10 Games That Died Trying to EXPAND Their Audience

[@moonknight6088]

The Saints Row reboot didn't try to expand its audience, it tried to replace them. They just forgot about everyone that loved the first few games and had no interest in luring back the original fans.

[@ramonosuke]

^^^100% this. They literally gave the original fans the finger.

[@MonkeyDBuild]

@@ramonosuke remember the "haters gonna hate" tweet? It was disgusting what those new devs tried to do with the franchise. It backfired horribly and I'm glad. Hope some other studio or someone buys up the IP or something!

[@silverblade357]

Yup. They openly resented the irreverent edge present in the original games. This is like replacing South Park with Amy Schummer. They tried to replace over-the-top crass humor with entry-level social commentary. Pitiful.

[@schalitz1]

Exactly Gameranx's take wasn't the best on Saints row. They got rid of everything that made them great and tried to appeal to Twitter, and it blew up in their faces.

[@720_dhanushd2]

I actually love the core of the idea, trying to do a parody of Twitter and current culture stuff with the standard edginess and over the topness of old Saints Row would have been an amazing idea but they fumbled the execution so hard

[@TheRealMightyHokie]

I played the original thief on the PC. The one that was co-written by Ken Levine. It was a flipping masterpiece of anxiety. Whenever you would creep up on a guard and he would seem startled your heart would stop. He would blame the rats and go back to his thing. But, the biggest scare I ever had in any video game happened in Thief. At one point you're trying to enter a castle by going through the basement of a building. At this point it had been pretty much a fairly realistic game. Grounded in reality I'll say. I was getting close to where I needed to be and I heard some scuddling. I was like what in the hell is that? I started to climb up a window to ground level and there was a Doberman Pinscher sized spider. I'm sure I screamed. That damn thing chased me and chased me! It creeped me out so bad that I can barely keep my legs under my desk I was afraid a spider would get me. Haha. Classic.

[@toh6261]

The first 2 Thief games were amazing. For some reason, they could never duplicate them.

[@Deasty]

Always loved that series ngl. Shame that Thief 4 isn't as good as all the previous ones, it's not a bad game but it just feels different in a bad way. The Moira asylum was great though, I was legit terrified when playing in there TwT

[@sadscientisthououinkyouma1867]

The old thief games might have looked like shit even for their era, but as anyone who played them can attest high quality sound and fantastic sound design is far more atmospheric than any graphics could ever be. Thief is still one of the most terrifying games in existence, and that can all be traced back to its sound design.

[@nispelsm]

The Shalebridge Cradle mission from Thief Deadly Shadows was the absolute pinnacle of tension for the series. Between the bleak corridors, the creepy soundscape (play this with surround sound on, I dare you!), and uncovering the history of the place .. the first time I encountered one of the "inmates" I dang near fell backwards out of my seat. Best. mission. Ever!

[@gabrielmartinez9646]

Xz,z,h c, 😊

[@NightWatchGaming47]

Part of the reason Saints Row failed so badly was because they removed a lot of the crassness of the series' past and tried to water it all down. You essentially had characters who were supposed to be in a street gang but with the appearance and mannerisms of baristas.

[@eightlights4939]

When liberalism invades art and entertainment it ruins them, just like it ruins real life as well

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

“Do you like waffles?” Because all gangs eat waffles in the morning!

[@blueninjanoname7338]

That's what happens when writers spend too much time on twitter and in Starbucks.

[@MannyParadisee]

@@blueninjanoname7338accurate

[@ToaKoran]

The writing and scene composition for this game were like a shitty sitcom, every possible aspect was handled poorly with characters that are beyond forgettable. Everything that made Saint's Row great and fun is absent from this installment. The visuals were also terrible in many aspects, as well, which was just the rancid icing on top of a shit cake. That "cat" is the shining example.

[@klittle5627]

I think you had an elephant in the room moment with Saints Row 2022. The two biggest things that killed were: 1) it was a buggy mess and, 2) it was "updated for modern audiences."

[@AJ-dx6bn]

Oh yeah those modern audience with their rainbow brains

[@rustlerv6549]

​@@AJ-dx6bn"modern audiences" = social justice warrior hipsters at the starbucks who only play video games because it's the "current thing"

[@blueninjanoname7338]

Yeah, imagine making a "gang" of uni students. Beyond out of touch.

[@dcpunisher4781]

The kind of "Modern" audiences that don't buy anything, just REE and complain on the internet about everything, never leave home yet they always complain about their parents...oh and of course they don't know what Bathroom they belong to.

[@MrJaces]

Who's to say GTA6 won't go the same way? I'm scared 5 was the last of an era of idgaf.

[@SipRodgers]

Saints Row is actually insane, as a 12 year old they got me to care about Johnny Gat, Carlos, Shandi, and “The Boss”. And with literally badass cut scenes, the ronin cutscenes are some of the best from the 360 / PS4 era. Saints Row 1-3 are amazing games.. and everyone should go back and play Saints Row 2.

[@Gnidel]

The continuity and returning characters made the series greater than a sum of its parts.

[@SleepyMatt-zzz]

A couple years ago I hyped myself up because I bought Saints Row 2 on Steam, and oh boy, did I have some rose tinted glasses on. The game has not aged as well as I thought 😅

[@sapphyrus]

I gave SR2 a try after loving SR3 and it was a mistake. Both are completely irrelevant games except sharing some characters.

[@Kagetora-]

Saints Row 4 was decent imo.

[@TheWOLVRINE616]

Saints row 2 is definitely peak saints row But saints row 3 & 4 are fun

[@7Saints78]

With all the mistakes EA makes, it is sometimes hard to understand how it is still one of the biggest game development companies.

[@arbitrary_thoughts]

It has many big and popular IPs, unfortunately.

[@misterinkeduk]

It's because of the soccer games and the other sports games but I completely agree with you and can't understand how they're so big either.... Especially after the loot box saga and Anthem

[@DrOoLeR11]

Yea EA sits on a fat pile of money every year from fifa and madden

[@Lol_Pig]

A big chunk of their profit comes from the yearly sports games, which are clones of the previous ones, but people still buy 'em

[@turbo8628]

FIFA is an absolute cash cow of annual releases on every platform with microtransactions and no rival to speak of.

[@TihetrisWeathersby]

Saints Row is the saddest example of this, Saints Row 1 & 2 were majestic but they just tried to hard to appeal to different audiences

[@PublicEnemyMinusOne]

Saints Row turned into a looney toons sketch.

[@corvega_joe]

It’s what happens when you try to appeal to the blue haired creeps on Twitter. These idiot companies don’t seem to realize that the Twitter losers they try so hard to appease don’t buy their games, their comics, their figures, etc because these losers don’t have jobs.

[@jacobgreaf2481]

I only played SR 3 and 4. Honestly, I liked that it was a GTA clone that had its own thing going, and that thing was taking that formula and making it ridiculous, instead of trying to beat rockstar at their own game. SR4 is an incredible superhero sandbox game. i kinda miss playing it sometimes.

