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Oct 09, 2023

10 Greatest Video Game Sequels That Fixed the Original, Ranked

Unlike other mediums, video game sequels are often better than the original. Historically, sequels have made for a disappointing experience. Sequels often feel like a money grab, or don't quite

Unlike other mediums, video game sequels are often better than the original.

Historically, sequels have made for a disappointing experience. Sequels often feel like a money grab, or don't quite capture the magic of what made the original great. In the worst cases, they feel completely heartless. When it comes to video games, however, the medium has had a much better track record of finding success with its sequels.

Making games is a very iterative process, after all — that's why video games take years to make in the first place. Having a whole extra development cycle allows developers to build upon and perfect the systems, infrastructures, and artistic elements they worked so hard to create the first time around.

Related: 10 Video Game Sequels That Had Nothing To Do With The Franchise

Players owe it to the first Borderlands game for kicking off one of the silliest and most fun FPS series in gaming, but this one isn’t even close. Borderlands 2 improved vastly due to the original thanks to Gearbox expanding the game’s budget a significant amount.

Thanks to this increase in resources, the developers were able to greatly improve the game’s script and storytelling, which was the biggest complaint players had from the first game. All Gearbox had to do from there was let the writers do their thing, tweak the already-excellent gameplay systems they had in place, and watch the money roll in.

The Fallout series has seen its fair share of memorable titles, but most fans who have been around the franchise for a while will likely regard Fallout: New Vegas as the best game in the post-apocalyptic, retro-future universe.

Fallout’s exploration-heavy gameplay and fascinating world-building have always been some of its greatest strengths, but New Vegas raised the bar on the series’ storytelling so high that it's managed to eclipse its mainline counterparts completely. Bethesda clearly knows how to make some truly great video games, but Obsidian’s take on Fallout made for one of the most compelling narratives to grace the action RPG genre.

Related: 10 Video Game Sequels That Are Basically Identical To The Original

When Mass Effect fans describe the greatest heights of their favorite series, most of the time they’re talking about the series’ second entry. While the first game set the tone for one of the greatest space operas in gaming, Mass Effect 2 improved upon the formula tenfold with tighter graphics and controls, new characters, and some of the best side quests to grace RPGs.

Long-time Bioware fans often bemoan the sad state that the studio has fallen into, in large part because of the precedent Mass Effect 2 set for quality. ME2 will always be remembered as one of those games that completely redefined AAA titles as gamers know them today.

Swashbuckling heroes, witty banter, and some of the best-looking animation the industry had ever seen at the time — there’s so much to love about the original Uncharted.

After the first game, however, Naughty Dog sharpened and honed the Uncharted formula in preparation for the second game, offering a more cinematic experience with even better animation and characters, delivering an adventure that put even Hollywood blockbusters of the time to shame. While this quality carried through the rest of the series, players will never forget the masterpiece that is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

No disrespect to the first Red Dead Redemption – it was revolutionary for the time and has its own place as one of the “greatest of all time” – but Red Dead Redemption 2 is the revival the series needed after an agonizing eight-year hiatus.

RDR2 doubled down on the immersive elements that really made players feel as if they were in the wild west while delivering on the complex open-world everyone's come to love and expect from Rockstar. Throw some truly great characters and graphics on top of it all, and Red Dead 2 is a gaming experience not easily forgotten.

The Baldur’s Gate series has always been exceptional, but the third installment feels like the franchise is finally reaching its fullest potential. Baldur’s Gate 3 is stunningly beautiful, with some of the best art and facial animation in any game, ever.

This third entry captures the magic of what it feels like to play Dungeons & Dragons with friends at its very best, and the fact that players can jump into that experience whenever they want is something special. Dungeons & Dragons was already surging in popularity over the past five years or so, but Baldur’s Gate 3 has really cemented the famed tabletop RPGs rightful place in the mainstream.

When it comes to fighting game franchises, Street Fighter has made a name for itself as one of the absolute greatest. It’s not an understatement to say that the fighting game genre would not be what it is today without Street Fighter II.

Street Fighter II of course introduced a slew of new characters to the original Street Fighter lineup, each with their own unique fighting styles, but also debuted the combo system, special command-based moves, and a six-button configuration for greater complexity in fighting styles. The fighting game genre has been chasing SFII's success ever since.

The original Portal game tops two different genres, as it’s one of the best puzzle games of all time and as one of the best narrative games. Portal 2, however, improved upon a nearly perfect formula on multiple fronts, from the gameplay to the atmosphere to the writing.

Of course, the real standouts in Portal 2 were the performances by Ellen McLain – returning as the iconic AI antagonist GLaDOS – J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson, and Stephen Merchant as the hapless orb companion Wheatley. Throw in a few new puzzle mechanics to add some variety to the original physics-based Portal formula, a couple of classic one-liners, and some musical surprises, and Portal 2 makes for one of the finest specimens gaming has to offer.

Related: The 10 Best Games of 2023 So Far (According to Critics)

It's really a shame Valve isn’t making games anymore since they were untouchable when it came to quality back in the day This is doubly true for Half-Life 2, which has gone on to become one of the most influential games of all time. Valve’s level design is unmatched to this day, in gameplay and storytelling alike.

Half-Life put an innovative new take on the FPS genre, which Half-Life 2 pushed even further, introducing a physics system that revolutionized gaming systems of the time. HL2 is an atmospheric, brutal adventure, and while players have been able to enjoy Half-Life: Alyx in VR, fans will never stop holding out for a third installment.

Those who haven’t at least heard of The Witcher must be living under a rock at this point. Between the mainstream success of the game series and the Netflix television series, The Witcher is one of the most well-recognized franchises in the current media landscape. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is widely considered one of the best, if not the best, open-world RPGs of all time.

Wild Hunt has more complex magic, leveling, and inventory systems than its predecessors, and some of the best storytelling players will find in any game anywhere, especially when it comes to some of the side quests. Between an incredibly strong narrative that outdoes its predecessors and the best combat of the trilogy, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the greatest video game sequels of all time.

Next: 10 Video Game Sequels More Famous Than The Original