10 Video Games That Tried To Change The Industry Forever (And Failed)

5. Shenmue

At this point, more people know about the story of Shenmue's development than have actually played Shenmue. The original two games were notorious flops, with budgets so high they rivalled top-tier games released today, decades later.

The 'problem', if you can call it that, was the simulation element. Though on paper Shenmue is a tale of revenge pursued via martial arts, the bulk of the game is spent living in the beautifully constructed world the devs created, and adhering to semi-realistic rules of everyday life.

You needed to drive forklifts, you needed to wait around until a shop opened to continue the story, and even the weather was modelled after real-life forecasts. This wasn't a world that you shaped, but one you simply existed in.

For a lot of people, that's exactly why they loved it, and Shenmue as a series has cultivated a die-hard fanbase. However, when you sink over $50 million into a project, you need more than the die-hard to support it, and sadly these hardcore systems put off the mainstream audience, and only the Yakuza franchise has really tried to mimic them since.