Serena Chong
The concept of sequels in video games have been around for a while now. I mean, just take a look at Mario, after becoming a brand, it has released dozens of games that work on the same basic principles that made the original game a success. But let’s face it, pulling off a better sequel is a tough gig and even the biggest gaming franchises fall victim to the “franchise fatigue”.
But what differentiates a good sequel from a bad one?
Sticking to the Roots
One thing that is essential in making a sequel is that it needs to follow the same set of principles that made the original game so popular. Now, if the original title didn’t actually have a narrative-driven story behind it, like in an FPS game, CSGO for instance, then you can get away by introducing a bunch of new characters, better graphics and of course the iconic csgo skins.
But things get way more complex with narrative-driven story games, because the game needs to have some sort of connection with the original title or the predecessor, otherwise what’s the point of making a sequel that doesn’t follow up on the story that was left behind.
There are a ton of great examples of how developers perfectly pulled off the sequel game. For instance, Mass Effect 2 takes the original title and continues to build up on that, improving each and every aspect of the game, be it improving the visuals, or introducing more characters and taking into account the narrative that the original title followed.
However, the example of Runescape transition from Old School to the newest one, didn’t go that well, with players sticking to OSRS since it’s more enjoyable and there’s still a huge demand on OSRS Gold and it’s way more expensive compared to RS3 Gold.
Then, there’s games like World of Warcraft that need to provide constant content for players to keep hooked to the game. The game had and still pushes out various expansions for the gamers to enjoy, the most recent is WoW Classic’s expansion “The Burning Crusade”, where the players are in high need of Cataclysm Gold in order to get the best gear possible and do well in the raids.
The Increasing Expectations
If you are a franchise, releasing sequels back to back, it only gets more difficult. The better a sequel gets, the more a player demands from the next one and so on. Just take EA’s most famous sports game series for example, it’s been decades since EA has been releasing new sequels every year for FIFA that is the same concept every time with minor changes, players are still farming FIFA Coins all over every year and building new near similar teams every time and guess what, players are getting enraged at the same repetitive content over and over again.
But franchises like Pokemon are nailing it for decades without fail and that is because the sequels stay loyal to the original title. The game innovates, sure, but it uses the same success formula that has made the franchise so popular and loved by millions of players around the world.
