A great video game can be like lightning in a bottle. That one perfect game that comes out at the right time and place. A breakthrough title that rewrites the script and shatters expectations.

Then comes the sequel. With a publisher breathing down your neck and fan expectations sky-high, can any sequel really live up to that first legendary title?

Even the most revered video game studios have put out a blunder or misstep when it comes to their flagship franchises. Whether it's rushing a title to cash in on a lucrative holiday season or simply a limited budget or an unrealistic deadline - many video game sequels have left fans with a bitter taste in their mouths, either by missing the mark completely to just being "okay".

Obvious disappointing video game sequels include Duke Nukem Forever - a game that took 14 years to release to a triumphant "humph"; Nintendo's Metroid: Other M - a game with a laughably bad story and frustrating controls; Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link - a game that upended its predecessor and lost a lot of what made the first game so esteemed in the first place.

But, what are your most disappointing video game sequels? Did a sequel to a game ever resonate so poorly with you that you lost interest in the franchise altogether?

Let us know your most disappointing video game sequel in the comments below.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

Plants vs Zombies 2 - mobile only, so duh.

Phantom Hourglass (and its own sequel, Spirit Tracks) - stylus only.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - might be a bit unfair to compare a game that's still got two more DLC waves coming to a 'completed' game, but there's nowhere near as much to do in 3 than in 2, and combat feels a lot more one-note as well.

Ratchet & Clank: Future - the original games mocked the hyper-consumerist nature by making stuff cost a lot, and R & C themselves often needled each other. The varied locations they visited also tended to look rough and unpolished, suiting the theme. Ever since Future, those aspects have all but vanished, with the heroes rarely poking fun at each other, instead being more generically "heroic", and locations being much shinier and polished than they should (due to more powerful consoles enabling better-looking games, which really doesn't work in this series).
Didn't help that Tools of Destruction is known for having cutscene audio desyncs...

Spyro 3, even in Reignited - fuck the kangaroos, fuck skateboarding, and fuck the Speedways. Oh, and also fuck the twin-regenerating-dragon fight, too. Entirely unnecessary sequel to two great games - 1 and Ripto's Rage both understand how fun playing as a dragon is, while 3 just added way too much stuff that went against that premise.

Not exactly a direct "sequel", but...Breath of the Wild. Doesn't play like a proper Legend of Zelda game, kept the frustrating stamina and fragility systems from Skyward Sword (except now spreading fragility to weapons), provides very little sense of direction to players, replaces proper dungeons with not-nearly-as-fun Divine Beasts, sexist Gerudo, boss fights aren't all that original or distinct compared to proper dungeon bosses of old, Eventide Island and the Master Sword Trials stripping you of all your stuff for the duration, the worst depiction of Zelda herself yet...I slogged through this once, back in 2020 or so, and I never want to touch it again. I'd rather go through Skyward Sword, since at least that disaster knows what Legend of Zelda should play like, even with all the unnecessary player-hostile crap attached to it (motion controls, Pouch, stamina, shield fragility - except for the Hylian Shield, see BotW eventually this issue got solved back here fuck you for not following suit you jackass, slow flying in an empty sky, frustrating Imprisoned fights, etc.).

 

[eduall]

Bayonetta 3 cuz semi naked protagonist

 

[Roamin64]

I absolutely love Zelda 2 ever since I first played it as a Kid. I rented the game played a few hours and asked my parents to go buy it so I don't lose my progress by returning the game back to the video club. It was Easter eve and a long week-end from school! I got to play the entire 3 days!

I thought the fighting dynamic and spells were pretty fun! It made combat harder than Zelda 1. Losing exp when getting hit by certain mobs a little less though

 

[Plazorn]

Horizon Forbidden West was glitchy trash, after replaying Zero Dawn again, it was just so much better than its sequel.

 

[Milkywayjester]

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A great video game can be like lightning in a bottle. That one perfect game that comes out at the right time and place. A breakthrough title that rewrites the script and shatters expectations.