[@Lobstersarefabulouz]

Never played 1 and 2. I did really like the third one. But the 4th one lost me

[@Poopmyjorts]

Saints row 3 was awesome. Didn’t try to be a gta clone and was just fun in general. 4 was where it started going too far, and the latest one is just a garbage fire

[@drewdawson2275]

Man, the 2008 Turok Game was one of my favorites back in the day. To be fair, it was my very first time playing any of the games, but the intro and your first introduction to a dinosaur was so memorable for me. I've always wanted them to make a Turok game for next-gen consoles so they could really do it right.

[@ThatGirlMintz]

God I remember that and halo 3 were the first games I had for my 360 😂 I still play Halo MCC every day

[@SAVANTI711]

It's Great.

[@handdrawnbink]

As a fan of the original Turok comics and games, I honestly thought the 2008 Turok game was quite a novel departure from what we'd seen before, and honestly the games before had pushed the story into a place where it could easily become convoluted. The 2008 game isn't the greatest thing since bread, but it really doesn't deserve the hate or comparison it got. The Dinosaurs are cool, it's cinematic and immersive and even Ron Perlman chews up most of the scenery. Deserving of reboot, it's such a great franchise

[@toshiroyamada2443]

I grew up on Turok: Rage Wars and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil

[@anarcho262]

I really liked the 2008 Turok, never beated that endboss. Was super hard. I loved how the corpses where still kicking after being stabbed or something. Never saw that in any other game. Watching the last breath of a dinosaur was satisfying.

[@bluemoonflame342]

Feel like Mass Effect Andromeda falls into this category as well. I know plenty of people who played it, but it pretty much never got brought up in conversations even when it was newly out, and the series has just kind of gone into hibernation since.

[@craigmurray4746]

From a technical point of view, Andromeda had a lot to offer compared to the trilogy, bugs notwithstanding. In my view the problem is that it was just a bit too big, open world and unfocused compared to the trilogy, so some of that magic feeling wasn't there. Seriously hoping the next game in development is a return to form, but I think that is still a while away sadly.

[@TheMastiffprince]

Mass effect 2 was genius and brilliant from start to finish. Andromeda was a big disappointing flop.

[@ThisAinThatMetro]

I seethe when people talk bad on this game maybe I’m biased because I played it after the trilogy came out but I had no technical issues the combat was an adaptation but a well aged one. The potential with world building even tho a lot of choices felt pointless I’m sure it was because they had plans for a sequel. And I hope they add some elements in ME4 maybe Ryder comes to the aid at the end of its big ending battle. Loved the design of the kett and their ships and the ending twist was pretty massive with a cliffhanger of the (spoiler) Jaardan.

[@jonmckeever]

​@TheMastiffprince 2 is actually my leaat favorite of the series. That's saying something considering the hatchet job they did with the ending of 3. I just despised the switch to mission based play and how they abandoned (and then later mocked) their own lore surrounding the weapons system, scrapping heat for ammo.

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

@@craigmurray4746it literally has nothing memorable about it. I don’t remember a single character in the game honestly. The gameplay was good but the story and world were so blah.

[@Sluggernaut]

The big thing about SimCity was that, as a game, it was very good. The real issue that burned everyone was that Pirates could play the game properly, offline, no queues and not lose their save. Paying customers had their saves, that were stored online, corrupted and unrecoverable. This is the worst possible outcome, imo, for the game.

[@The13thRonin]

I think you have formed a critical misunderstanding. SimCity was not supposed to be a game. SimCity was was supposed to be a money printer for EA. Please stop expecting trip A publishers to create a game for you... They never have and never will.

[@Doomerang01]

@@The13thRonin He isn't though. He's saying the gameplay itself is good (as in the developers made a good game, not the publishers). All the issues he pointed out were caused by publisher-based decisions, not developer, so he's actually pointing out how the publisher screwed the game over.

[@The13thRonin]

@@Doomerang01 You are too naive son.

[@ilia-el6yx]

I think the 'Driver' franchise should be on the list too. This franchise was amazing, the car physics, the graphics to some extends, and the story. I really miss the series.

[@SAVANTI711]

Driver wasn't the problem tho, The Crew was.

[@Stop_arguing_with_strangers]

Driver San Francisco was one of my favorite games as a kid. Played the shit out of it

[@TheMalMeninga]

Driv3r and Parallel Lines really ruined that series. Driver: San Francisco was great, and a return to form, I love that game. I don't think it sold enough to keep the series afloat sadly.

[@dbm1184]

Yesssss, diver 3 sucked I love parallel lines and San Francisco was okay

[@SAVANTI711]

@@TheMalMeninga You're high. Driver 3 was great and so was Parallel Lines. Both have incredible stories. Sure Driv3r was a bit Buggy was still fun as hell and Parallel Lines was just awesome.

[@erdemalegoz1816]

Gameranx documents game history better than most video game documentaries

[@ThePhoenixScribe]

I actually highly recommend Matt McMuscles "Wha Happun?" series if anyone is interested in learning about the development of some of the games on this list. They're very entertaining vids. :)

[@TheKotor2309]

Noclip is the king.

[@nicklj2480]

I really like the documentaries by GVMERS

[@kalanikeh4527]

@@ThePhoenixScribe i miss matt and patt

[@jthornton4460]

​@nicklj2480 hell yeah, came to say the same 🤘🏽

[@nebula0024]

Thief is absolutely one of my favorite series of all time. I truly hope we get a new and worthy Thief game at some point in the future.

[@FightYourCouch]

I will say Dishonored 2 without powers was the closest I've gotten to the "Thief" feeling. Not the same, but it's a good honorable mention imo.

[@guily6669]

@@FightYourCouch I also totally liked Dishonored series and finished them all, but can't say I'm a fan of Arkane Studios latest games, I preferred Dishonored... Thief was a pretty advanced game for when it came out too and with damn good looking visuals with crazy shadows for back then. I actually finished the latests Thief and dlc or some crap and actually liked it, but can't say I'm the hugest kind of fan of it, I also prefer Dishonored kind of game to Thief...

[@werdle92]

Thief deadly shadows was cool

[@Foun_D_OnePiece]

​@@FightYourCouchsame for the game Prey but instead of stealth you just gotta be aware of your surroundings because those little aliens can be a coffee mug waiting to attack you.

[@Cookk39]

Same here man

[@megamaggotmrh9085]

I actually really liked the 2008 Turok game. It wasn't Turok, but it was fun. The multiplayer was really fun. Years down the line, I actually met a dev of the game. We were talking about games we enjoyed even though others hated it. I told him I really liked Turok and he ended up showing me some of the stuff he still had from the development days (including his pre release employee test copy) and he told me stories about the development. Apparently there was a lot of butting heads between Devs and Disney. The more they butted heads, the less creative freedom Disney allowed them.

[@lordhawkridge4116]

I had Turok in the metal case for 360, I loved that game but also I wasn't quite old enough to remember the earlier Turok titles so that might have skewed my perspective

[@m1c1n83]

I feel the same way. I rly loved turok and still play it sometimes to this day

[@quigonnjinn4747]

@@lordhawkridge4116

[@quigonnjinn4747]

l

[@lordhawkridge4116]

@@quigonnjinn4747 thank you Qui Gonn Jinn, I feel your response through The Force

[@usov656]

Its kinda crazy how many companies try the whole "appeal to a larger audience" thing despite it literally bring a gambit that can easily ruin your product, because you risk both alienating the established fanbase for a small chance of getting more fans. Its like one of those claw machines, you throw away money you already have for a small chance of winning prizes which are unlikely to make up for your lost money.

