9 Video Game Franchises That Never Beat Their First Instalment
The Arkham games never topped Arkham Asylum.
The saying goes that across most creative outlets, "the original is the best". Early musicians are often at their most passionate; authors have the most essential thoughts to put on the page, but in video games, we have a medium of iteration.
It is SUPER rare that when you have game mechanics perfected over time or scores of developers becoming more proficient with technology - that subsequent instalments aren't fundamentally better in every respect.
Those anomalies do exist though, and often there's just no way to recreate that powerful original spark that birthed a fanbase in the first place.
Over time it's common for long-running IP to mine every remaining aspect of what went down well before, just to try and keep going.