When it comes to sequels, we either have our expectations met or we are completely disappointed. Through the past few years, a lot of gamers have been left very displeased with some of their favorite game series. Often times, they simply fall short of gamers' expectations — and the games of 2018 look like they'll fit the mold.
Going back and looking at the games of 2017, we've had a lot of amazing titles last year such as The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and NieR: Automata. Even the recently released Super Mario Odyssey is a modern masterpiece. Still, with all of these spectacular titles we've also had more than our fair share of disappointments. We know the tell-tale signs.
Year after year we get an incredible amount of games. Sometimes it's hard to tell what separates a good-looking one from a horrible game. There are console defining titles such as The Last Of Us, that have changed how we look at games as a whole and has raised the bar on what a game should be but there are more than enough noteworthy entries in the year 2017 that tells us what not to do as well.
Through this list, we're going to be looking at the 15 Video Game Sequels That Look Horrible In 2018. If you have a horrible sequel you didn't see on our list don't be afraid to tell us in the comment section below!
15 Far Cry 5
Is being fun good enough? The Far Cry series is one of the most entertaining and engaging games I've seen in a long time. Traveling around the open world, it doesn't matter if you're doing a side quest or completing a piece in the main story, it's a fun game.
However, Far Cry 5 made it on this list because it seems to have foregone the rich and well-researched culture of its' last three titles, in favor of a proto-typical narrative set in America. The whole thing reeks of being staged for shock value. As we mentioned, this is a series known for its fun antics, so maybe things will turn out ok, but right now it's shaping up to be a boring Ubisoft open-world slog like last year's Wildlands.
14 Metal Gear Survive
Let's face it, in the Metal Gear Solid series we spent half of our time exploring, and the other half watching cutscenes. So what did the owner's of said series do? Double-down on the shooting and action.
It's hard to image a Metal Gear Solid game without Hideo Kojima at the helm providing is own flavor of style and storytelling. Needless to say, the developers of Survive have their work cut out for them. Metal Gear Survive could absolutely prove us wrong, but we're not hopeful. There's plenty of action-oriented combat games available, but there's only one Metal Gear, so it's devastating to watch the series stumble into rote territory.
13 Kingdom Hearts III
Wow, I feel old. It's been 16 years since we've gotten a true continuation to Kingdom Hearts 2, so it's hard to imagine anyone's expectations will meet the hype surrounding the title. Like so many other Square games, the visuals are absolutely stunning, but they also make it more and more expensive to create new worlds. Moreover, knowing Square's predilection for milking their series over decades, it's hard to imagine them actually wrapping up the story with a bow. Who wants to get invested in Kingdom Hearts all over again without any closure. Again, we've loved the series before and we'd like to again, but nothing about the trailers we've seen makes us have any confidence that Square actually knows what they're doing.
12 Crackdown 3
A lot of fans have waited a long time since the release of Crackdown 2 in 2010. After seven years, we have finally arrived at our sequel, Crackdown 3. Sadly, there is very little here that looks particularly impressive. The game developers have been using the exact same formula for years and it seems a bit unfair to make fans wait seven years for what looks like a polished HD version of everything that the last installment had to offer
The Crackdown series is known for its superhero mechanics and fun but flawed combat. Still, part of the fun of the Crackdown series is exploring the open world, creating chaos as the players see fit, and if the world looks exactly the same as it has since the series' inception, it's hard to be jazzed about returning to it.
11 Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Like so many other stunning JRPGS, Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is a game we all have high expectations for ... but is poised to disappoint us. For starters, it doesn't look like much has changed from the first installment of the series.
Beyond that, Ni no Kuni II is not affiliated with Studio Ghibli like its predecssor, which comes as a huge disappotment to fans of the series and lovers and the company's work. Without Studio Ghibili involved, it's not unfair to assume the sequel will fall into traditional JRPG territory, and lose some of the heart and soul that made the first game so appealing.
10 Dragon Ball FighterZ
Over 20 years ago, Akira Toriyama had his manga Dragon Ball serialized by Shueisha. Several years later the Dragon Ball series was adapted into many different movies and games, spanning from the early Game Boy Advance to the more recent PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Dragon Ball series has been known across the world for it's many diverse and colorful characters, but hasn't always hit the nail on the head when it comes to video games.
Sadly, Dragon Ball FighterZ looks like it might have some pretty big technical issues. Super fans of the series, who have been involved in the betas report that it's a pretty buggy mess, with the Xbox One version having particularly awful server issues. Yikes. They might need to get seven dragon balls to save themselves from these technical woes.