[@CrimsonFIame]

The battlefield one hurt. I don't expect gamers to understand that there's no such thing as a game that's for everyone. I did atleast expect devs to understand this.

[@halojeff1]

i think games, movies, consumer products, etc. try to follow the trends because they're trying to continue that unsustainable growth by capturing other audiences ignoring their core player/viewer base and that's what eventually leads to the collapse of these franchises.

[@mgiebus1869]

What I don't get is why they decided to try to be COD. They were light-years ahead as far as sim like balance and the environment. I stopped playing at 3

[@thelastpersononearth9765]

​@@mgiebus1869Bf4 and especially 1 were great too.

[@xbon1]

@@mgiebus1869lol no. Last good bf game was bc2 then they went back on all the cool decisions. Cod has been in the lead for a long time

[@c4n0]

its not the devs, its the sales department

[@Amins88]

My college psychology professor pushed me to get into Saint's Row when the first one came out. She would constantly be bringing it up in "Does media influence real world violence" discussions and would call it GTA with a twist. And in my mind, this is when Saint's Row was its best. Owning its obvious influences but doing things in its own way. An interesting gang story with well written characters that utilized its silly moments in the perfect moderation. Before they went all in trying to be the "rebellious child" who wanted to do everything possible to distance themselves from GTA association. No longer a gang story, they became international celebrities... then superhero politicians. And now whatever the hell they're trying to go with now, whiny hipsters?

[@steamgamer6296]

Saints row didn't try yo expand their audience, they abandoned their core fanbase.

[@Patrick.Weightman]

Don't forget how they literally mocked their fans for complaining and made fun of them on Twitter.

[@LunaPanther23]

For me a series that almost died was resident evil when 5 & 6 were released. They turned them basically into shooters with zombies. Luckily when the released 7, they went back to survival horror origins.

[@diegosolis9681]

Saint's Row didn't try to expand it's audience. It went ahead and ditched it's original audience and tried to appeal to a whole new one. The fun thing? The old audience hated it, and it wasn't even appealing to other audiences.

[@dylan6525]

THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING BATTLEFIELD 2042. Literally been a diehard BF fanboy for over a decade, since 2142. but 2042 broke my heart. They tore apart their multiplayer mode like you said, and axed the campaign which was such a big part of BF for me. Such a shame.

[@KJ_Jizzle]

I was fine playing a battlefield game without the campaign, meaning they'll focus more on the multiplayer. But a hero shooter Battlefield is not Battlefield. Plus they scaled back on the destruction which is also not battlefield

[@manchild8365]

It still sucks, so I uninstalled. No one plays it anyway. Battle bit is what bf should’ve been

[@XelitexX360]

This one hits right at home, I started playing BF with Bad Company 1 (which had a great MP and campaign) and ever since played the ones after... till 2042. Just like you mentioned, it broke my heart, I didn't preorder the game which was a great call but later when I played it after many "patches" the game still felt bland, I really couldn't believe I got bored fast and didn't wanted to continue playing. Since BC1 was my first BF Rush became a big thing for me, and it seems as more games come they give less focus to it, tho still doesn't remove the fact I really enjoyed BF 1 and V. Still, such a shame to see the most recent one be a hero shooter as someone else mentioned and not doing the trick.

[@abellewis3062]

Battlefield 2042 is trash. It has no campaign. Enough said.

[@Tyler_Flynn28]

It got better then just blatantly got boring af maps aren’t fun

[@eternity9099]

If a game dev says they are reimagining their title for a “modern audience”, you can guarantee it’s going to be a disaster.

[@trevorhomier5138]

I actually enjoyed dead space 3, I thought the story was good, definitely was not as scary as the first 2 but for what it was as a 3rd person shooter, it had a nice charm to it finally getting more explanation to the lore and seeing the brother moons destroy the world, they definitely do not need to make a 4th, but a remaster of the 2nd and a better remake of the 3rd with more horror mechanics would make me happy, i definitely liked exploring a different planet than being on a space station or a big space ship

[@stealthyturtles]

Yea I kinda took it as it’s been a few years with Isaac taking on the necromorphs and now is working with real resistance group so it would make sense he’s more equipped and militant. It’s not the first one where he was just an engineer with a plasma cutter and using some guards weapons he was somewhat familiar with. He’s been hardened by 2 major events by the time of the 3rd game. So I was okay with it being a little more action based and dialing back on the horror, it had its moments in both directions for sure but it wasn’t just some shoot em up fest or anything. The DLC and micro transactions were lame though, dlc should’ve been base game.

[@archon7105]

I was discussing it with my friend. But the story we got for DS3 was actually the 2nd version. It’s not the original plot and the first one was way more darker involving hallucinations of issacs past. I do hope they remake 3 from the ground up with the original story

[@Cbo78]

I totally agree. I thought it was fun and enjoyed the story. Creating your own weapons was a great feature as well.

[@ZackJ100]

I'm always shocked when you discuss Sim City you don't mention how small the plots of land are you get to build your cities in. You'd get a city to start growing and then boom, you can't expand anymore.

[@alexbishop5004]

This is ehat ruined Sim city for me... and EA being EA, tried BING their way around it, claiming the engine wouldn't support it. 24hrs later, a modder released a mob that allowed you to build outside the plot, with the only limitations being the transit/trade features EA created for no reason.

[@monody]

I wanna point out for 2:35 and Saints row, it was not the combination of gangland and zany aspects that drove people away. It was the terrible bugs, terrible characters, terrible plot, conscious disregard for it's own genre, and tone-deaf preschool take on the world. Also we got a new Dino Crisis, they called it Exoprimal, and it's a disappointment.

[@LocoRoco2009]

I don’t think Exoprimal was supposed to be the next Dino Crisis but regardless if it was or not, it’s a pretty hype game that lacks in content after you complete the story

[@monody]

@@LocoRoco2009 It's a bad enough game that it's already down to only ~500 average users.

[@LocoRoco2009]

@@monody Again, lack of content. It’s not even a bad game. There just not much else to do other than completing missions faster than the other team and spamming dashes to get to the next objective

[@monody]

@@LocoRoco2009 After playing it myself, I would class it as a bad game. Not everyone needs to think that, but a sufficient amount of people seem to.

[@LocoRoco2009]

Oh I’m not trying to convince you that it’s a bad game, I’m telling you that it lacks content which is the main reason why it’s dying.

[@unqltango]

Star Wars Galaxies. It was a hardcore MMO, with lots of game mechanics that still no other MMO even attempted. The publisher wanted more players, so they suddenly released a new update, which was supposed to make it more accessible to the masses. Eg: they dumbed it down to the level of WoW. Guess what, 95-98% of the players left instantly.

[@seanbordenkircher7854]

I've always been a defender of Dead Space 3. The co-op is there but it's ignorable for the majority. Same with the micro transactions. Sure, they're there at the bench, but you barely have to look at it. It's a solid game and building your own weapons was dope.

[@skorpion7132]

Agreed. And while some will say the story was too outlandish, I didn't really have a problem with that. I will say it became more of a shooter-game than a horror game, but I liked DS3 the best due to its gameplay mechanics and DS2 for its horrorstory. If they were to somehow blend those I'd be great.

