10 Video Game Franchises That Drastically Reinvented Themselves

Based on the tabletop RPG of the same name, Shadowrun was released in 1993, and represented the first of several attempts to adapt the franchise into a video game, achieving a tremendous amount of success, despite suffering from a tumultuous development history, including numerous delays.

In the game, players assume the role of Jake Armitage, an amnesiac gunned down in the streets, tasked with recovering his own memories, as well as uncovering a sinister conspiracy. Gameplay is surprisingly strategic, the player able to move the character in real-time, interactive with characters, and combating adversaries, collecting phrases in order to slowly discover more about the universe.

In 2007, FASA Interactive and Microsoft - for some inconceivable reason - decided it would be a good to transform the franchise into a class-based online shooter, seriously lacking in terms of content or diversity of experience. Emphasising multiplayer at the expense of storytelling, the game changed virtually everything about the franchise, retaining only the name of the original, and scraping pretty much everything else.

Did it work?

In this instance, the attempt at reinvention – while admirable – was ultimately unnecessary, most gamers never warming up to the changes. As a result, the reaction to the game was mixed (at best), which lead to disappointing sales numbers, and the series fading into obscurity.

Thankfully, Shadowrun Returns and expansion, Hong Kong have returned the franchise to its roots, and are being positively received as a result.