began as a child, when first introduced to the Amstrad. A collector of gaming consoles past and present, Meg spends as much of her time rediscovering old classics as she does playing the latest releases.
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