10 Best Video Game Sequels Of All Time
Assassin's Creed 2 elevated everything.
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00:00 Sequels in gaming are more often a cause for celebration than anywhere else. We don't need
00:04 to worry about a complete story being stretched out or that lightning in a bottle magic being
00:08 overextended. In gaming, a sequel means more of what you love - base mechanics expanded on,
00:13 a more confident developer, gameplay tightened up, more worldbuilding and maybe even a new playable
00:18 character with a whole new set of moves. Yes, there are clunkers and pointless returns,
00:22 but play to the medium's strengths and a sequel has the power to revamp the foundations in a
00:27 fundamental way - something that can lead to some of the best games you'll ever play.
00:31 Also note we're dealing with immediate sequels, which second instalments really took things to
00:36 the next level. I'm Scott from Wackulture.com and these are the 10 best video game sequels of all
00:41 time. Number 10, Halo 2. The very end of its campaign might be divisive, but there's no
00:47 denying the seismic, jaw-dropping impact of Halo 2 at every stage of its development. The reveal
00:53 trailers, the revamped theme now infused with Steve Vai's guitar work elevating Marty O'Donnell's
00:58 original composition, the introduction of the Arbiter fleshing out of the Halo world,
01:02 and of course that exquisite multiplayer. Halo 2 took everything the original nailed
01:07 and improved it. Dual wielding may have led to some overpowered combos that a lot of Xbox Live
01:12 patches took to rebalance, but as a package of iconic maps, GOAT gameplay and top-tier
01:17 production value, Halo 2 is pure gaming royalty. Number 9, Batman Arkham City.
01:23 Rocksteady's Batman debut could have gone down a different route. It could have bombed,
01:27 much like most superhero games have over the years, but thankfully Rocksteady paid
01:31 tribute to the source material and did it justice. However, in terms of scale, it was small. Arkham
01:36 Island is a tight, isolated area that you'll burn through in around 6-8 hours, unless you're hunting
01:41 down every last Riddler trophy. For a sequel, Rocksteady needed to go bigger, and if you found
01:46 Warden Sharp's hidden office planning a certain city expansion, then you already knew how.
01:51 2011's Arkham City is a violent playground for Batman to explore. Distinct districts add variety
01:56 and life, rather than copy-pasted areas. Exploration and going off the beaten track
02:01 was rewarded, and Batman's wider rogues gallery now needed to be taken down. Traversal was improved
02:06 upon, new skills and gadgets became available, as well as fleshing out that Batman combat to
02:11 factor in gadget combos, gun disarms and knife counters. Bosses too were far better, ditching
02:16 the gimmicky likes of Killer Croc for a methodical showdown against Mr Freeze. As for the story,
02:21 it's a brilliantly rewarding setup with a twist you can spot from the beginning if you know where
02:25 to look in Detective Vision, then ending on one of the most seismic plot twists and joker scenes of
02:30 all time. Mass Effect's trajectory is fascinating. The original, a far more Star Trekian vibe with
02:38 you planet-hopping around, getting lost in a universe of alien diplomacy while trying to stake
02:43 humanity's claim for existence. Mass Effect 2 then opened on a supremely shocking sequence of
02:48 everyone you knew seemingly dying as Shepard themselves burnt to a crisp in space. This was
02:53 a completely different tone and setup, framing Shepard as a literal spectre to all around him,
02:58 resurrected and aligned with the mysterious Cerberus to win the fight against the Collectors.
03:03 Mass Effect 2 works because it feels like you're this intergalactic suicide squad of ragtags and
03:08 misfits inside the world of the original. Its writing is award-winning, its characters iconic,
03:13 and its many endings only blew out the possibilities for what could come next in
03:16 ways none of us saw coming. The first Silent Hill was terrifying,
03:23 focusing on Harry Mason's desperate struggle. It was great, but gave birth to an easily overlooked
03:28 aspect - the town itself. Silent Hill 2, the first entry on PlayStation 2, took that concept and ran
03:34 with it. The town itself now really felt like an oppressive force, compounding that sense of
03:38 loneliness and desperation protagonist James Sunderland was suffering as they explored every
03:43 street and storefront. A mechanic born of the first game's limitations was now turned into a
03:47 main feature, and this constant sense of dread is why Silent Hill 2 remains an essential horror gem.
03:53 Pair all of this with a memorable ensemble cast, an interpretational plot, and villain for the
03:57 ages, and there's a reason we'll never shut up about having access to this game on modern hardware.
