No popular game franchise is unsalvagable. It doesn’t matter if it had a string of mediocre games, one absolute disaster that was a mess upon release or completely lost focus of what made the franchise special in the first place; a major game series can always retrace the steps it took to reach the top of the proverbial mountain.
Take, for example, Doom: a franchise that was seemingly dead and buried, but one that eventually reclaimed its stature by revisiting the frantic and empowering gameplay that made it so unique.
Or how about Devil May Cry? After the less than stellar reboot attempt, fans desperately wanted to see the series return to its roots. In turn, the recent Devil May Cry 5 was a return to form for a series that had lost its touch and found critical and commercial acclaim because of it.
In short, big game franchises are at their best when they remember where they came from. Yet, it seems a lot of this generation’s most prominent names forget to consult their past when pushing forwards into the future.
Whether they need to understand that bigger doesn’t always equal better or that refined gameplay can often trump needless complication, it’s worth calling out some franchises that need to work backwards to regain some mojo.