Then comes the sequel. With a publisher breathing down your neck and fan expectations sky-high, can any sequel really live up to that first legendary title?

Even the most revered video game studios have put out a blunder or misstep when it comes to their flagship franchises. Whether it's rushing a title to cash in on a lucrative holiday season or simply a limited budget or an unrealistic deadline - many video game sequels have left fans with a bitter taste in their mouths, either by missing the mark completely to just being "okay".

Obvious disappointing video game sequels include Duke Nukem Forever - a game that took 14 years to release to a triumphant "humph"; Nintendo's Metroid: Other M - a game with a laughably bad story and frustrating controls; Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link - a game that upended its predecessor and lost a lot of what made the first game so esteemed in the first place.

But, what are your most disappointing video game sequels? Did a sequel to a game ever resonate so poorly with you that you lost interest in the franchise altogether?

Let us know your most disappointing video game sequel in the comments below.

plants vs zombies 2. The game is pay to win

 

[shaunj66]

Horizon Forbidden West was glitchy trash, after replaying Zero Dawn again, it was just so much better than its sequel.

Good one. I really enjoyed the first one but dropped the second after several hours. It felt like exactly the same game but without the charm of the original.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

One of my disappointing ones was Darksiders II. Don't get me wrong- the atmosphere and music was really good, and gameplay was solid, but... It just kept re-using the same quest lines from the start to end-game. It was always find 3 things, then fight the boss, kind of like the Forest Dungeon in Zelda Ocarina of time, but.. a lot more repetitive and mundane.

The first one had a lot more variety, plus imo combat was better albeit still good in the second one.

It genuinely is a solid game, and I played it to completion; but it just doesn't stack up to the first one.

 

[Varia]

Crash Bandicoot 3.
I loved the first two games, so I was very disappointed to learn how half of the game is not about platforming, but extremely boring mini-games.
Plus I felt the escape levels and riding levels were far better in Crash 2.

 

[sion_zaphod]

The last Guardian. I loved ICO and SOTC and bought a PS3 just to be able to play the 3rd game by project ICO. Delay after delay and all the hype. PS4 later and the game is ok but not worth the wait and hype.

 

[DarkCoffe64]

My biggest and most infuriating disappointment? Chocobo Fucking Shitass GP.
One of my favourite games of all time is the PS1 Chocobo Racing, just a fun and charming Final Fantasy kart game with so much neat unlockables, fast and frantic gameplay, kickass remixes of the more famous FF tracks, lovely mix of character sprites and low poly 3d courses. To this day, I still don't understand how most consider it a "bad" kart racing game, those people that think so must be mental, because I say it's one of the best kart games on the PS1, and I'd also say that's a fact.
Also that song that plays during the credits, always makes me shed a tear.

Timeskip to when the 3DS was announced, Squeenix shows off two games for it, one being a prototype of Final Fantasy Explorers, the other being a brand new Chocobo Racing game! That game and the new Luigi's Mansion one were the reason why I bought the 3DS... and you have no idea how disappointed I was when I found out effing Squeenix cancelled the game.
I never really forgave them that one, always made me grumpy whenever I thought about it, but in the end, guess whatever...

Jump to much, much later, Chocobo GP was announced for the Switch! By then, I had grown tired of all them videogames corpos, seeing how they're all pretty much fucking awful, corrupt and anti-consumer POS. I've learned to not get hyped to anything... but fuck me if I wasn't excited for it, even if the trailes didn't show it being too great, but for once, I wanted to try being positive about it...

Oh boy, was I so fucking wrong to be positive about this

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING about the game is complete, utter shit (aside maybe the graphics and most of the music). Not only was the game monetized from hell and back, the game itself and how it plays is complete garbage. 80% of the characters can't actually fucking drive in the minuscule and badly designed tracks without constantly slamming against the walls or falling off the tracks, you're constantly bombarded by items that home in on you with almost no chance to dodge them, a lot of characters have completely useless powers, and whoever made the fucking song that constantly plays on the menus should have their eardrum replaced with earphones playing that song again, and again, AND AGAIN!

tldr: Fuck Square Enix to oblivion, they're fucking scum and cancer, hope they burn down to the ground and go to where they belong, in hell.

