As popular as the open-world genre is, that doesn’t mean a game is guaranteed to be successful or to even come out.The Lord of the Rings: The White Council,Pirates Of The Caribbean: Armada Of The Damned, and so many others got canceled.
Some series almost get sequels while others just get abandoned after a bad game or two. Fans never know if a series will return or not, but surprises do happen, as it’s not all doom and gloom. Kid Icarus: Uprising is a good example, which appeared decades after the last game, so maybe these open-world games can return someday too. They will be ranked based on how long they’ve been gone, taking into account how good the games are as a whole.
Just Causeappeared in 2006, which didn’t make that big of a splash. The sequel is where things really took off, thanks to the bigger world and extra gameplay tricks to make the chaos look and feel more satisfying. The last game wasJust Cause 4in 2018, which wasn’t that long ago in the grand scheme of things.
However,Just Cause: Mobilewas shown afterJust Cause 4, but was eventually canceled.Just Cause 5was never officially announced, but rumors suggest it was being developed before getting canned behind closed doors. Things don’t look good for theJust Causeseries if two games got destroyed back to back.
Dishonoredwas released in 2012, followed by a direct sequel in 2016, which later got a standalone DLC pack in 2017 calledDishonored: Death of the Outsider. Every entry in the series didn’t feature massive worlds to explore, but their cities were open-ended enough to give players the illusion of grandeur.
Players could sneak around the city and assassinate enemies quietly, or they could go loud and proud. This experimentation is what helped the series gain a good reputation. Since Arkane Studios is backed by Microsoft now,Dishonoredcould be on the chopping block soon. There is never guaranteed safety for studios or franchises, as was just demonstrated with therecent Microsoft closures.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordorwas an original story, not based on any of the main books inThe Lord of the Ringsfranchise. It was released in 2014, followed byMiddle-earth: Shadow of Warin 2017. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it: this franchise is probably dead.
Monolith Productions was disbanded, which doesn’t necessarily mean Warner Bros. couldn’t hire another team to make a sequel, but it is unlikely. Someone should make a game using theMiddle-earthfranchise’s Nemesis system, no matter if it’s a sequel or an original concept.
Mirror’s Edgeis one of the oddest video game franchises around, and it all began in 2008. For eight years, console fans demanded a sequel, and they got it in 2016 viaMirror’s Edge Catalyst, which turned the game into a bigger open-world city to explore.
The game still centered on parkour and being thebest courier around, but there was a bigger twist. It was a reboot instead of a sequel. So, besides a phone game, there were only two main console games, and they’re both regarded as an entry point. EA closedMirror’s Edge Catalyst’sonline servers in 2023, which doesn’t seem like a positive sign for the franchise.
2009 was the year of original superhero games set in big, open-ended cities.Prototypegave players the ability to absolutely destroy the city with various morphing arms, from fists to blades. They could also camouflage themselves as normal NPCs to get past guards.
There was a sequel in 2012, and both games were remastered in 2015. It’s technically been quiet ever since the remasters, although recentrumors do suggestPrototype 3is in the works, but rumors often never pan out, so take that with a grain of salt.
inFAMOUSis the other superhero game from 2009, which has a greater legacy. There were three games on the PS3, including a standalone piece of DLC for the second game. The hero, Cole, had electric powers, and based on player choices, they could learn good or evil powers.inFAMOUS Second Sonwas the third core entry for the PS4 in 2014, and its hero, Delsin, could take powers from others, including light-based and fire-based attacks.
There was standalone DLC in 2014 as well,inFAMOUS First Light, and then that’s been it. Sucker Punch built an impressive world of oppressed meta-humans, but now they’re all about building even bigger open-world games via theirGhostofseries. Maybe Sony will one day put a b-team to makeanotherinFAMOUSgameif Sucker Punch is too busy.
White Knight Chroniclesis perhaps one ofLevel-5’s most forgotten JRPGs. Players could explore giant areas connected by towns in-between, sort of likeFinal Fantasy 12’sstructure. The battle system was even similar as it mirrored MMO-style auto-combat.
The first game was released for the PS3 in 2010, and then a year later,White Knight Chronicles 2was released, packaged with the original game. Japan and Europe also got a PSP spinoff in 2011. Three games in two years is wild, and there haven’t been any efforts to port these games elsewhere.White Knight Chroniclesmay not be Level-5’s best franchise, but it certainly deserves better than to lie dormant forever.
