These 19 gaming franchises deserve a comeback

Rainer Etzweiler

29.12.2025

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Dino Crisis, Command & Conquer, Titanfall: these cult-hit games urgently need a sequel.

The fourth remake of the Dragon Quest series in just two years will come out next February. Two new Tomb Raider games have just been announced at the Game Awards. And in 2017, Bubsy, the most whatever video game character of all time, was given an ambitious reboot.

Publishers love reviving their work. While certain franchises are reliably torn from the grave every few years, others have been mouldering away unnoticed for decades. Games that defined genres, shaped childhoods and sold millions of units – ignored deep in the archives of EA, Konami and co. The industry’s priorities are as puzzling as the plot twists in a Hideo Kojima game.

Time to take stock: here are 19 franchises that urgently deserve a comeback (excluding Nintendo titles, since Domi has already mourned a few).

Medal of Honor

Fun fact: the idea for Medal of Honor came from director Steven Spielberg, who in turn was inspired by one of his son’s Goldeneye 007 sessions. Not-so-fun fact: the last offshoot of the world war shooter with any merit was Medal of Honor: Airborne, released in 2007. After that, things went downhill fast, both qualitatively and commercially.

One could argue that EA rightly put the franchise on the bench to focus on Battlefield. However, you could also argue that EA is a creatively bankrupt brand that ruins everything it touches. I prefer the latter.

Number of games in the series: 17

Time since last release: 5 years

Likelihood of a new game: Low. EA seems to be shutting down the brand for the long term.

Dino Crisis

There are people who claim that Dino Crisis is just Resident Evil with dinosaurs – and they’re right. Given this, Capcom should already have the blueprint for a reboot or remake ready to go. But unlike its zombie role model, Dino Crisis never managed to gain a foothold. Its most recent instalment was a colossal failure due to a confused style direction (Resident Evil with dinosaurs in space!).

Number of games in the series: 4 (including the spin-off)

Time since last release: 22 years

Likelihood of a new game: not impossible, Capcom has expressed interest several times.

Command & Conquer

I’m still offended that EA (ugh) cancelled Command & Conquer: Generals 2 back in the day. Who knows where the real-time strategy genre would be today if Generals had received a worthy follow-up. Although the series isn’t officially dead, the last proper instalment was released in 2010. Apart from a multiplayer-only title and a half-baked free-to-play thing, we’ve had absolutely nothing.

Number of games in the series: 13 (without add-ons)

Time since last release: 5 years

Likelihood of a new game: rather low, due to the upcoming sale of EA.

Burnout

Speaking of EA, Burnout was once the king of arcade racers. No other game made car crashes as satisfying as Burnout 3: Takedown. Crash mode was digital catharsis at its best. But hey, who needs the fun Burnout when you can have 13 mediocre Need for Speeds instead?

Number of games in the series: 10

Time since last release: 8 years

Likelihood of a new game: rather low, due to the upcoming sale of EA.

SingStar

Pop quiz! Which of these is NOT a real SingStar version?

a) SingStar Après Ski

b) SingStar Turkish Party

c) SingStar The Wiggles

d) SingStar Football Hits

SIKE! That was a trick question, all four versions exist. I just wanted to show how absurdly successful Sony’s karaoke games were at the beginning of the millennium. Oversaturation was definitely one reason for its decline. Still, maybe it’s worth bringing back? In small doses perhaps.

Number of games in the series: Uhh, a lot?

Time since last release: 8 years

Likelihood of a new game: Sony currently sees its priorities elsewhere.

Sim City

Another franchise in the endless graveyard of EA Games. Sim City 2013 was a disaster of biblical proportions: mandatory Internet connections, server crashes and an artificially reduced city size that made even the most remote suburb look like a vibrant metropolis. No wonder all its fans migrated to Cities: Skylines.

Number of games in the series: 18 (including spin-offs)

Time since last release: 11 years

Likelihood of a new game: low, especially since Cities Skylines does almost everything better anyway.

SSX

Oh, EA again? Could there be a pattern emerging?

SSX was the coolest snowboard series of the early 2000s. Exaggerated tricks, crazy tracks and a soundtrack that skyrocketed the share prices of all baggy trouser brands. All this combined made the game the second-best niche sports title of the new millennium. The 2012 reboot was… okay. Not bad, not great, just okay. And okay isn’t enough for EA to make a sequel.

Number of games in the series: 6 (including spin-offs)

Time since last release: 12 years

Likelihood of a new game: snowboarding’s no longer all that trendy. Unlikely.

Sly Cooper

Remember how, around 2016, the entire internet suddenly loved raccoons? Trash pandas were everywhere, and every meme account posted videos of the little chaos gremlins. It would’ve been the perfect time for a Sly Cooper comeback. Alas, IP owner Sucker Punch was too busy with Ghost of Tsushima at the time. There are no raccoons in that game, but at least I can cuddle a fox.

Number of games in the series: 5 (including spin-offs, without Collection)

Time since last release: 12 years

Likelihood of a new game: maybe a different developer will bring Sly out of hibernation. 50/50.

Twisted Metal

Season three of the Twisted Metal TV show was recently announced. And if you’re thinking, «Wait, there’s a Twisted Metal show?», don’t worry, I felt the same. Even more surprisingly, the series is outstanding. Anthony Mackie (Captain America: Brave New World) and Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) shine in this wonderfully crazy action spectacle, which desperately deserves an accompanying game. Sony put the franchise on ice after a mediocre 2012 reboot.

