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00:00Swear to me that everything that you've said about the Fireflies is true.
00:04Welcome to Mojo Plays, and today we're looking at single player games that didn't need a
00:08sequel, but got one anyway.
00:11To be crystal clear, we're not saying all of these sequels are bad, just that they weren't
00:17fully necessary.
00:18While a few of our picks do have multiplayer modes, they're still mostly known for their
00:23single player experiences.
00:25I will not fail you, my master.
00:28But, before we dive in, we publish new content all week long, so be sure to subscribe and
00:33ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
00:37Watch Dogs
00:44Ubisoft has tried to build franchises out of most of its releases, so it isn't really
00:49surprising that Watch Dogs turned into one.
00:52But in our opinion, it didn't really deserve it.
00:55It was perfectly serviceable as an open world action-adventure game, but outside of a focus
01:00on hacking, it didn't bring much new to the table.
01:04And the lead character, Aiden Pierce, wasn't all that interesting and had his story wrapped
01:09up.
01:10Still, since it sold well enough, Ubisoft greenlit a sequel.
01:14Even though it arguably wasn't needed, it did turn out to be better in pretty much every
01:19aspect, including in the main character, Marcus Holloway.
01:23Of course, the next game, Legion, was worse, and now we're getting a live-action movie,
01:29which... why is that happening again?
01:31This is gonna cost us a lot of followers.
01:33DMCA takedown.
01:35Annoying.
01:36Witch Haven
01:40If you're drawing a blank at the name Witch Haven, don't feel too bad.
01:44It's essentially a fantasy-themed Doom clone that was released in the mid-90s.
01:49While its visuals and gore were praised, pretty much everyone agreed that its gameplay,
01:54the most important aspect, fell short and grew pretty dull.
01:58Strong sales caused a sequel to go into development, which ended up tarnishing the bit of acclaim
02:03the first had managed to acquire.
02:06Witch Haven 2, Blood Vengeance, was rushed out the door the following year and panned
02:11for sluggish controls and poor enemy AI.
02:14It wasn't needed in general, and certainly not so quickly after the first.
02:19Though it didn't help that it launched around the same time as Duke Nukem 3D and Quake.
02:30Tales of Symphonia
02:36Within the larger Tales series, most games are standalone titles that feature similar
02:41elements, but are disconnected.
02:44However, Tales of Symphonia was such a strong entry that Bandai Namco decided to release
02:49a sequel a few years later, and it served as proof that the studio shouldn't have
02:54switched things up.
02:562008's Tales of Symphonia, Dawn of the New World, paled in comparison to its predecessor
03:02in every category except for visuals.
03:05Most of the original characters were recast and only served as side characters that leveled
03:10up at certain story points rather than through combat.
03:14The explorable field map was changed to a menu where you selected locations you wanted
03:19to go, which was less interesting.
03:22Even in things it did well, it didn't do anything new or noteworthy, making it a sequel
03:27that didn't really need to exist.
03:35Deadly Premonition
03:40The first Deadly Premonition should have been a one-shot case of absurdly weird survival
03:46horror.
03:47It became a cult classic because of the many elements that, normally, would have turned
03:52players away.
03:54So when a sequel was released ten years later, the only question going through our heads
03:59was why?
04:00This wasn't a game built to keep going, and the sequel only made that more clear.
04:05It featured a smaller cast of characters, and while this murder mystery was still enjoyably
04:10strange, there was no way it was going to recapture what made the first special.
04:15It seemed like an attempt to dredge up an oddly specific IP, and its stunningly bad
04:21performance issues did not help.
04:28Super Meat Boy
04:35It says a lot that Super Meat Boy is still celebrated today as a strange, challenging
04:41platformer, where its sequel, released ten years later, has already been mostly forgotten.
04:47Not only did the original have a ton of levels, but it helped lead the charge for tough-as-nails
04:53indie platformers that dominated the 2010s.