 

[randy_w]

The Last of Us Part II
No need to explain, this one takes the cake.

 

[Karones]

Frog Detective 2, doesn't have the charm nor the humor of the first game, hopefully the third one is better.

 

[Dzapa]

No More Heroes 3

 

[Kazmar]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2. This game has lot of issues that just urk me, partially because the first game and X were so good in terms of QoL especially, how was 2 such a misstep? I blame not enough development time. They had about 2 years and were helping with Breath of the Wild at the time. I'm sure if it got another year or two to iron out it's kinks it could've been really fun, though some of the systems totally need an overhaul (fuck field skills). I don't even think it's the gacha that killed it for me, though I don't love the gacha system. It's mainly just that it's "upgrade system" or how you get strong outside of battle is super tedious. The battle system itself is fun, and the story is pretty good too. I've always wanted a mix of Persona 4 and Xenoblade 2, with Persona 4's excellent "upgrade system" and Xenoblade 2's excellent battle system. A man can only dream of a real-time Persona game.

 

[Jasonclarke1986]

The Last of Us Part II
No need to explain, this one takes the cake.

Joel f**king get up.......

 

[almmiron]

Metroid Prime 4, so empty.

 

[Spider_Man]

Zelda 2 named, should look at BoTW, fact that we never saw a new zelda title for its new console (wii u) then all this time and all we got was an empty map full of the same shit to do.

When the fans class this a masterpiece and a perfect game, just proves they'll defend nintendo to the end.

Then nintendo go do it again, pokemon arceus, exactly the same thing, massive empty map and repeat the same shit even more.

Its shit that its taken nintendo all this time to compile all the BoTW dlc into the game or is the delays that its finding it hard to get it to run better on the shit hardware considering BoTW ran like a pile of shit and it was a launch title, didnt exactly have anything demanding really.

 

[AlexMCS]

Some of my top disappointments were already mentioned:

- Chrono Cross - After Trigger, I expected a game at least on par with it, not... that...
- Heroes of Might and Magic past 3/Chronicles - Some newer entries were ok-ish, but way too bugged, shamefully, and dropping all the established lore was just sad. HoMM3 has a gorgeous OST and incredibly nice graphics.
- The Settlers past 2 - none retained the charm of it.
- Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - I think words are not needed here.
- Pokémon X/Y - Piss easy, ultra short game.
- Plants vs. Zombies 2 - What a load of crap after how good the first game was. They really tried way too hard to monetize everything.



But no one mentioned yet...

- Guilty Gear Strive - Pure trash after Rev. 2. They crapped all over character designs, character story, plot, motivation and last but not least of all, the freaking mechanics. Can't get much worse than that.
- The King of Fighters XII - While some liked the GFX change, I hated it. And they went back to their traditional boring "bar breaking" mechanics instead of the great tag mechanic (and OST) XI had.
- Megaman X7 - This was not a good 3D conversion...
- World of Warcraft past Legion - Downhill to this day.
- Disgaea 6 - Same as MMX7, fail conversion to 3D.
- Dynasty Warriors 6 - Tried and failed to spice up the combo mechanics, also decimated the roster and introduced clones, hated to this day.
- Dynasty Warriors 9 - Tried and failed to get into the "Open World" fad.
- Warriors Orochi 4 - A big downgrade coming from 3 Ultimate.
- Angry Birds 2 - Same as PvZ2.

 

[Sypherone]

Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight

 

[titan_tim]

I will totally defend Zelda 2. If it was called something else like "Elf Quest", it would have been a classic. It just changed the formula of what people were expecting, and they couldn't accept it. Still was an amazing game.

Many of the games people are mentioning here are not great, but still playable mostly. There are lots out there which were just completely garbage.
-Castlevania 64 (And most of their 3d games).
-Adventures of Sonic (Dreamcast)
-FF14 (The first version)

Those are all unplayable.