[@ZtinkyBones]

I’ll never forget how I felt when I tried new Saints Row and saw health bars on cars. Made it feel like I was playing a PS2 game.

[@FireStormHR]

NOW THIS, THIS is the true problem in this generation of gaming. No publisher/dev takes a gamble or stay true to their first audience. Siege, F1 202x and Project Cars are some real good examples, while Elden ring shows how targeting a specific audience can blow up in success as well!

[@jesuszamora6949]

The problem is that many execs, especially in American companies, see success only in trying to cast the broadest net possible, often with ostentatious, over-detailed graphics that bloat development budgets. The fact of the matter is that not everything can be for everyone, but American companies are still trying to make one-size-fits-all games.

[@MichaelHill-sg8ks]

Baldur's Gate 3 is another example of a game company actually giving their fans what they want and reaping the rewards of doing so; and not by overreaching themselves with ludicrous graphics that allow us to see a random npcs sweaty pores.

[@coolestonions990]

And that specific audience introduce and invite more and more audience like them, the audience keep expanding and get bigger, fan happy, fromsoft made money, everyone happy, i dont like hard game but i love sekiro, i die alot but nit frustrating bc their audience let me know what to expect and introduce me to it.

[@joegardner851]

Make a great game, get it out there and players will buy it. Look at Zelda, Elden ring, hell even Baldur Gate 3. I don’t know anything about that series but I hear great things about that game It’ll get people to play these type of games that they wouldn’t have tried before. Don’t chase trends

[@zamu2]

@@joegardner851 "Don't chase trends" is pretty good advice for game companies. Because with how trends come and go as quickly as they do nowadays, by the time game developers make a game to cash on a trend, the trend usually has already up and left.

[@MukiMuki688]

The impact of Mirror's Edge cannot be overstated, even tho the IP died after the sequel, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, jumped on the open-world bandwagon to expand the player base. Every FPS since Mirror's Edge has taken inspiration from it.

[@xXDoUbLeDDXx38]

That game is one of the coolest games I've ever played. I'll never forget the first time playing it, I was mind blown. I'd never experienced anything like it before, and like you say it's mechanics live on in sooo many games to this day. I'd love to see a reboot.

[@MentalParadox]

I don't get why people say Mirror's Edge is "dead". The original was made in 2008. The sequel in 2016. An 8 year gap. Another 8 year gap puts us in 2024. So to call it "definitely dead" in 2023 seems a little premature.

[@lesterbronson2385]

If it weren’t for Mirror’s edge, I don’t think Dying light would’ve happened (at least not with the amazing parkour mechanics).

[@CatsOverdrive]

@@lesterbronson2385 Despite some missteps(sudden focus on guns midway through, 'meh' story, the grappling hook), DyingLight laid a pretty good groundwork-that DICE have a good year and a half to look at and steal from; on how to tie the parkour mechanic into the overall core gameloop(the open-world). Initially, written something upwards to five paragraphs of in-depth comparison between DyingLight and Mirror'sEdgeCatalyst in terms of their general gameplay design. So I think it's better to just sum up my core point with MEC; Whatever gameplay mechanics it has are solid(parkour and melee combat specifically), but it overall suffered the same problem FarCry2 did; it's an open-world game, that's directionally constrained, and extremely limited outside it's main/story content. It has parkour mechanics(a very good one in fact! I actually wished more games incorporated MEC's momentum-based parkour) and you can run around the map. But the world, surprisingly, is designed in a way that you often run to a very specific route to get to alot of areas, and the game is paced in a way, that generally discourage you from just enjoying the open-world, and actually getting well-acquainted with the parkour system. It's a open-world game where YOU have to go out of your way to make your own fun, and that you are not encourage to do so(there's no intrinsic reward for just playing around) DyingLight pretty much solved these by making their world densely packed with limitless content(randomized loot, random friendly/enemy NPC spawns), made the parkour itself literally rewarding(as in, the game drip feeds you XP every second you are running around and jumping/climbing over things), and designed the map in a way were, it is indeed up to you, how'd you get "from point A to point B"(go up the overpass, or go through the slums? stay in the rooftops, or run through the alleyways? up pass the hill with the antenna tower, or down through the opened road tunnel?). Reminded me, the one thing I can't forget in MEC, is that often recurring moment of just running across that long, cramped, indoor vent things up to a long ladder, in order to get somewhere relevant. The moment that stuck with me from playing MEC, is the antithesis of open-world freedom. I really wanted to love this game, but MEC is frustrating for me because the concept basically sells itself (open-world, momentum-based parkour game), but they didn't capitalized on it in any meaningful way. First Mirror's Edge is a linear game, but that feels more accomplished in its execution.

[@HighTechRedneck9]

I enjoyed Catalyst. I played the original after I played Catalyst. The parkour was so cool. I hope they make another.

[@kcollier2192]

I will always regret Def Jam: Icon killing the series, especially after how much Def Jam: Fight for New York was loved. R.I.P. to the crew.

[@mgiebus1869]

I still throw Crow out that window every once in a while

[@angelganon8213]

Agreed vendetta and fight for new York were so much fun to me. I still wish to this day they would remake or remaster those two and bring online play to them. Icon was such a stupid decision from the devs but that's how it goes

[@pouyanrezvani3314]

Your videos save me from depression Jake. I could just sit & listen to you talk about games for hours. Thank you for making these videos after all these years.

[@carlclausen4517]

You're not alone bud. Simply from hearing him talk about games I have found new games to play. Hundreds of hours worth of forgetting the world because someone told me about it. Keep easy bud! Life's hard for everyone. We got our problems but we all relate somewhere. Like here. You got this dude!

[@duphasdan]

The Sim CIty thing not only had problems with having to be online all the time, the maps are also obscenely small. Also, the resources run out way too fast, traffic was so bad, just one dead body in a building even a skyscraper caused it to become abandoned. One game series I think died or is dying is the Civilization series. It started out well and went on for a while. Then it made games and features in the newer games to cater to the niche PvP style of game play if only in hopes of gaining more players that like PvP. As a result of their efforts, the art style was simplified and made more cartoony to look good on tablets and look like tablet or phone games, the tech was simplified to the point where one goes from a 17th century ship of the line to 19th century ironclads or even WW2 era ships, and the maps were made so much smaller that even the largest map of Earth has Japan just a hop skip away from North America. And on top of that, the money gouging dlcs set in seasons and with each offering very little to what they expect people to pay.

[@p-o2938]

The Thief reboot broke my heart. I want this franchise to return so bad. Same with Deus Ex who had a very short comeback. Fortunately Gloomwood exists.

[@buffalobell22]

Between Battlefield and Halo, i feel like I can't sink my teeth into a true multiplayer FPS like i used to.

[@kylefry8980]

battlebit remastered, counterstrike, hunt showdown, l4d2, destiny 2, team fortress 2

[@Xavier-sl7hn]

@@kylefry8980most of those are horrible games

[@holdupits420]

Yea I d9nt get why they all yey to be the same now. Like what works for kne is why we play it it doesn't need to tey to be what the other is it

[@skullduggery1385]

Surprised Dead Rising isn’t on this list, it’s always the example I use for a game franchise losing its audience by catering to all.

