Just like death and taxes, sequels are inevitable in today’s money-hungry games industry. If a brand-new IP is relatively successful, you can bet that there’s a horde of board members in a meeting room somewhere rubbing their hands together and trying to figure out how to turn it into the next Fortnite or GTA. I’d go out on a limb and say that I bet some sequels are planned even before the first game launches.
Rarely do these games need sequels though. Ghost of Tsushima is getting a sequel in Ghost of Yotei, but you, me, and everybody else who played the first know exactly what the second is going to look like. Nothing innovative or groundbreaking is going to come from sequels like Borderlands 4 or Assassin’s Creed Shadows either.
Indies Are Far More Deserving Of Sequels
It’s the games that need sequels that rarely get them, those being the dozens of experimental indie titles that are released on a yearly basis. Triple-A gaming has become more and more lackluster in recent years, as big developers and publishers shy away from bold and exciting ideas to stick with what works. I can’t blame them entirely, living in a world where a studio can be shut down and have its employees laid off for releasing a successful game. Why take a risk when releasing more of the same is already risky?
Indies will always be more experimental because they aren’t beholden to a group of shareholders or investors. They’re allowed to be creative works of art and play around with tried and tested mechanics to try and spice them up a bit. Games that fall in this category are The Stanley Parable, Enter the Gungeon, Fez, Furi, Celeste, Cuphead, Inside, Chicory, and many, many more.
All of those games made waves thanks to their developers breaking away and creating something unique, but I’d love to see what these same studios could cook up now that they’ve got a foundation to build upon. Sequels can often be seen as cash grabs, but they’re also a great opportunity for developers to learn from what went wrong, go back to the drawing board, and make a new game that blows the first one out of the water with all its refinements.
I Know Why Indies Don’t Get Sequels, But I Still Don’t Like It
Occasionally, an indie studio will announce a sequel, and I’m absolutely thrilled when it happens. Toem 2 was recently announced at this year’s Wholesome Snack: The Game Awards Edition showcase, an indie game that I never thought in a million years would get a sequel. Duck Detective: Ghost of Glamping was also announced, while Moonlighter 2 was revealed earlier this year too. You could probably point to dozens of indies that have sequels, but my point is that it doesn’t happen enough for my liking.
Unfortunately, one of the reasons why indie developers don’t pursue sequels is because they may not be financially viable. Unless it’s a Game of the Year contender like Balatro or Hades, chances are that a sequel wouldn’t garner as much interest as something completely different with bold new ideas, and sequels to indies that aren’t commercially successful don’t put bread on the table.
Indie studios being free from the shackles of corporate boardrooms could also be a reason why we don’t see so many sequels, as many developers can tell their stories in one complete package, and then become inspired by a different project or idea. A game like Celeste will probably never get a proper sequel because the story is over, so the developers have moved on to Earthblade.
It’s still nice to see some indie getting sequels though, even if the studios behind them are sticking their necks out a little more than they’re comfortable with. Some indie games have mechanics and gameplay loops too good to use just once, and you can bet your sweet bippy that I’ll be playing the heck out of Toem 2 and Moonlighter 2 when they launch next year.
