10 Crucial Video Games That Saved Dying Franchises

Heavily inspired by the work of Phillip K. Dick, and originally released back in 2001, Red Faction tells the story of Parker, a miner on Mars who instigates a rebellion against the nefarious Ultor Corporation. The game emphasised environmental destruction and liner shooting, and was received positively by critics. In 2002, it even managed to spawn a sequel entitled Red Faction II, which was similar in both tone and style to the original.

Despite its relative success, the series seemingly disappeared, and was presumed KIA. In early 2008, six whole years after the release of Red Faction II, it was announced that Volition were working on a third instalment in the franchise. Few details were revealed, but a demo was showcased at E3 that very same year, highlighting the third-person gameplay, destructible environments and open-world exploration. In 2009, the game was finally released to the public, and was received positively by critics, praised for its versatile gameplay and creative storytelling.

Mixing up the formula, and reimagining the gameplay, Volition were able to revitalise a long dormant franchise for an all new generation of players. Unfortunately, the sequel, Red Faction: Armageddon had almost the opposite effect, damaging the series irrevocably with its poor sales, and forcing THQ to shelve the franchise entirely.

With that said, Guerilla prolonged the series' shelf-life considerable, and its eventually failure was only a consequence of THQ's dwindling finances, and eventual bankruptcy.