10 Risky Sequels That Saved Dying Video Game Franchises

4. Hitman

The Hitman series has always been a staple of the stealth genre, but just like each one of its peers, IO Interactive's series succumbed to the pressure of needing to attract a wider audience. After Blood Money gave fans all of the hardcore assassin goodness they could have hoped for, the next sequel, Absolution, stripped a lot of the player freedom out in favour of a more linear, and more action-orientated experience.

It wasn't a terrible game, but you could see the compromises being made, and the distaste it left in fans' mouths was reflected in the sales. After this, publisher Square Enix planned on taking IO off the franchise in favour of a newly-formed internal studio, eventually relenting after the former's other projects fell through.

In an attempt to "save" the series, the publisher allegedly mandated that the next game to be episodic, thinking that was the direction the industry would be moving towards. That decision both helped and hindered the game: on the one hand, it gave the devs the freedom to create infinitely replayable levels that were exactly what fans were after, but it also hindered sales.

Afterwards, IO and Square split, with the former keeping the IP. A sequel swiftly followed, and while financial problems are still an issue, Hitman in its current form is the best version of itself.