04:03 Number 6 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 The first Tony Hawk's is the definition of
04:08 a sleeper hit. Skateboarding wasn't mainstream in 1999, but it was getting there. Across movies
04:14 and music, grunge was being replaced by pop-punk, and every other person seemed to be holding a
04:18 skateboard regardless. Come 2000, Neversoft tried again, and this extreme sports boom now had its
04:24 mascot. Insane tricks, crazy locations, and a banging soundtrack, Tony Hawk's 2 was life-defining
04:29 for the time. Not to take away from Tony Hawk's 3, as that was a whole other age bracket's favourite
04:34 installment, but if we're talking immediate sequels, this was a huge improvement. Like any
04:39 good sequel to something with already stellar core mechanics, it was the quality of life
04:43 improvements that made it so satisfying to play. Skaters could now level off when leaving a ramp,
04:48 manuals stitched everything together, and that overall feel across the board was so much more
04:52 fluid. Tony Hawk's 2 was when we really started seeing the fanbase nail those multi-million point
04:57 combos and insanely complex trick runs, only for you to attempt something similar because it all
05:02 played so well. Half-Life for many changed perceptions on first-person shooters. No
05:10 disrespect to the likes of Quake and Doom, but Half-Life upended how narrative and gameplay
05:14 could even work together. What Half-Life 2 brought was more of that same ethos, but bigger and
05:19 better. Bigger set pieces and levels, better use of Valve's proprietary physics engine. Incorporating
05:24 puzzles and progress into gameplay, Half-Life 2 continued Gordon Freeman's adventures, this time
05:29 against the alien combine. It's been quite some time since a real technical showcase of a game
05:33 existed where just watching it in motion, watching the physics of items interact with each other for
05:38 example, makes you think of endless gameplay possibilities, but that's part of why Half-Life
05:42 2 was such a monumental deal in gaming. Reportedly furious with the original game's
05:51 western translation, injecting military speak and a grounded tone where Hideo Kojima was always a bit
05:56 more out there, Kojima demanded full control, leading to water-walking vampires, octopus-suited
06:01 ex-presidents, and a white-haired protagonist hidden from marketing. All of this though made
06:06 Metal Gear Solid as a franchise now feel entirely unique. Metal Gear Solid 1 will always be my
06:11 favourite game, but it was that cinematic presentation, that boundary-pushing,
06:15 Hollywood-aping ideology that only got enhanced here. Metal Gear Solid 2's opening alone hasn't
06:20 aged a day, dripping in confidence and purpose, fully embracing its position as the tip of the
06:25 spear for the PlayStation 2. With experimental stealth gameplay, unprecedented world interaction,
06:30 clever AI, and a sandbox approach to how you got through each level, this might be the most divisive
06:35 Metal Gear Solid in terms of a main character, but its grandiosity as a video game can't be beat.
06:40 The runaway success of the first Assassin's Creed was a pleasant surprise. Born of a failed
06:47 Prince of Persia continuation, the adventures of Desmond and his acrobatic ancestor struck gold in
06:52 2007. What we got then was the epitome of when game sequels know exactly what to focus on,
06:57 as Assassin's Creed 2 got everything right. New character Ezio Auditore da Firenze was a
07:02 charismatic, lovable distinction from the stoic Altair. Switching to Renaissance Italy over the
07:07 Holy Lands gave us more intricate cities and kill opportunities, and the game's colour palette was
07:12 now more bold and definable than ever. Combat was tightened up and expanded with multiple enemy
07:16 classes, and Desmond's story had more depth with an insanely cool payoff, as did Ezio's crusade
07:22 against the Borshas. Assassin's Creed is still able to turn heads today because of how incredibly
07:26 on point this second instalment was. I will maintain that Red Dead Redemption 2 is the
07:34 closest thing you can get to virtual reality without wearing a headset. So ludicrously,
07:38 meticulously realised is its depiction of the Old West, you'll feel preternaturally compelled to
07:43 relax down the local saloon, go camp out in the mountains after a tragic main story event,
07:48 or just embrace your inner Jesse James and rob as many trains as possible. The point is,
07:52 this embodies the original Red Dead's character-driven soul, fleshing it out in every
07:56 direction. So expansive and hyper-detailed is the setting, it reinforces the story Dan
08:01 Hauser wrote about an age of lawlessness coming to an end. Rules and regulations,
08:04 the formation of modern America was coming, whether those who made their living as cowboys
08:09 liked it or not. Graphically, if we twin art direction and sheer rendering power, it may be
08:13 the best-looking game of all time. But Red Dead Redemption 2's real unique quality is being the
08:18 apex of the most lucrative game developer on the planet, funnelling all their money and talent into
08:22 a specific creative vision, regardless of marketability. Dan Hauser's tenure at Rockstar
08:27 is over. The company is a drastically different beast because of it, but he went out in magnificent
08:32 style. Survival horror as a genre had been around before Resident Evil - check out the
08:41 hilarious Alone in the Dark. It's fair to say though that Resident Evil 1 put it on the map.
08:46 With a weirdly compelling, awesomely campy story, gross monsters and jump scares, how could Capcom
08:51 possibly top it? Well, by moving out, taking gameplay from musty, stuffy mansions to Raccoon
08:56 City, the hotspot for Umbrella's dastardly experiments. It wasn't just locales that felt
09:01 bigger, as the game's design was based around two-player campaigns. Production values were
09:05 notably higher, with far better character models, and Resident Evil 2 ramped up the gore. The
09:09 variety of monsters and its boss battles, as well as the means to fight them. Customisable shotguns,
09:14 flamethrowers, giant stun guns, this is the old-school Resident Evil to pick up that's the
09:19 sweet spot between the original's exploration and puzzle-heavy layout, and Resident Evil 3's
09:23 action focus. As the remake would embody, we also had the introduction to Mr X, some terrifying
09:29 lickers and only fightable in Scenario B, the Tyrant.
09:33 And those are our picks. It has been tough picking a definable top 10 best sequels,
09:38 and yes, I agree, Modern Warfare 2 feels like it should be on there, but what the hell do you swap
09:43 out? Let me know down in the comments, and also please subscribe to the What Culture Gaming
09:47 Podcast. For now, I've been Scott from WhatCulture.com, a massive thank you for watching,
09:51 and I'll catch you soon.
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