It's one of gaming's harshest truths that some day, eventually, gamers will have to part with their favourite franchises. It could be due to lacklustre sales in a certain entry or a poor critical reception that leads to an untimely demise. Sometimes it just... happens, occasionally without most of us noticing. Sometimes, however, it's very much the intention for a developer to call it quits on a given series. It could be because they feel as though they've exhausted all the creative potential from the project, or simply because they fancy doing something just a little bit different. That is of course fine, but sometimes one can't help shake the feeling that some of these franchises are being abandoned prematurely. No one studio should be tethered to their most popular works, but it's hard to argue against the fact that certain series, characters and journeys have so much more left to give, both in terms of gameplay and narrative. In that sense, all of the following titles deserve to continue - even if there is a distinct possibility of oversaturation occurring.
8. The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
Our choice for 2015's game of the year, CD Projekt's third entry in the relatively flawless Witcher franchise was meant to be its last, but with a mythos as rich as the one Geralt and co. occupy, the potential for more releases to gain the same critical and commercial accolades pretty much goes without saying. As a relatively distant adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels, the game series has managed to carve out its own unique version of the Continent and in occupying such a rich universe, has plenty left to explore. It's not as if Geralt is the only character to focus on either, so in terms of branching off into new areas of the franchise there are numerous opportunities presented. The series' style of gameplay manages to improve considerably with each and every a new entry, so the chance to see that evolve over the course of more sequels would be an opportunity not many gamers could afford to miss.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
