Video games, like movies, are created in the hopes of earning money. Big name brands and properties usually make more money because of familiarity and reliability in the original property, as well as a desire for more. Sequels are the norm for games and films because it’s easier to guarantee a certain degree of success and income.
Some video games, whether it be out of hope, confidence, or merely creative choice, like to hint at the future. There can be scenes pointing towards certain plot points or characters in the sequel, hidden clues, mysteries to decipher, or Easter eggs to be found that reveal ideas and intentions from the developers. Many video games hint at their sequels, in a variety of ways.
Beware of spoilers for the endings of the games featured on this list.
8 Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
While The Last of Us is not a sequel to the Uncharted games, the two series, both developed by Naughty Dog, share many references. There are pendants, names, posters and more in both series that nudge and wink at a potential connection.
In Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, released before The Last of Us, a newspaper can be found with the headline: ‘Scientists are still struggling to understand deadly fungus.’ This was Naughty Dog not only hinting at their next project but revealing the core idea of the story and background behind it.
7 Horizon: Zero Dawn
When Horizon: Zero Dawn was launched, it was intended to spawn a new series of games to join Sony’s bolstering line-up of single-player experiences. Knowing this, an end credits scene shows Sylens trapping the AI, Hades with the intent on interrogating it about who sent the signal that activated it.
End credits scenes are not uncommon in video games or movies, but there’s certainly a degree of confidence on display when a new IP has one that not only hints at a sequel but tells you exactly what it’s about.
6 Splinter Cell: Double Agent
For the most part, entries in the Splinter Cell series serve as standalone, stealth-driven adventure games. Splinter Cell: Double Agent was the first to buck that trend. The game ends with the main character Sam Fisher on the run, his daughter presumably dead and everything he knows, and loves gone.
It’s bleak, and while he canonically saves the day, it isn’t entirely satisfying. This alone makes it very clear that Sam’s journey is not over. Adding to this, dissolving any subtlety is a ‘to be continued’ card at the end of the game.
5 The Secret of Monkey Island
The Monkey Island games are a tongue-in-cheek, point-and-click adventure game series. In it, you play as wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood. His quest is to discover the secret of Monkey Island and become the greatest pirate there is.
He goes on his adventure, defeats the bad guy, and saves the day. However, he does not learn the secret of Monkey Island. The game ends with a massive question yet unanswered. The sequel would do something similar, ending on a cliffhanger. It wasn’t until Return to Monkey Island that the secret would finally, sort of, be revealed. This is a game series that constantly hints at what’s to come and doesn’t always satisfy.
4 Resident Evil 3: Remake
One of the luxuries of remaking a game is that you can retroactively connect certain plot points and threads. That’s what the remake of Resident Evil 3 did. In RE 3, you are stalked across the city by the monstrous Nemesis. The remake reveals that Nemesis is some sort of bioengineered early iteration of the parasite seen in Resident Evil 4.
Nemesis has tentacles looking a lot like the parasite in Resident Evil 4, and it plants parasites into zombies, leaving tentacles like Las Plagas in that game too. On top of this, documentation can be found that confirm the connection, revealing that the parasite seen in the fourth entry is the same one featured in Nemesis. None of this was in the original version of RE 3. It not only ties into RE 4 more but also hints that that game was indeed getting the remake treatment next.
3 Assassin’s Creed
Every Assassin’s Creed game hints at what was yet to come in the series. You can find documents on computers that suggest character reveals and future plot points; there are mysteries and clues to decipher and more.
In the first game, not only does the story end in a way that suggests there was more to come, with characters promising to track down more pieces of Eden, but also mysterious series of ciphers, graphs, and glyphs can be found. These all hint at a catastrophic event yet to come, one that would form the basis of the main narrative as the series progressed.
2 Batman: Arkham Asylum
Some games like to overtly state that there will be more to come. Usually that takes place in a cutscene or via a piece of dialogue. It’s normally a part of the narrative, with characters vowing to return or promising to do something.
In Batman: Arkham Asylum, this was not the case. In this game, players had to go out of their way to discover clues and hints of what was to come in the sequel. Even if they found them, they couldn’t always understand them. A secret room, for example, highlights the possibilities for what would eventually be the sequel, Arkham City. But players really had to dig deep and play around with mechanics to find it.
1 Metal Gear Solid
It’s normal now for big movies to hint at sequels, characters, and plot points by placing a scene at the end of the credits. It leaves viewers wanting more, anticipating the future of the series. Video games also have them.
In the original Metal Gear Solid, after Snake saves the day and ends the disaster, he rides off into the distance with Meryl in tow. As the credits come to an end, dialogue reveals that one of the key villains survived the incident, and on top of all that, he is in cahoots with the President. While the original Metal Gear Solid works as a standalone adventure, the ending hints at threads that would feature in its sequel.