9 Shenmue III
The Shenmue series hasn't always been a super success, especially in the United States. The franchise has something of a cult following due to its time and place in the history of the medium (read: before Grand Theft Auto stole the throne and became the most popular open-world video game of all time). Still, Shenmue always had a spirit that other open-world games didn't The problem is that Shenmue always had grand ideas, and never the budget to back them up... so they took to Kickstarter to be co-funded by fans and Sony. This sounds great on paper, but it's hard to imagine having fan input will be a good way to reign in the creators working on Shenmue III. Maybe we'll be wrong, but Shenmue III has too much riding on it for it to be a slam dunk.
8 Marvel's Spider-Man
Have any of you ever played a game and felt it lacked depth? One of the biggest problems with modern Spider-man video games is a feeling that there was a massive open-world to explore, with no thing in it to satisfy players. So far, this new iteration in the franchise looks like it's going to follow in its predecessor's footsteps. Sure the game looks visually spectacular, but the combat system seems to be stolen whole cloth from the Batman Arkham games, which doesn't inspire confidence. That being said, developer Insomniac has a great reputation, so maybe we'll be wrong. Finger's crossed.
7 Attack On Titan 2
When it comes to anime and movies based on video games, there's a reoccurring recipe for disaster. The original Attack On Titan had a big problem with a lack of content and it being a very repetitive game in general leads to some problems. A lot of anime-based games have a repeated cycle, you're introduced to your main characters you are indulged into your cutscenes and then you dive into the gameplay. Sadly, from what we've seen from the most recent trailer, it doesn't look like this game brings anything interesting or new to the table that we haven't seen before. Attack On Titan is highly regarded in the anime community, and its fans very well may regard it as a masterpiece, but releasing a second game in a series without any notable changes from its predecessor? That's simply unacceptable.
6 Darksiders III
Darksiders has a combat system that resembles the God Of War series, but under no circumstances is it enough to have a highly regarded sequel in 2018. Having very few original and unique ideas to separate it from others game in its genre, it's hard to get excited about a new game in the series. The Darksiders games have always cribbed from their peers, which isn't an awful idea, if you can nail the mechanics you're aping. Unfortunately, Darksiders cannot, and there's very little we've seen of Darksiders III that looks like it will change that. Good luck to all the developers — they definitely have their work cut out for them.
5 The Crew 2
The Crew 2 hopes to fill a void in the driving video game market. Unfortunately for them, that void has already been filled, between a new Gran Turismo on PlayStation 4 and an annual (excellent) Forza game every year on Xbox, there's very little room for innovation in the driving game market. Sure, The Crew 2 might be more in like with a Need for Speed game or Fast and Furious, but if they really want to impress, they'll need to do a whole lot more than what we've seen so far. In any event, we'll be playing The Crew 2 later this year — so we'll know for sure if there's any nitro to enjoy in this one soon.
4 Metro: Exodus
I can't begin to express how important freedom and decision making are in a game. Unfortunately, the Metro games continue to feel like scripted shooters masquerading as impressive open-world games. Sure, the premise of these titles is fascinating, but there's only so much you can do to balance the oppressive themes with a legitimately engaging video game that can be enjoyed by a mass market. Then again, crazier games have managed to be worldwide hits. If Metro Exodus wants to be taken seriously, they need to carve out their own niche that separates them further from the traditional FPS, while focusing on honing their controls to a point where they feel playable to a Western audience.
3 State Of Decay 2
The biggest problem with a game like State Of Decay and it's open world is the choices they present in front of the player, survival is the name of the game but doing so has never been harder, Not only do you have to keep up with your character's fatigue and other problematic issues but gathering a group of survivors to help you seems like a fun twist at first, but having your team help with supply runs can easily get them killed, erasing any work you may have put into assisting their survival is a major let down, half of the time while playing, the survivors you pick up are at random and some of their survival skills become completely useless at times, State Of Decay is a fun game series but until we see more inventive ways to play the new installment looks mediocre.
2 Valkyria Chronicles 4
It's not about how good or bad a story is but how you tell it. The Valkyria Chronicles series is one of those games that appear beautiful on the surface, but ultimately falls victim to the rote tedium that the developers never managed to escape after the original masterpiece.
Valkyria Chronicles has a fascinating story that pulls players in, but never manages to set itself a part from the pack. Four games later, it's hard to feel like giving the developer another chance to prove themselves, especially when indie developers are cranking out spectacular entries in the genre at a rapid clip.
1 Tropico 6
Just from the introduction and voice acting, we can already tell that this is a game that isn't meant to be taken seriously. Which is fine, sometimes. The problem with the Tropico games (and by association, Tropico 6), is that they have really grand ambitious of making you feel guilty through their mechanics, but never manage to strike a perfect balance between silliness and seriousness. The games will always have an audience —and if you loved the last games you will probably love this one— but they have a long way to go to stand tall in the greater canon of strategy video games.