[@wtb00]

3 was cool, 4 was abysmal

[@creatureTHEcritter]

Lol dead rising should have taken the number one spot if you ask me . I totally agree.

[@pegcity4eva]

4 was just a cheap cash in.

[@Mikeydiorbewt]

3 was so good smh a game taken serious by them coulda been fire

[@adriannaranjo4397]

It really scratches my head how the people making these games go "Yeah we're super popular because of a dedicated fanbase, now let's tell them to scram and try to get people who don't like games into ours"

[@iandaly]

Splinter Cell. Series went from being all about stealth to pretty much just another shooter series that let you use stealth if you really wanted to.

[@ramonosuke]

The Ubisoft effect…

[@gingeradventure]

No Michael Ironside, no buy. The 2013 (Blacklist) game was pretty fun, but Conviction felt like a Max Payne story and Double Agent was clunky and the RPG moments frustrating.

[@FreezingToad]

The biggest take away that publishers seem to have not grasped is if you have a super successful IP with a first game, MGS for example, the tone for that franchise is set. Change it too much and it's related to the IP in name only. MGS is awesome because of the formula, Halo, Dino Crisis, whatever, are all awesome because of the tone and general mechanics included in that first game. Once they try to mutate the tone, overhaul too much, or just miss the mark, that's when things fall apart. It's not because us consumers aren't interested, it's because they screwed with the recipe too much, simple as that.

[@Bateluer]

A lot fans will open embrace spinoffs of their favorite games. Yakuza 7 upended the traditionalYakuza brawler gameplay and fans loved it. While it plays completely differently than previous Yakzua games, its still distinctly 'Yakuza'. Same with the Judgment spinoffs.

[@FreezingToad]

@@Bateluer Right. They changed the mechanics of the game, but it still has that very specific Yakuza feel with the tone and story telling methodology. They took a risk changing the gameplay, and it turned out in their favor, but if they changed the tone of that game, it would likely flop.

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@Bateluer I think of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Massively different, but not a numbered release so people get it. "Oh, it a fun side swing thing"

[@Bateluer]

@OhNoTheFace Yakuza Like a Dragon was billed as the next mainline game in the series, not as a spinoff. The 'Like a Dragon' branding was to align the western branding with the Japanese branding, eg, the series has been called Yakuza in the west and LaD in Japan since its inception.

[@burp2019]

Survive is about as far as you can get from being Metal Gear while still calling it Metal Gear, likely would have done better as its own thing detached from other IP

[@mygetawayart]

sticking with Volition, can't help but mention Red Faction Armageddon, which scaled back the destructibilty of the environment from Guerrilla and opted for a linear gameplay rather than sticking with an open world format. Playing both Guerrilla and Armageddon feels like playing two completely different franchises that share the same name somehow.

[@noobshotpro]

Yea also with the small horror light influences, where you are usually fighting bugs, felt like starship troopers. Still, both games were so much fun, but Armageddon was too much of a sidestep for most. If you can get for a few bucks, still worth it though!

[@mygetawayart]

@@noobshotpro i tried the demo a while back and it put me off completely. Went back to Guerrilla shortly thereafter.

[@CatsOverdrive]

@@noobshotpro I think it'd be a more better overall experience of the franchise if, after playing the first two games, one then get into Armageddon BEFORE getting into Guerrilla. :P

[@ravenbeast8639]

Volition turned out to be such a fuck up in the last decade

[@JounLord1]

I think they may have been trying to go for a more corridor shooter like RF1 and 2 but wound up not having the destructible environments of 1, the action of 2 (itself a bit of the red headed step child of the franchise) with you mostly fighting bugs or the open world building destruction of 3.

[@Dimitris4110]

What happened to Halo infinite and Battlefield 2042 was tragic tbh.

[@blokin5039]

No it was not.

[@anarcho262]

​@@blokin5039Yes it was. Go play Forkknife or something.

[@GMan56M]

I still don't understand not including couch co-op in Infinite. My son is finally old enough to start appreciating some of these games and I got him super hyped a while back to play with me, only to realize that 343 had recently removed couch co-op altogether. His disappointment made me so sad.

[@holdupits420]

​@@GMan56Mjust buy another Xbox and another TV and it will be even better than couch Co op

[@chrisf.b.1056]

To be honest I still play dead space 3 for fun. 1 and 2 are by far my favs but 3 has a spot in my heart specially because of the weapon crafting!

[@IrnFox]

Dead Space 3 is amazing! I really like that weapon crafting system, and coop is definitely plus. It is my most played Dead Space game just because those 2 aspects!

[@darkmatter-mc5iv]

The new saints row sucked because they were wanna be gangsters. One dude wants to rob a joint for his college debt, another for a waffle maker. Come on, steal cause you wanna buy a sick ass car and burn rubber in other people's faces.

[@Sonacnights]

I'm always going to be a part of the smaller crowd that enjoyed DS3. If it didn't have the microtransactions, and had it *included* the DLC in the base game instead of selling the ending like they did, it'd be way more memorable to the fanbase. Playing it in co-op, experiencing totally different scenarios in the same space, the flying around and some of the tense action/horror sequences were genuinely great. And the DLC had some of the creepiest atmospheric moments and story beats of that whole series by far. I was always fond of it. I still remember upgrading a gun that was basically a Fus Ro Dah machine gun and blasting my way through the hardest difficulty without breaking a sweat, but I earned that shit. I get it was more actiony, plus those other two major issues EA forced in there, but it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be. I'm sure if they remade it now, darkened the tone and made certain elements more tense, it'd be liked a lot. I do hope they keep it co-op, though. Anyone that played as player two will easily agree it's worth keeping.

[@northstar6920]

Ah... the curse of the "modern audiance" never fails to turn everything to shit.

[@Invidente7]

And don't forget the "reflect the world we live in" BS too.

[@OhNoTheFace]

@@Invidente7 That was the new saints row problem

[@kotzpenner]

@@Invidente7turns out people want escapism

[@mattgerrish908]

Conker's Bad Fur Day is a game that died without even getting a sequel. A sequel was already in the works, but when Rare was bought by Microsoft, the latter made them cancel it. Another is Banjo-Kazooie when Microsoft made it of a vehicular platformer instead of a traditional platformer. Although I have read some articles online about rumors regarding a new Banjo Kazooie game being made...

[@nom3rcyinc.308]

One thing I really liked (the only thing) is the "tool" customization in dead space 3. It was nice to combine the ripper and the plasma cutter together or use the perks from different tools in another, it was almost endless.

[@HSMike2]

Runescape. they tried becoming wow, lost all their players and then had to remake their old game which is now their most popular version.

[@michaeleverett1514]

I really would like to see a new version or remake of Turok or Dino Crisis. It would be fun to see one of those franchises back with current graphics and physics engines behind it. Could be a real redemption story for the franchise!

[@danieln6700]

Loved Dino crisis 1 and 2 and ps1. Great games. Played turok2 and n64 at cousins. Was pretty fun too

[@danieln6700]

Didn't even know was a command and conquer mobile game. How dumb is that. Alot of CC fan boys aren't into mobile games.

[@alistaircraig7849]

Turok evolution was fun, I'd say it's definitely the most likely to be remade

[@Gun10001]

Maybe look at Exoprimal, a lot of reviews didnt really went deep into it, but its one of the best shooter with dinos.

