Highlights
- Some of the sequels to PlayStation’s best games lack the sense of discovery and novelty found in the originals.
- Direct follow-ups take too long to develop nowadays and feel too similar, leading to burnout and disappointment.
- Such games often feel interchangeable, meaning you could kick off the series with the latest release, and wouldn’t miss too much.
In the summer of 2018, when I got my hands on a PlayStation 4, I played only God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn exclusively for a solid month, juggling between the two. Back then, I was completely blown away by these flagship Sony games. PlayStation exclusives that combine over-the-shoulder view, top-notch production, tight narrative, and thrilling combat, quickly became my go-to for pouring free time into.
Today, my relationship with Sony’s exclusives have gotten a bit more tricky. Sure, I could still burn a month on Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarök on my PS5, but there’s a sense that something has been lost over time. The magic has faded, and the recent major releases from Sony, mostly sequels, just ain’t hitting me like they used to.
Missed Something? No sweat!
PlayStation sequels still get tons of love from fans, earning even higher scores from the press, so what changed for me? Don’t get me wrong: I’m not suggesting that these games are inferior to the originals. Quite the opposite, actually — they’re usually superior and more refined, packed with content. But here’s the twist: this only holds true if you haven’t played the originals beforehand.
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See, these games feel kinda interchangeable, meaning you could kick off the series with the latest release, and you probably wouldn’t miss much. Apart from catching up on the story (which you can do on YouTube in like 20 minutes), there’s not much push to start at the beginning for Horizon or Spider-Man. And vice versa. I don’t care much about the familiar, slightly rehashed superhero tropes of Spider-Man 2, and it didn’t grab me like the first one did. It’s the same world you’ve explored before, with established rules to follow, so the initial sense of discovery and novelty at every turn is nowhere to be found the second time around.
Bringing In The Surprises
Even though direct sequels can sometimes offer wild surprises — like playing as Atreus for a significant portion of God of War Ragnarök, or using flying machines in Forbidden West, or instantly switching between Peter and Miles on the fly — they often feel too same-y and lack that big wow-effect of discovery that the originals had, unable to replicate the same exciting emotions. You’re stuck with the familiar structure, core moves, and main crew, and maybe just a couple of new toys (Kratos gets one spear in Ragnarök, and that’s it). What’s left is just some quality-of-life tweaks, more refined visuals, new areas, and fresh story beats.
Plus, a bunch of sequels hoard the best stuff for later, making you slog through the same game you’ve been through before until you finally hit the good parts. Take Forbidden West, hyping up new tropical regions and massive underwater sections. In reality, those are locked behind hours of the same scenery I’ve previously explored. I actually never made it to those new spots I was pumped about, bouncing off after a painfully dull first 30 hours.
My excitement also took a hit because many sequels drag on forever, with little reason to stick around except for the storyline. I spent more than 80 hours clearing Zero Dawn’s vast map, and my enthusiasm turned into annoyance when faced with Forbidden West’s even bigger map. God of War and Ragnarök can easily take over 50 hours each, especially if you’re a completionist hunting down every optional bit and secret boss.
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The thing is, such games simply don’t bring enough innovation to justify being stretched out for that long. Maybe if they were shorter and dropped more often, we could dodge the burnout. Insomniac Games has already adopted that approach, releasing smaller titles between the mainline Spider-Man entries, but it’s hard to say if that’s really a solution. At least you get more of the things you dig, I guess.
And can we please cut the tradition of making players start direct sequels from ground zero, with all our gear and skills being magically downgraded? It’s a real buzzkill. Why not design these games to build upon the leveling systems that have already been introduced and not simply reset them to nothing, at least for existing players? Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a good example of that, with Cal Kestis keeping most of the skills learned in Fallen Order, only to add new abilities on top of that. Let’s see more of that, please.
Direct Sequels Don’t Cut It Anymore
The reason I’m kinda over big sequels boils down to how the gaming industry has changed over the years. Triple-A development these days is just not sustainable, and companies need to figure out new ways to keep the ball rolling, perhaps by making games shorter. Today’s blockbusters cost too much and take too long to develop. When a direct follow-up that continues the story takes around five years and ends up looking visually superior but feeling way too safe and déjà vu, it’s a major shift from how things used to be.
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This sequel model used to work well in the past, when players could get an entire trilogy in three to four years. Back then, it was only natural that each entry felt almost identical to the last. Take the Prince of Persia trilogy (2003 to 2005) or even the Uncharted trilogy (2007 to 2011), where the big changes were in new spots and the plot. But now, when it takes a whopping five years for the follow-up to drop, it’s reasonable to expect more dramatic changes, especially with so many awesome games popping up in the meantime.
The original Mass Effect trilogy was released between 2007 and 2012, and each new chapter felt like a whole different beast, not just resting on past glory. I struggle to name another example that shook things up as much as Mass Effect 2. It basically tore down everything from the original — combat, exploration, even the vehicles — and built it all from scratch. That’s the golden example of a sequel done right, especially when you’re looking at a multi-year gap.
When I learned that God of War isn’t stretching into another trilogy, and Santa Monica Studio’s wrapping it up in two games, I was so relieved. What are their reasons? Same deal: “it’d take too long to finish the intended story.” Today, when I think about the third Horizon or Spider-Man 3, I feel no excitement at all.
Waiting On The Worlds To Change
This issue isn’t just a PlayStation thing — it’s a sequel thing across the gaming board, it just happened that Sony has become most associated with that type over the past few years. Earlier on, the company took risks and spent years inventing its new IPs, carefully selecting the most successful and shutting down the ones that failed to deliver (Days Gone, The Order 1886). It makes sense to cash in on those hits now.
But it’s also high time for another wave of exciting new IPs from their lead studios, instead of this never-ending sequel parade. Fingers crossed that 2024 and beyond will bring the much-needed change, with Rise of the Ronin and Marvel’s Wolverine being just the first heralds of what’s to come next.
Horizon Forbidden West
$30 $36 Save $6
- Released
- February 18, 2022
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