Several great gaming franchises seemed to do well on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but, for some reason, they never saw a new title release on the current generation of consoles. At most, we got a remaster or re-release for the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, such as therecently announcedSaints Row: The Third Remastered, but never an actual sequel.
RELATED:5 Xbox 360 Games That Still Look Great (And 5 That Show Their Age)
With any luck, some of these franchises will return for the release of Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X that are both due to launch later this year. But, for now, we’re going to list 10 games that seem to have skipped the current generation of consoles.
10Bioshock
TheBioshockfranchise has three games to its name, all of which released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. While the first two games took place in the underwater city of Rapture, the third installment,Bioshock: Infinite, took fans in the opposite direction and introduced them to Columbia, the city in the sky. A new game was teased to fans back in 2016, but it ending up being a remastered collection of the trilogy for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Though some fans preferred the first two games because of their setting,Bioshock: Infinitestill held its own with critics and fans alike and, so there doesn’t seem to be a reason as to why the franchise hasn’t continued since.
Dead Spaceis another franchise with a whole trilogy under its belt, but, for some reason, EA never brought the games into the current generation. It’s possible the franchise was put on the back burner, as the last installment,Dead Space 3, didn’t perform as well as its predecessors.
That’s not to say it didn’t still get fair reviews in general, but, compared to the other two titles, it just doesn’t hit the mark according to Metacritic scores. However, there’s some life still left in this franchise, and it would be great to see it make a comeback in the next generation.
8Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cellis an awarding-winning game franchise with a whopping seven games to its name. Despite this, we haven’t seen Sam Fisher back in action properly since 2013 whenTom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklistreleased aside from a couple of appearances from Fisher inGhost Recon WildlandsandGhost Recon Breakpoint.
While Ubisoft may have included Sam Fisher in theGhost Recongames as a kind of fan service, all it does is remind everyone that we have yet to see a properSplinter Cellgame for the current generation.
7Silent Hill
We haven’t seen aSilent Hillgame sinceSilent Hill: Downpourin 2012. This entry is a bit of a curveball to the list as we all know that a sequel titledSilent Hillswas planned for the current generation but never made it out of the door after Kojima left Konami. The cancellation was particularly bitter as fans were given a taste of what the game would have been like with theP.T.demo.
RELATED:Every Silent Hill Game Ranked From Worst To Best (According To Metacritic)
However, fans still live in hope that this franchise will still make a comeback, and rumors often re-surface, with thelatest being as recent as just over a week ago.
6Portal
The originalPortalgame was a massive success with fans when it was released in 2007, and the franchise continued to delight with the sequel,Portal 2, which released in 2011 and managed to beat out the original game score-wise on the likes of Metacritic.
Many have wondered why Valve hasn’t released another sequel after the success of the last. Additionally, this franchise would work particularly well for VR, but we have yet to see it happen. One of Valve’s lead game designers,Robin Walker, recently discussed the potential of a VR sequel.
5Max Payne
Max Payneis another great series that we haven’t seen since the days of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. This franchise has three games in total and one kick-ass protagonist. However, the most recent game,Max Payne 3, which released in 2012 showed a much older Max, and this could be a clue as to why we haven’t seen another sequel since. At the end of this title, Max is seen walking away into the sunset and that appears to be the end of his story arc.
Another possibility could be that as Rockstar Games is the publisher, there are simply bigger fish to fry with the likes ofRed Dead RedemptionandGrand Theft Auto.
4Prince of Persia
Ubisoft has another popular franchise waiting in the wings:Prince of Persia. Whilea remake ofPrince of Persia: The Sands of Timeis reportedly in the works, we haven’t had a proper sequel sincePrince of Persia: The Forgotten Sandsin 2010, which released alongside Disney’s film adaptation ofPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time—that is unless you want to count the mobile gamePrince of Persia: Escapefrom 2018 as a true sequel.
RELATED:The 10 Best PlayStation 3 Games Ever Made (According To Metacritic)
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sandsreceived moderately fair reviews, so it’s not like the franchise tanked out of existence. However, the franchise may have been overshadowedAssassin’s Creed, which launched in 2007 and features very similar gameplay.
3Left 4 Dead
Another franchise that Valve seems to be sitting on, for the time being at least, isLeft 4 Dead. This franchise has two titles, both of which were received positively by players, yet a sequel never emerged for the current generation of gamers. All fans received were some cameos of characters in the likes ofZombie Army TrilogyandDead by Daylight, as well as aLeft 4 Deadlevel appearing in thePaydaygames.
Fans were recently disappointed when they thoughtLeft for Dead 3had been leaked, only to find thatValve usedLeft 4 Deadimages when building its game engineand that there were no current plans for a sequel.
2The Darkness
The Darknesswas based on the comic book series of the same name and was met with great review scores on release in 2007. 2K Games followed up with a sequel in 2012, and, althoughThe Darkness IIdidn’t quite hit the same mark as it’s predecessor, it still did well enough for fans to expect another might be in the pipeline.
The comic book series has a vast amount of material, so there’s plenty to work with if a third game ever made it to the drawing board. Hopefully, we’ll see Jackie Estacado back in action for the next generation of consoles.
1Castlevania
Castlevaniais a much beloved and long-running franchise that began in 1986. The series was rebooted in 2010 with the launch ofCastlevania: Lords of Shadow, which received highly positive reviews from critics and fans alike. However, the follow-up title,Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2fared a lot worse when it came to reviews, which could explain why we haven’t seen another title since.
With the massive success of Netflix’s animatedCastlevaniaseries, now would be a great time for them to reboot the series once more and get it back on form.
NEXT:Metroidvania: 5 Things Metroid Does Better Than Castlevania (& 5 That Castlevania Is Superior At)