[@richdelaney9500]

I would love to see Deep Dive Studios do a remake/remaster of the Turok that was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360. I really do hope that Turok gets a reboot.

[@spenky]

The new Saints Row is everything the old Saints Rows were making fun of.

[@fredsorre6605]

What really buried Sim City was that Maxxis was caught lying when they said the game could not be played offline only for someone releasing a video of them being able to glitch the game and was able to play for hours on end offline once that genie was out of the bottle it wasn't something you could put back in that lead to an offline patch being release and it resulted in ruining the developers reputation which then soon lead to their closure.

[@nasser_almashjary]

Man I guess Gameranx will never let BF2042 go despite its vast improvement over time.

[@Seussenshmirtz]

When you try too hard to make a game for everyone, you inevitably end up making a game for no one.

[@gaganmalik4421]

I personally played Simcity 2013 on PC via 'other' methods, before Cities Skylines, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@mygetawayart]

it is a genuinely fun game, i played it for hundreds of hours and never got bored. What tanked it was just how different, limited and troubled it was at launch

[@OhNoTheFace]

Game died entirely from forced always online and an extended glitchy launch

[@The_Azure_]

I enjoyed it, even played with a few friends and had a good time. Really liked the customization of buildings with the module system. Somehow I was always the one who unlocked most of the Departments. I'd usually get 3 of them before a neighbor got one. If Simcity 2013 launched with less bugs and network issues, I think I'd honestly rate it above Cities Skylines because the modules were just that nice.

[@warfighter3128]

Command & Conquer was especially painful for me. First game I ever played was Red Alert. Played every game in the series since.

[@JadeFenix]

The underground command and conquer multi-player battles are still going strong

[@Aeturnalis]

same here. I started with the original Command and Conquer in ~1996. I'd say my favorite is a tie between C&C3 and Zero Hour, but the whole series was good until the last 2 mainline games... RA3 was OK, but a bit silly for me, and C&C4 was downright awful.

[@JadeFenix]

The series ended at kanes wrath for me. RA3 and the forced multiplayer design was annoying, but the game was still good overall

[@warfighter3128]

@@JadeFenix I agree

[@warfighter3128]

@@Aeturnalis 3 and Zero Hour were good!

[@RedRabbit-ZA]

I hate it when developers do this. That's why every Dragon Age game is completely different, from gameplay to lore to even the races, whereas with Mass Effect everything seems to be a lot more coherent going from game to game.

[@matheusspable]

Ah, I kinda liked DA2 and Inquisition

[@Kevalanium]

@@matheusspable DA1 and Inqusition were the best DA2 is one of the worst because it has a straight identiy crisis

[@Skyte100]

I think inquisition is the worst. Origins is the best, followed by 2 in my opinion. I never finished inquisition.

[@Kevalanium]

@@Skyte100 2 is easily 10x worse it’s a mix between both games at least inquisition has an identity not at games stay the same as time progresses sure it’s not as dark and gritty anymore but it still has a lot of the good stuff there

[@nikolasferreira3247]

​@@Kevalaniumi agree with you, inquisition still is a big dissapoitment though

[@foxracing8973]

I would like to add Star Wars Battlefront. The og Battlefront 1 and 2 were so badass and had amazing gameplay ideas. The new Battlefronts were not nearly as good and many like myself would love to see them return to the og Battlefront gameplay style.

[@carmeloildefonso8342]

Honorable mentions to Sonic '06 and Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. Neither one completely killed their franchises, but both brought them to the brink of ruin and led to mass firings. It took Tomb Raider losing its original development team to fully recover, and Sonic Frontiers is really only a step back in the right direction after almost 10 years of misfires.

[@ethanwright752]

Hot take alert. Tomb Raider originals were always kinda bad games...

[@cjdowns5748]

Dynasty warriors fits this list perfectly. The formula is so simple yet satisfying when done well so why mess with it.

[@corporalkills]

What I hate about companies doing this is they try some new garbage and when people hate it they blame the gamers. “Well I guess they don’t actually want this IP.” No we just want what we asked for

[@NealCamerlengo]

SEGA is one of the publishers that are infamous for that. Dor instance SEGA hasn't made another game that is based on the Chaotix because people hated the 32X game because it wasn't really that great and poof no more games about the Chaotix.

[@firepenguin38]

Exactly

[@gizm0]

Unpopular Opionion, Saints Row 1 and 2 were great games but Saints Row 3 and 4 were just plain ol fun especially with friends. Saints Row reboot actually made me really sad to see the turn it took

[@xbon1]

I was waiting for sr to become infamous for pc, if sr5 still was improved as much as 4 was from 3 and added new powers and better ai and stuff that’s all i would wanted

[@CatsOverdrive]

Absolutely love SR2 most for alot of things, but I still get into SR4 from time to time because of just how fun the superpower movement mechanics feel.

[@CatsOverdrive]

@@xbon1 Me, I'm simply waiting for volition to at least honor the late 'IdolNinja', and actually finish the SR2 patch.

[@Heroasaurus]

The Killzone franchise!!! I loved how unique Killzone 2 was heavy feeling guns, interesting character builds and abilities … Killzone 3 just became a Call of Duty clone. Such a shame

[@Lol_Pig]

The first one!!! Thats the only one of the series I played, but I freakin loved that game

[@Deeeeeze]

Shadow fall was worse

[@jesuszamora6949]

@@Deeeeeze Shadow Fall was decent, albeit hobbled by the constraints of having to come out at launch. That wingsuit mission can fuck all the way off, though.

[@chibiprussia5574]

Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodhunt a battle royale type of game came out years after Fortnite, PUBG and Overwatch and really only the fans of VtM have heard of this game. Due to poor sales, the devs announced that there will be no more updates, but will keep the game around to play

[@CryogenicGamer]

I’m your next list I think it’s fair to add in the Tenchu series. This one seemed to have died with the last release “Tenchu Shadow Assassins” back in 2009. Honestly I still hope for some kind of remakes or a reboot of the series. I enjoyed it as a kid back then.

[@Non-Negotiable]

Sim City, Sim Ant, Simcopter....these were classics. Sim Ant was the first pc game I've ever played back on windows 95 in my computer class. Then later on Warcraft. I would love to see a SimCopter type game where you can fly in the created cities you personally made. Those were the days. Cities Skyline is where it's at now.

[@coolioso808]

SimCity was amazing. I remember it was on the school computers and somehow we got to play it sometimes during class or free time. It was simple but detailed enough to be fun and creative. I guess Cities: Skylines has taken over that mantle, but Sim City could have stayed relevant, I think, if they just kept their basic idea together and updated it with modern graphics.

[@KillaMilla0513]

I love sim ant of the Snes

[@KillaMilla0513]

Old pc I miss are the Sierra game like space quest 1. The one that you had to type everything in and not the point and clicks

[@Non-Negotiable]

@KillaMilla0513 Oh yeah, I remember that one. Also, remember playing a skiing game,Carmen Santiago, too. Things came a long way, that's for sure.

[@fusilier3029]

Yes! I loved SimCopter. I was hoping that Stormworks: Build and Rescue was going to be a nice successor to it, but instead that game just got overbloated with the building part rather than the actual search and rescue part...

