10 Video Game Sequel Baits That Went Nowhere

It's one thing to tell a neat, self-contained story but it's a whole other to start laying down the clues for the future. Video game fans love to speculate, discuss and dream about what directions the sequels to our favourite titles might go.

Whether done subtlety or essentially as a giant blinking sign, there's nothing wrong with sequel bait if it's exciting. Investing in a universe is a lot easier when you know that there is more to do, more to see and new games coming that will cover the ground previously hinted at. That is, of course, if these leads do wind up leading somewhere at all.

All too often we are baited into sequels and waste our excitement on things that ultimately bare no fruit.

This list comprises of tantalising teases that went cold. For whatever reason, be it the franchise heading a new direction, dying off or simply forgetting about it, these plot threads wound up being simply frayed ages.

Naturally, as we are talking about a lot of game's endings, spoiler warnings are in full effect.

The prevailing plot point of the Halo series has been the partnership between Master Chief and Cortana.

Halo 3 really hammered home the concept of rampancy - the idea that after around seven years of function, AI in the Halo universe essentially thinks itself to death, which is basically as metal as anything an AI has ever done.

Throughout Halo 4, Master Chief is obsessed with getting off of the planet Requiem and back to Earth - not for his benefit, but to return to Cortana to her creator Dr Halsey in hopes of prolonging her life.

The game ends with Cortana’s heroic self-sacrifice, toppling an ancient alien God too powerful for the Chief to deal with on his own. The final cutscenes are heart-breaking, as the usually stoic Chief contemplates his own humanity and morality in the wake of her death.

The set-up for Halo 5 was delicious. Amongst anything else, we might finally see Chief evolve as a character now that his partner is gone for good.

Except Halo 5: Guardians took the coward’s way out and Master Chief’s story is entirely about following the ghost of Cortana that has ascended into a Forerunner afterlife and, in the most contrived and generic way possible, is set up as a villain.

Talk about turning a great thing into a franchise-tanking turd.