Video Game Franchises That Will NEVER Be The Same

Every now and then, changing things up is for the best. While most video game franchises have a well-established formula that they stick to both for the sake of their developers and because it's what their fans expect, sometimes, that formula grows stale. What does a developer do then? Well, they either reinvent the series, start a new series, or go the way of the dinosaur.

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When those reinventions happen and are successful, it often spells the end for the old style. Be it a change in genre, a change in themes, or a change in gameplay mechanics, these franchises made major adjustments to their design philosophies and struck gold by doing so. As a result, it's unlikely any of these series will ever be the same again.

God Of War

From Testosterone-Fueled Chaos To Heartfelt Character Drama

The Greek trilogy (and its three spin-offs) are hack-and-slash icons.
The shift to a narrative focus is jarring, but was ultimately just what the series needed.

The original God of War trilogy was an almost instant smash hit. PS2 owners far and wide heard tell of a hack-and-slash game with an unbelievable sense of scale and a brutally satisfying combat system. God of War 2 was the perfect swan song for that console generation, pushing the PS2 to its hardware limits, while God of War 3 was, at one time, the most technically impressive game ever made. Then, outside of a pair of PSP spin-offs and a prequel in God of War: Ascension, the series went on hiatus for half a decade.

Its triumphant return is the stuff of legend. The trailer for 2018's God of War at E3 2016 remains one of the greatest game reveals of all time, presenting a new, more restrained Kratos and his son, Atreus, for the first time. The game itself somehow managed to surpass even the lofty expectations set by its announcement. There is definitely still a space for the hack-and-slash God of War of old, but as far as the mainline series goes, it's unlikely we'll see a deviation from the new narrative-focused formula for quite some time.

The Legend Of Zelda

From Refined Dungeon-Crawling To An Open-World Icon

This series defined open-world dungeon crawling, 3D gaming, and gradually expanding worlds.
The shift to a true open-world sandbox was so successful that it virtually redefined the open-world genre.

The Legend of Zelda series relied on a tried-and-true formula for a long time; decades, actually. Players traveled between dungeons in an open hub world, but their path was restricted by obstacles they couldn't yet pass. They would reach a dungeon, find an item within, use that item to defeat the dungeon boss, and upon exiting, that item would also open up new paths in the world, often leading to the next dungeon. That gameplay loop persisted from A Link to the Past in 1991 through to A Link Between Worlds in 2013.

Then came the Nintendo Switch, and with it, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Where once the series' open-world settings were transitory spaces that led from one dungeon to the next, in Breath of the Wild, the world was the game. Literally. Gone were the restrictions based on progress, gone were the dungeons designed around a single item. Instead, players got every main item right at the start, and they could be used to reshape the sandbox world to solve problems in as creative a way as each player could imagine. In essence, the training wheels were off. While The Legend of Zelda may still dabble in its old formula on occasion, it's safe to say that the new style — which effectively reshaped what the open-world genre could be — is going to last for a long time.

Final Fantasy

From Turn-Based Grinds To MMOs And Active Combat Epics

This classic series was turn-based JRPG royalty.
The move to active combat doesn't appeal to everyone, but it's hard to imagine going back.

Much like The Legend of Zelda, the Final Fantasy series has been around for decades, and it also once had a formula that it consistently returned to. Parties of likeable companions, a robust Job system, epic summons, imaginative worlds, and turn-based combat we always part of the deal. At least for the mainline series, that balance of gameplay elements was consistently effective, and so Square Enix has no reason to change it. However, following a bit of a downward trend with Final Fantasy 13 and the disappointing launch of the original Final Fantasy 14, the studio clearly started to sense that something needed to change.

That change came about in full force with Final Fantasy 15, the first mainline game to make the move away from turn-based and towards active, action-based combat. It still felt like Final Fantasy, which was critical, but combat was a lot faster-paced, which likely helped bring in some new players. Square Enix then doubled down on that new idea with Final Fantasy 16, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth. There's no world where Final Fantasy will ever fully commit to shunning its turn-based roots, but the writing is on the wall: active combat is here to stay, and it will be a while before it wears out its welcome.

To be fair, Dirge of Cerberus and Crisis Core both ditched turn-based combat, but they obviously didn't move the needle enough for Square Enix to commit the full series to that change back in 2006 and 2007.

Fallout

From Isometric RPGs To First-Person Shooters

The world and retro-future style were perfect for an isometric RPG.
Bethesda took the reins and tried something new, and it fit like a glove.

The first two Fallout games are so wildly different from what the series is today that trying to compare them is pointless. Sure, the retro-futuristic setting and lore, the RPG elements, and the rapid jumps from comedy to existential post-apocalyptic sci-fi to outright horror are all present, but everything else is wildly different. The original games had an isometric perspective — more akin to Diablo than Call of Duty — and combat was turn- and stat-based, where going first was decided by the player's sequence. Whoever had the higher sequence stat, be it the enemy or the player, would go first in combat, and everyone else took their turn after.

Nothing like that happens in Fallout 3 or beyond. Once Bethesda took over the franchise, they applied their signature brand of exploration-based open-world design and turned Fallout into a first-person RPG. Stats, dialogue options, and character builds are all still present, but combat is a lot more active. There is still the option to slow things down with the VATS system, but otherwise, these are first-person shooters through and through, just with some weird weapons and a lot of XP. It would be almost unfathomable for Bethesda to take Fallout back to its isometric days at this point. Never say never, but given the success of the series today, it's likely that the old design will remain in the past.