[@taylorusedtoxic]

The Saints Row development team didn't try to expand their audience; they intentionally turned their backs on their long-term audience by getting political and telling us that we weren't wanted anymore. The fact that their game was just another modern video game released lifeless and broken was the cherry on top. They deserved to fail.

[@njvhd]

Man, what i really miss also from Capcom, which wasnt on the list, is the Dead Rising Franchise, the latest one which i was super excited for was Dead Rising 4, alllllllllll the way back in 2016, starring as the main character OG Frank West, you know the jurnalist from the DR 1 and DR 2 dlc, also had some awsome combo weapons, which made the game somewhat diffrent, somewhat special to me from other games of zombie ganer, such as left 4 dead 2, dying light, dead island and so on, even the car combos were really good to me, but sadly, i dont know for what reason but it didnt catched on so... 7 years later and still no Dead Rising 5.

[@hellerhs]

That game was such a disappointment!! I felt they locked the real ending behind a paywall (DLC)

[@Negasilver]

I remember when so many franchises did this during the 360/PS3 era. And it had to be all my favorite franchises too like Devil May Cry, Ace Combat, Hitman, Resident Evil etc. I remember I really slowed down on playing games except for indies for a couple of years until like 2017 when devs decided they actually wanted to make games again.

[@malgaras6204]

Supreme Commander. The original was a fantastic game but was admittedly in it’s own little niche of the RTS genre and had a pretty steep learning curve as it really played quite a bit differently from everything else. But for SupCom 2, they threw out what made it SupCom in favor of emulating more accessible main stream RTS games. What they ended up with was a perfectly “fine” RTS that even got decent reviews, but nobody wanted to play. The die hard SupCom just stayed with the original, while the more mainstream RTS fans they were trying to pull in just played Starcraft and the other games SupCom lost its identity trying to emulate in the first place. Even today, the original SupCom has a tiny, but dedicated fan base still chugging along while the sequel is loooong dead.

[@kotzpenner]

I played tons of hours of SC1 with friends and mods, got SC2 and it was… fine. It had some cool ideas, like releasing half built experimentals. Then years later, about a year ago, we tried playing SC2 again. After one rounded all collectively decided to never touch it again and stick with SC1 lol.

[@gingeradventure]

I used to enjoy it when it was better known as "Total Annihilation". Used to have days of fun on huge maps while my computer at the time couldn't process the bazillion aircraft and nukes going off at the same time.

[@anthonyotte5223]

Great video ! I hope they do try to revive Dino Crisis . I really do love all the Resident Evil remakes ,but man what they could do with this franchise with this generation of gaming would be awesome ! Love the channel keep up the awesome work !👍

[@Chronotri]

Oh they will no worries. Developers have become lazy like Hollywood and will release other people’s work over and over for a quick cash grab. To bad it’ll be $79 plus for something you already played. *cough* RE4

[@Nicholasmcmath-cr1xl]

Agree

[@RiThaKilla]

Prototype

[@seanchan4478]

"I've got a great idea, let's expand our audience" Great idea! "And completely alienate and s*** on our old fans"

[@andrewmcmorrow1952]

Dead Space 3 did have some amazing co-op missions where one guy had to defend the party while the other was flipping out. players both look at the same room and each would see something different.

[@plipplop728]

Resident Evil series was almost met the same fate, they try to capture more audience outside of horror fanbase (because horror is a niche genre) by being a more action shooter game with RE5 and 6. But fortunately they found their way back to their roots with RE7 by being a true survival horror game.

[@theQuickining]

I grew up with command and conquer and I was happy with the c&c remastered game I'm hoping we get a remastered Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 as those were my favorite games in the franchise

[@mikespike2099]

Yeah TS was AMAZING for its time! Loved how you could terraform with artillery! 😅

[@GMan56M]

I spent scores of hours plying TS and Generals when I was a kid and can still envision so many parts of those games to this day 20+ years later. It's definitely a shame what happened with the IP and I hope it comes back in true form someday. I'll probably tear up a bit if I ever get to hear "Welcome back Commander" one more time!

[@KevinTilly]

I really enjoyed DS3. I recently decided to play the DS trilogy again and I still enjoyed all three of them as much as I did when I first played them when I was younger.

[@jgame7587]

I played DS 1+2 both on launch, absolutely loved it then I played 3's demo back in the day I got put off at the time never went back. That is until today as I have three months free game pass with my Asus Ally Rog and man I really enjoyed it and actually finished it earlier, proper coincidence this being number 1 on the list!

[@gergoretvari6373]

for some reason i red it as D(ark) S(ouls), lol

[@KevinTilly]

@@gergoretvari6373 🤣 all good man lol

[@xavierabii548]

Dead Space 3 really got to me man. After 2 awesome games it was sad to see it go down in flames like that. Glad to see they brought it back with the remake.

[@Jason_Van_Stone]

Dead Space 3 wasn't even all that bad. The weapons system was better than 1 & 2....

[@xavierabii548]

@@Jason_Van_Stone WHAT???? That was the exact thing they completely fucked up from the previous games! It was terrible! I was so pissed lol! What's worse was I played it right after playing 2 so the degradation was very clear lol!

[@Jason_Van_Stone]

@@xavierabii548 I made some OP'd ass shit from that weapons system. I loved it lol

[@roastytoasty8559]

couldn't agree more. i played the hell out of the 1st 2 and even to this day have not finished the 3rd one ...

[@anderssorenson9998]

I miss the Medal of Honor series, gone but not forgotten.

[@beefweiner]

Command and conquer was the biggest twist of the knife the gaming industry put in our back since duke nukem

[@jeankirchstein2552]

I personally don't mind if game devs add things like QoL features to help ease new players into a franchise but they shouldn't try to pander outside of the their core audience elden ring is a great example of how to do this

[@Shadow__133]

Also because if a certain style of game hasn't attracted a certain persons attention, it probably won't for long if changed. For instance, it doesn't matter how welcoming to new players Elden Rings is, it still didn't capture my attention (or money).

[@CitiesOfAsh]

​@@Shadow__133It's one of those games you can't watch, you have to play it. It's a masterpiece in gaming.

[@BU1Lander]

Adding new things to create a successful franchise is a must. It is a rarity that a franchise can put out the exact same thing, over and over again without eventually getting stale and losing their audience. However, when introducing new things, producers need to retain the feel and play that originally attracted their audience in the first place. That is definitely a mistake that Volition made with SRTT and SRIV, then later with the reboot. SRTT and SRIV they trying too hard to not be a "GTA clone" and they abandoned the relatively serious tone they had in favor of going completely goofy... the game died in the next release. The Reboot they tried to draw in a "modern" audience with a new crew and a new city... They made the new game about whiny 20 somethings that decide to start a "criminal empire" to pay off school loans... Well, they took a gamble to try to draw in a new crowd, and they completely lost the original base... which before release, they were trying to sell the game to, also... it wasn't until after the reveal that they started saying, "We didn't make this game FOR YOU." Apparently not... and it failed horribly, resulting in Volition being sold to a new studio that probably won't use them for anything except higher production capacity.

[@VortexTundra]

@@Shadow__133 cuz u succ

[@BU1Lander]

@narkomancers5262 I said it was a rarity, and not that it never happened. Although, I am sure that even looking at those games you have mentioned changes have been made in order to keep the formula fresh, instead of re-releasing the exact same game.