04:57There's only so much you could do with a sequel to a game like this, yet Team Meat
05:01still tried with Super Meat Boy Forever.
05:04Unlike others on our list, the problem here was changing too much, namely randomly generated
05:10levels with an auto-run mechanic, which isn't exactly what players wanted.
05:15A sequel needs to be balanced with enough familiar and new, but Forever's gameplay
05:21wasn't nearly as satisfying as conquering the gauntlets of the first game.
05:30Prototype
05:37Radical Entertainment's Prototype had some pretty interesting gameplay, giving players
05:41the ability to absorb others and shapeshift into them.
05:44This type of dangerous power also paired well with lead character Alex Mercer, an amnesiac
05:51trying to uncover his dark past.
05:53While the game did end with some sequel bait, we'd argue that wasn't needed if said
05:58sequel wasn't going to deliver.
06:01Prototype 2 is still a decent game, but it only made minor changes to gameplay.
06:06However, it made major changes to the story, namely a switch in protagonist, that most
06:11felt was a lot weaker.
06:13Where the similar Infamous series, which began around the same time, evolved for the better
06:18from game to game, Prototype 2 felt like a sequel just for the sake of one.
06:33Hotline Miami
06:41Sometimes, a game can just be an action-packed, bloody good adrenaline shot to the senses,
06:47and you can leave it at that without any further exploration.
06:50Hotline Miami is one of those games, or at least it should have been.
06:55While Hotline Miami 2 is still fun, it suffered from going too big, both in its world and
07:01in its story.
07:02Did we really need to delve deeper into the first game's lore, or to expand greatly
07:08on level size, so that we got shot from off-screen enemies?
07:11No, to both.
07:13The first game was a perfectly sized, perfect length, top-down shooter.
07:17And even though it was hugely successful for an indie game, we think the developers time
07:22would have been better spent creating something new.
07:31The Last of Us To be honest, I'm incredibly conflicted
07:46about putting this one on the list.
07:48The Last of Us Part II is still a remarkable game, with stunning visuals, performances,
07:53and yes, even story.
07:56But was it needed?
07:58Arguably, not really.
08:00You see, the first game is a near-perfect experience, and the ambiguity of that final
08:05scene makes it one of the best video game endings of all time.
08:09I have to admit that further exploring the story makes that ending a little less special.
08:15Additionally, the sequel's gameplay, while fine-tuned, didn't bring that much unique
08:20to necessitate it.
08:21However, even if it isn't as good as the first, there's still a lot that works well
08:26here.
08:27While it is a sequel we did not need, part of me is still glad we got one.
08:32A few todays, days of you and me.
08:41Final Fantasy X Like the Tales series, most games in Final
08:49Fantasy are disconnected in terms of plot and setting.
08:53But some of them do get direct sequels, like Final Fantasy X.
08:57Since that game was a massive hit, Square Enix released a follow-up two years later.
09:03And even though X2 isn't bad, there wasn't really anything left over that we felt needed
09:10to be followed up on.
09:11It's another that felt like a sequel just for the sake of one, loaded up with minigames
09:16and needless fluff.
09:18The game itself also didn't really take itself seriously, with a light-hearted tone
09:22and story that left far less of an impression than its predecessor.
09:30Star Wars The Force Unleashed Before it was decanonized, The Force Unleashed
09:42was an interesting side story in the overall Star Wars lore.
09:46Gameplay was simple but fun, though the protagonist, Starkiller, was a unique and deep character
09:52to play as.
09:53Even though the story wrapped up, it sold so well that a sequel was greenlit immediately.
09:58If it seemed unnecessary at the time of announcement, that became abundantly clear when the game
10:03was released.
10:04The playtime was disappointingly short, with not enough story to fill a full game.
10:10A few tweaks to gameplay were added, but definitely not enough to justify the game's existence.
10:16Unsurprisingly, word spread fast, and the game sold below expectations.
10:27What's a single player game you believe shouldn't have gotten a sequel?
10:31Share your thoughts in the comments.