5 Dead Gaming Series That Deserve A Comeback

It is no surprise that gaming series, no matter how good they may be, end up dying. Studios shut down, bringing with them their beloved IP, or they move on to other projects they’re more passionate about. Sometimes the numbers don’t add up, and a series that was once considered a huge success ends up being little more than a niche cult classic. There are umpteen different reasons why a gaming series may die off, especially in today’s climate of ballooning budgets and lengthy development cycles.

However, as much as it is understandable for certain series to simply cease existing, there are some that die a rather untimely death. These absolutely deserve another shot at the spotlight, a comeback that proves it was wrong to prematurely kill it off. Of course, it is unreasonable to request games from decades-old series and those that the developers seemingly have little passion for, but that won’t stop us from dreaming. From some of the most underrated games of all time to PlayStation classics, these dead gaming series should be brought back for at least one final game.

5. The Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth

The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth 2 was one of my all-time favorite games growing up. It was a game I returned to time and time again to beat its surprisingly lengthy and excellent campaigns, create my own LOTR heroes, and play endless skirmishes across its huge maps. Unfortunately, it’s all but disappeared, accessible only via owning an original Xbox 360 copy and playing it on said console, as it isn’t backwards compatible. As a result of expiring licenses, EA can’t continue to sell it digitally, and it will likely never be rereleased or remastered.

It is a huge shame, as Battle for Middle-earth 2 was a legitimately phenomenal strategy game that hasn’t really been topped since. Its utilization of the IP was far from surface level (you could summon Tom Bombadil as a unique ability), and the character customization added a level of depth that wasn’t really available in its contemporaries. Sure, games like Dawn of War, Command and Conquer, and Starcraft offered similar gameplay loops, but Battle for Middle-earth had both the benefit of being tied to Lord of the Rings and its own spate of unique mechanics. This truly legendary strategy game needs to make a comeback, if only to ensure we have an entry available on modern hardware.

4. Infamous

Infamous was the series Sucker Punch Productions worked on before pivoting to its now critically acclaimed Ghost of games. These were ostensibly superhero simulators with a penchant for moral ambiguity and complex protagonists. Infamous was pretty popular when it was first released, but the mixed reception to Infamous: Second Son more or less buried the series. Of course, Sucker Punch Productions also moved on to greener pastures with the Ghost of games, a move that has proven rather successful for both it as a studio and PlayStation as a whole.

As a result, it feels as if there’s little chance of Infamous returning, even though it played a huge role at the start of the PlayStation 4’s lifespan. While Sucker Punch Productions has spoken about returning to Infamous or perhaps doing a rerelease of the original trilogy, it seems unlikely that the series will return any time soon. Games of Infamous’ size cost far too much and take too long to develop. That’s not even mentioning the fact that they share far too many similarities with the Marvel’s Spider-Man games, something that would only foster unfair comparisons between the two. Of course, despite this, Infamous still deserves another shot, not least because we get far too few superhero games.

3. Killzone

Infamous isn’t the only classic PlayStation series that deserves another chance after being killed far too early. Guerrilla Games’ Killzone hasn’t seen a new entry since the somewhat controversial Killzone Shadow Fall, a game that frankly should not be this series final entry. While it was never quite good enough to compete with Xbox’s Halo, Killzone was a series that always felt a generation ahead of the competition graphically. Its fascinating world, art direction, and action spectacles more than elevated the occasionally weak narratives, leading to it quickly becoming a cult classic at the very least.

Of course, Guerrilla Games moved on to the Horizon series, a move that was understandable and logical. First-person shooters of Killzone’s scale and format were simply no longer popular, or at least had waned in popularity significantly. Open world affairs like Horizon were all the rage. I’d wager that it is shifting ever so slightly, perhaps enough to warrant a return to the FPS campaigns of yesteryear. Guerrilla has spoken about resurrecting Killzone, but, much like with Infamous, it seems almost impossible nowadays. It is a shame, as, in an era in which even Call of Duty has abandoned the classic single-player first-person shooter model, we need more tightly designed linear shooters that prioritize great gunplay and setpieces above all else, and Killzone would be perfect for that.

2. Titanfall

Titanfall 2 is widely regarded as one of the greatest single-player FPS games ever made, and it isn’t hard to see why. Its level design was inventive, its narrative emotional, and its utilization of its hulking mechs was effortlessly fun. Indeed, aside from the narrative, this all applied to its excellent multi-player mode, which provided me and many others with endless hours of fun. It felt as if it was destined to become a long-running franchise a la Halo or Call of Duty, but, alas, that was not to be the case. Sadly, it would seem as if Titanfall is dead, at least for the time being.

This isn’t for a lack of trying on Respawn Entertainment’s behalf. EA allegedly cancelled a single-player Titanfall game in 2023 titled Titanfall Legends, leaving the studio with little recourse other than to continue working on Apex Legends and the incredibly successful Star Wars Jedi games. Of course, both of those aforementioned projects (the former of which is a Titanfall spin-off) are phenomenal, and I’m grateful they exist. Indeed, it would be a shame for the Star Wars Jedi games to become a dead series, as it still has plenty of gusto left in it. However, it would be great to see Respawn and EA return to Titanfall, both as a single-player and multiplayer experience. No one else is doing FPS campaigns as Titanfall 2 did, and no other game offers mech-based first-person shooter gameplay. We need more of both, and it seems like only Titanfall 3 can offer that.

1. Jak & Daxter

If two dead PlayStation series weren’t enough for you, then we’ve got a third. Jak & Daxter, later shortened to just Jak, is a phenomenal series of third-person shooter platformers that slowly morphed into becoming a pretty compelling sci-fi fantasy GTA clone, as hard as that may be to believe. It came from Last of Us developer Naughty Dog and served as one of PlayStation’s many early mascots before being abandoned in the PS4 era and beyond. Looking at Naughty Dog’s current output, it is hard to believe that we’ll ever see another Jak game, as the series, for as gritty and mature as they got, simply doesn’t align with the type of bleak experience the developer is producing.

Of course, it would be great to see Jak return. We’ve seen how Ratchet and Clank can evolve into future generations and continue the legacy of old-school PlayStation games. Considering just how ahead of its time Jak was, it wouldn’t be particularly hard to adapt it for a modern audience. Its blend of sci-fi and fantasy mixed with its excellent gunplay, platforming, and open-world exploration would absolutely work just as well today as it did all those years ago. Sadly, unless PlayStation hands the IP over to another developer, which is immensely unlikely, we’ll probably never see Jak 4.

What dead gaming series would you like to see return? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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