5 Video Game Franchises That Died This Decade (& 5 That Came Back To Life)

The shift between video game morality when the first Fable game released — all the way back in September 2004 — and now has been massive. Fable helped lay the foundation for morality as a central factor in games, and watching a character slowly grow horns as they fall further into evil is still neat, but it has far less weight than what fans expect to see

While Microsoft has yet to unveil what other first-party games are coming to Xbox Series X, that’s likely to change sooner rather than later. Microsoft is expected to showcase its big first-party Xbox Series X games at a special Xbox 20/20 presentation in July , which will likely see a number of big announcements for the new cons

Microsoft’s premiere RPG franchise is Fable , with the first three Fable games all launching to various degrees of success. But despite their popularity, Microsoft has squandered the IP in recent years, releasing misguided spin-offs instead of proper sequels. However, rumors indicate that the Fable franchise will soon be coming back in a big way on Xbox Series X. According to various reports, Fable 4 is in active development at Playground Games , with the game set to be a major return to form for the series. There’s a chance that Fable 4 could even be revealed as early as next month’s Xbox 20/20 July presentation, so fans of the franchise should be sure to tune in just in c

On the other end of that are games that dropped the morality system entirely, one example being Fallout 4. Ditching the Karma system wasn’t a popular decision, but it did make players consider why they did what they did, rather than just making binary choices to fit the mold of a hero or villain. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish, and unrooting players from a mechanic they’ve used for the better part of a decade is commendable, even if there’s a notable shift in how well that change works. Morality in the game is by no means perfect, there were pointless decisions in Fallout 4 , and players were forced to play the hero in most situations, but it did make the smaller-scale decisions worthy of reflect

Metroidvania games rarely offer co-op options, which is part of the reason why Guacamelee 2 stands out from the pack so much. Letting players experience the exploration and platforming elements associated with Metroidvanias in a co-op space is a lot of fun, though it helps that Guacamelee 2 is a fantastic game at its core, too. Guacamelee 2 ‘s unique brand of humor, appealing art style, and non-stop action will keep players glued to the screen for the long haul, making it one of the best local co-op options on Game P

That being said, it’s a necessary change for a modern title. Ideally, there will be a balance between the old system and the creation of the new one, though, with no game confirmed so far, it’s difficult to say what exactly that will look like. Fans may get a decent idea if the game is announced at Xbox’s July event, though they’ll just have to wait and find

Technically, Mortal Kombat never really died, it held on by a thread during the PS2 generation. Titles like Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon made several changes to the formula, making the series unrecognizable from its roots except for the trademark aesthetic. After Midway closed its doors and the studio was picked up by Warner Bros., Ed Boon and his team became NetherRealm Studios and got to work on a return to form. 2011’s Mortal Kombat brought the battles back to a two-dimensional plane and added a story mode where bouts were divided up by detailed cutscenes showing the game’s soap opera-esque narrat

Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service has been a huge hit for the company so far, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Xbox Game Pass gives subscribers over 100 games to play representing all kinds of genres, including plenty of local co-op ga

Players fell in love with this companion the moment they saw him as a little puppy in Snake’s hands . D-Dog (also known as DD) and Snake even got matching eye patches. You get to see the dog grow from a puppy to a grizzled military dog. Before you know it, the dog is sniffing out and taking down enem

Life and death are inevitable parts of existence. All things born will eventually leave this place, and while no one quite knows where they go, traces of their time on Earth linger after they leave. This doesn’t solely apply to living beings, Mos Eisley Cantina secrets eit

This unforgiving turn-based strategy series was adored by its niche audience back in the ’90s. After 2001, the franchise dropped off the map for more than ten years until 2012’s X-COM: Enemy Unknown . The title received more attention than usual for the genre and managed to break into the mainstream audience. A sequel came out in 2016, ratcheting up the difficulty and arsenal of weaponry. Rarely do such difficult games garner such a player base, but this decade has seen intense challenges gain a new appreciation with this series and games like Dark Sou