Warcraft

From Iconic Real-Time Strategy To A Legendary MMO

Maybe the biggest shift on this list, Warcraft is almost unrecognizable today.
The series' success as an RTS didn't stop it from becoming a household name as an MMO.

Way, way back in the day, Warcraft was one of Blizzard's two flagship real-time strategy series, standing tall alongside the equally successful Starcraft franchise. These two series defined the strategy genre in the 90s and early 2000s, and right up until Warcraft 3, it seemed like that would never change. The brand's name was part and parcel with the RTS genre; any major change would send a shock through the gaming world.

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Looking back, it's almost silly to think of Warcraft as a big deal then compared to what it is now. Sure, its strategy games were fantastic, but they can't hold a candle to the monumental success of World of Warcraft. This is an MMO that's so successful, other MMOs don't even try to compete with it; instead, they fight it out for second place. WoW is now over 20 years old, and it still maintains a vehemently dedicated player base and is Blizzard's most successful product, which is saying something given the iconic IPs under that studio's umbrella. Between WoW and Hearthstone, a free-to-play deckbuilder that also dominates its genre, it seems like the only reason Blizzard would return to Warcraft's RTS days is if they get bored with their current projects. Otherwise, there's simply no reason to go back to how things were before, because things are so much better right now.

Resident Evil

From Fixed Cameras And Tank Controls To Creating The Modern Third-Person Shooter

The original survival horror set the gaming world on fire.
The series somehow reinvented the genre it invented, paving the way for third-person horror in the process.

Capcom seems to have settled on a trend for its Resident Evil series. The remakes of past games will adopt Resident Evil 4's over-the-shoulder third-person combat style, while the modern mainline entries will incorporate a blend of first- and third-person perspectives. It's hard to say exactly where Requiem will fall on that spectrum at this point, but based on Resident Evil 7 and Village, first-person seems to be part of the package going forward.

It's tough to go back to the original games with the changes that have come about over the years. The old-school tank controls and fixed cameras definitely feel dated today (even though that retro style is making a comeback in the indie horror scene), but in their era, they were great for ramping up the tension. It was Resident Evil 4 that first changed that formula, putting players directly behind Leon so they could witness the spooky scaries up close just like he was. That change didn't just revolutionize the Resident Evil series; it revolutionized gaming as a whole. Once that shift happened, the old method of fixed cameras was dead on arrival. It seems that Resident Evil is content to let the indie scene experiment with that old gameplay style, because Capcom is too busy pushing things forward.

Yakuza/Like A Dragon

From Third-Person Brawler To Turn-Based Mayhem

The series' iconic beat-em-up combat remains beloved and still appears in spin-offs.
After the success of the turn-based combat and a new protagonist, the mainline games are going to ride that wave for a bit.

To say that the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series will never be the same may be a bit reductive. Ryo Ga Gotoku Studio pumps these games out so fast that virtually every gameplay style should be on the table. The Yakuza Kiwami games will certainly stick with the series' older beat-em-up design, since they are remakes of those older games. The spin-offs — such as Like a Dragon: Isshin!, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and The Man Who Erased His Name — also seem to be adhering to that gameplay style.

It's the mainline games that have seen a major shift. First of all, they swapped out iconic series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu for Ichiban Kasuga, a far less gruff and serious hero, but no less comedic for the series' occasional absurdist tendencies. The bigger change was the switch to a turn-based combat system. It was a shock when this was first revealed, but it works surprisingly well with the franchise's brand of over-the-top action, allowing for far more variety in combat and for characters besides the protagonist to take a more active role in battles. There's no telling where this series will go for certain (seriously, nothing is off the table), but it seems like, at least for now, the mainline Like a Dragon games will be turn-based going forward.

Rainbow Six

From Squad-Based Single-Player To Intense Tactical PvP

Intense, squad-based shooting was always at the forefront, but the series used to be primarily single-player.
Now that Siege is a major hit, there's little reason to go back to the old ways.

The Rainbow Six series has always had a bit of a niche appeal in the FPS space. For many years, it was a tough-as-nails squad-based shooter where players had to organize and command a squad of agents to infiltrate dangerous locations and take out their targets. The thing was, those targets were just as lethal. It was a series far more focused on squad tactics than aiming and reflexes, not that those never came into play.

However, following Rainbow Six Vegas 2, the series took a lengthy break. When it came back, it had changed completely. Rainbow Six Siege is still a squad-based shooter, but now it's entirely PvP. Drawing inspiration from Counter-Strike, players act as either the attackers or the defenders. Defenders have to hold off the attackers, and attackers have to take out the defenders. Environmental destruction plays a huge role in that process, and with the game's smaller maps, blowing a hole in the wall can be a tactical advantage one moment and a serious disadvantage the next. Siege is now a decade old and has not only revived the Rainbow Six franchise; it has completely reinvented it. There may never be another Rainbow Six game, period, given the continued popularity of Siege. However, if there is another release in this series, it seems unlikely that single-player will be the primary focus.