Number of games in the series: 10 (including spin-offs)

Time since last release: 13 years

Likelihood of a new game: likely, thanks to the success of the show.

Parasite Eve

In 1998, Square(soft) tried its hand at a survival horror game, instantly delivering a smash hit on its first attempt. Sadly, its sequels grew weaker with each release. 2010’s The 3rd Birthday was such a confusing mess that it buried the franchise. Too bad, the mysterious plot, complex protagonist Aya Brea and an urban setting still offer endless potential for a modern adaptation.

Number of games in the series: 3

Time since last release: 15 years

Likelihood of a new game: Low. But at least we’ll be getting a spiritual successor with the recently announced Parasite Mutant.

Castlevania

How can it be that a franchise that defined an entire genre simply lies stagnant? Although Konami recently delivered regular reissues of older games, the last brand-new gothic adventure came out more than ten years ago. However, an excellent Netflix series has proven that interest in Dracula and his adversaries is still there.

Number of games in the series: 31 (without Collections)

Time since last release: 11 years

Likelihood of a new game: if Konami can bring back Silent Hill and Suikoden, they can bring back the whippy platformer.

Titanfall

Hot Take: Titanfall 2 delivered the best FPS single-player campaign since Half-Life 2. The Effect and Cause level alone is more brilliant than anything Call of Duty has produced in the last ten years. But EA (UGH!) sees things differently.

Number of games in the series: 5 (including spin-offs)

Time since last release: 3 years

Likelihood of a new game: Low. Apex Legends just makes too much money.

Sleeping Dogs

One of the few GTA clones that had enough ideas of its own to step out of the original’s shadow. The Hong Kong setting, the martial arts combat system, the story – everything was top-notch. Sleeping Dogs could’ve been the start of a new franchise. But as we all know, things turned out differently: developer studio United Front Games vanished into oblivion in 2016. Square Enix now holds the rights, where they’re gathering dust alongside other forgotten projects.

Number of games in the series: 1

Time since last release: 11 years

Likelihood of a new game: almost non-existent. Open-world action games are expensive.

Jak & Daxter

Think what you like about Naughty Dog’s indulgent drama The Last of Us: hardly anyone can deny that the franchise is massively successful. The same goes for Uncharted. In this respect, it’s hardly surprising that the American studio behind them has left its platformer roots behind. Sony could easily hire another talented studio. It worked with Crash Bandicoot.

Number of games in the series: 6

Time since last release: 16 years

Likelihood of a new game: there’s a chance, but we still know nothing.

Skies of Arcadia

Sega announced reboots of various older series in 2023. Fans of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio and Golden Axe promptly rejoiced. Conversely, Skies of Arcadia fans such as myself are still being ignored. The best role-playing game on the Dreamcast deserves a sequel. It also deserves an anime adaptation, three movies and its own cornflakes brand, but that’s further down the road.

Number of games in the series: 1

Time since last release: 22 years

Likelihood of a new game: an HD remaster should be on the cards at the very least.

Starcraft

Blizzard’s sci-fi epic is alive and kicking. At almost any given time, the strategy game is being played by 10 per cent of the South Korean population (rough estimate). BUT: the last expansion for StarCraft II was released in 2015. Since then, it’s been radio silence.

In other news: does anyone else remember Starcraft: Ghost? That stealth action spin-off was announced in 2002, postponed several times and put on hold indefinitely in 2006. That’s publisher speak for «dead, but we don’t want to admit it». Nova, the protagonist for that unreleased game, later appeared in Heroes of the Storm. A consolation prize. You can’t always get what you want.

Number of games in the series: 3 (including Starcraft 64)

Time since last release: 8 years

Likelihood of a new game: low, as long as Starcraft II continues to deliver the gross national product of Liechtenstein every month.

Warcraft

Warcraft III: Reforged was released in 2020, and was so disastrous that it provided drama YouTubers with content for six weeks. The remaster looked as if someone had run the original graphics through an Instagram filter, then uploaded it to the Steam store with an indifferent «That’ll do». The AI was broken, features were missing, and the Metacritic user rating was an 0.6 out of 10 at times. Azeroth deserves better.

Number of games in the series: 3

Time since last release: 5 years

Likelihood of a new game: high, but probably not in the next five years.

Black & White

The cross-platform God game genre is as dead as Peter Molyneux’s credibility. However, Black & White was a minor revelation in 2001. In it, you control a massive creature and decide whether to shower your subjects with love or throw them into a volcano as sacrificial offerings. This mixture of Populous, Tamagotchi and moral ambiguity was refreshingly different.

Number of games in the series: 2

Time since last release: 23 years

Likelihood of a new game: haha, nope.

X-Com

I miss whiffing on attacks that have a 98 per cent accuracy rate. The strategy game taught me that numbers lie, and that the universe has a personal grudge against me. Developer Firaxis has recently been working on Marvel’s Midnight Suns and Civilization VII, so the extraterrestrial threat seems to be taking a break.

Number of games in the series: 8

Time since last release: 5 years

Likelihood of a new game: 98 per cent. Still, X-Com fans know this doesn’t mean anything.

If your favourite game is missing from this list, it’s probably because EA just hasn’t killed it yet. Give them time.

Rainer Etzweiler

Freelance Editor

rainer@rockstar.ch

In the early 90s, my older brother gave me his NES with The Legend of Zelda on it. It was the start of an obsession that continues to this day.

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