[@bamban_garcia5562]

Maybe Volition should have not insulted, mocked, belittled, attacked their existing fan base while trying to gain a near nonexistent unsuportive vocal minority

[@OhNoTheFace]

Could apply that to so many things currently lol

[@pattonramming1988]

We live in a society unfortunately

[@SlyRyFry]

Burnout and Flatout

[@ShaggyRogers1]

The Thief reboot was actually a pretty good game. It was just very much a one-and-done style of game with such limited replayability, and so everyone that was interested in that style of game played it once and then it was left to fade into obscurity. The games that stick around over time have always been the games that players could just pick back up and replay years later to get the same fun.

[@xyzhash]

no, that was piece of shit game

[@DanielQuan97]

God, you have no idea how happy I am that Dead Space revived and that the remake was awesome. That game means a lot to me, I *LOVE* sci-fi, space, and cosmic horror; and Dead Space had it all. Dead Space 3 wasn't the worst thing ever, but man, it wasn't Dead Space. I've never in my life purchased a collectors edition of a game... but I had to for this one. Now I'm happy with a great remake of one of my favorite games, and a cool helmet.

[@lesterbronson2385]

The Dead Space remake knocked it out of the park. I really loved The Callisto protocol as well (bought the Collector’s edition).

[@mathieubordeleau150]

I would add "Hitman: Absolution" to the list, it made many of the mistakes seen in this list and for many players the franchise was dead at that point. The good thing is that in 2016 IO Interactive release a new Hitman game while going back to what made the old games great and it was a massive success, proving many franchise on this list can make a come back!

[@DrDinoNuggies]

I don’t think it really fits in here. I don’t think they really tried to expand the game and audience, I think they just focused on the wrong parts of the series and forgot about the fantastic parts. Whereas 2016 Hitman did the opposite. It dropped all the dumb parts and became ONLY what people liked about it.

[@calvinmartin1305]

I thought it was way to cinematic and tried to hard to tell a "personal" story of Agent 47.

[@RuzakyNOD]

I love absolution

[@SpikeTheWolf]

Great game tho

[@Non-Negotiable]

Hitman 2 the og back in the day is what today has me hooked to all the new hitmans.

[@MSDGAMEZ]

Saints row was SO BAD. Big fan of 1 and 2. 3 was okay. After that it was all downhill for me

[@SithLord17]

Always on the lookout for your new videos, Gameranx! Thank you!

[@happyjohn354]

I actually kind of liked Dead Space 3 there are few "horror shooters" out there and it reminded me a ton of Resident Evil 4 where the "horror" came from atmosphere adding extra tension to the combat.

[@LetMeSoloThemER]

with halo infinite it was also the extreme pricing of in game items that shrewd off the hardcore fans that were used to halo reach's old system

[@jrock8760]

Yea, 343 is almost at the level of Activision Blizzard when it comes to greed. If only they could make a competent game.

[@cbremer83]

I will never understand the idea of trend chasing. If you made a thing and people liked it, make more of that. It is fine to evolve the game but keep it's soul intact. Every time they shift focus or chase trends it tends to go bad. A good game will grow it's audience organically.

[@holdupits420]

Absolutely I can't believe they think this will work it never does

[@andresgallego5727]

Nice way to ignore the other big actual issue with the character design, writing and politics injected into Saint's Row

[@zakk219]

I think Marvel vs Capcom Infinite is a good example. They put the game out and a lot of the characters (especially on the Marvel side) weren't who people wanted and the mechanics, while there are a lot of people who like them, were very different from MvC3 (no assists, 2v2 instead of 3v3). It also had some scummy DLC practices like putting one of the final boss characters and a couple characters that were featured in the story mode into its season pass dlc. It also looked really bad (a lot of the examples that people show are pre-release and it was cleaned up a bit before launch but it's still rough). The story mode is terrible and nonsensical. Capcom tried supporting it with its own tour to run alongside the Capcom Pro Tour for Street Fighter but that was run weird and had some strange gimmicks to it and only lasted the first year. There were rumors of more planned DLC that would have added X-Men characters and other stuff people really wanted but it ultimately never happened. Overall, while it has an audience and some people really like it, most players either moved on to other games or moved back to MvC3 and MvC2. It's a shame because it was once one of the most popular franchises for fighting games but Capcom and Disney just can't seem to get this series right between delisting old games and not supporting their new one.

[@XelitexX360]

Turok 2008 was a great game IMO, even tho it was very different from its past games I still found the dinosaur shooting part awesome! Since then I always have wanted a dino shooter like this one (I know some have arised but usually they're futuristic or have weird/different elements to them that just don't do it for me), but I hope someday we'll get a story driven shooter game with dinos!

[@dannydropshot9588]

Yeah I thought it was pretty fun and cool as well. What I really want is a Far Cry that is like it with like a faction of bad guys trying to do something involved with dinosaurs. So you’d be fighting dinosaurs and like military dudes lol. It’d be sooo good if they did it right. Like have a cool tropical island like Far Cry 3 with awesome underground labs and stuff like that. I would play it so much!

[@tjj4lab]

Saint's row decided to make the story about hipster millennials, two groups almost universally reviled be most people. Even if they didn't botch the rest of the game, I had no interest from the start.

[@visionhawk4403]

Saint's Row 2 and 3 were so different from 4 but I still love all three of them. I haven't played the new one because I don't want the memories ruined. My son got it and he said it was absolutely awful, and we share a lot of the same tastes in games and movies.

[@Invidente7]

Your son is 1000% correct. The Saints Row franchise is now deader than dinosaurs.

[@Boris82]

I just like Saints Row 1 and 2 Part 3 and everything after that became too absurd for me.

[@visionhawk4403]

@@Boris82 I never played the first one. I started with Saint's Row 2 and by that time 3 was coming out. I don't know why but I never went back and played the first.

[@OhNoTheFace]

The new one was a scared dev team trying to make a "modern" saint's row game. It has no teeth and is also mid in gameplay. It commits the biggest offence for Saint's Row. It's boring as hell

[@Imso3vil89]

Your son is a slow fella

[@DreSaidSoo]

saints row was already dead on arrival ☠️ and deserved

[@lola-to9om]

Turok was one of the first games that I played when I finally got in the gaming in 2011-12 and really had fun I always wanted to play some dinosaurs games and it did the job. But story needed some work.

[@jacoposportoletti2652]

I would add: - the souless Rayman legends, because yes it is a fairly and fun platform game, but it has not at all the atmosphere of Rayman revolution. - Dying light 2, where they made the game more accessibile, lowering its level of scariness. Hopefully the new updates seems that they understood their mistakes.

[@brettman717]

Saints row suffered from the same issue that Disney/marvel/lucasfilms are currently suffering from... lack of good writing and over abundance of shoving politics and a certain ideology down your throat

[@ravenshrike]

NO. SR(2022) did not fail because it attempted to combine gangland and zany. SR(2022) failed because the plot and characters were complete and total Zoomer asspulls, and the gameplay was worse in some cases than SR2, and in all cases than SR3 except for the fact that poly counts were higher and you could leave footprints in the sand. In every other metric though, SR3 was manifestly better.