Seemingly the goal of any developer is to create a video game that will be adored by players around the world. In an ever-growing market, it gets harder and harder to stand out in the crowd. Or was it still hard even when games were released more sparingly before the days when indie developers could plop their games out on Steam like it was nothing?
Even if a game is well-loved by fans and critics, that doesn’t mean the game will sell well. A lack of sales could mean a game would not go on to create a franchise even when there is demand for it. Let’s take a look at one of the most popular genres around, shooters, to hammer this point home. These are just some of the most notable first-person shooters that failed to create a legacy beyond their initial releases.
7 Alien: Isolation
Alien: Isolation has to be the best game that is based on the Alien film franchise. It captures the horror of facing a Xenomorph in battle. They are not pushovers that can be gunned down by a simple machine gun like in most other games based on the movies.
The androids are also a creepy part of the experience but are a bit easier to take down. It was released in 2014 with the last console port being on the Switch in 2019. With good reviews across most versions of the game, it’s surprising that a sequel hasn’t happened yet.
6 Bulletstorm
Bulletstorm is one of the wildest shooters to have ever been released. It was an over-the-top parody of the genre with the story being odd as heck thanks to the dialogue. Guns had a fun variety of flavors but what truly made the game stand out were the various environmental ways players could hurt enemies like by kicking them into cactuses.
The more creative players got with their kills, the better the scores. It was a 2011 release with the latest port also being on the Switch in 2019. This port, based on a previous HD remaster, added Duke Nukem to the mix, but it still wasn’t a sequel.
5 Darkwatch
Darkwatch is a classic b-tier shooter from the PS2 era. It was set in the Old West and starred a vampire cowboy hunting other creatures of the night. It was a unique concept at the time that would later get revisited in 2022 with Evil West which was like a spiritual successor.
Darkwatch was released in 2005 on the PS2 and Xbox and there hasn’t been a port of either version since. The only way to play these games now is either with a physical copy or through emulation.
4 Evolve
Evolve was Turtle Rock Studios’ first big console game after their success with the Left 4 Dead series when they were partnered with Valve. The idea was similar to Left 4 Dead as it was a team-based shooter wherein every character had a specific set of traits. The biggest difference was that players could become the enemy.
The concept had four players hunting another player down who played as a beast that could mutate throughout the gameplay session hence the title. It was released in 2015 with the servers shutting down in 2018, making the game nearly unplayable. They have since released Back 4 Blood, as of 2021, in another attempt to recapture the magic of Left 4 Dead.
3 Killer7
Killer7 is a strange game from the mind of Suda51. Players could control multiple characters that were part of someone’s split personality, and they all had unique abilities. The game is technically not a straight first-person shooter since players moved around in a third-person viewpoint but shot enemies in a first-person mode.
It was released in 2005 and almost had the same trajectory as Darkwatch. However, it did receive a PC port in 2018, but it has yet to hit another console past the GameCube and PS2.
2 Prey
Prey can sometimes be mistaken as a sequel or more like a reboot of the 2006 game of the same name. Both games are unrelated to one another though with the only linking material being that both games are shooters involving aliens. Prey is set in a space station wherein players are suffering from amnesia.
The station went under attack by an alien race that could transform into objects such as coffee mugs. The gameplay setup was similar to something like BioShock and is also a horror game at its core. It was released in 2017 and except for some DLC, Arkane Studios has yet to touch this game again.
1 Singularity
Singularity was a great idea for a game that somehow never got revisited. A U.S. agent is sent into Russian territory wherein he discovers a device that can reverse time. This plays into the story as there is time travel involved, but it is used in the gameplay too. The device can kill enemies or be used to solve puzzles.
For example, there may be a rusted staircase that is unable to be traversed anymore. With the time device, players can restore that one item to its previous glory so that they may pass. It was released in 2010, and it has never been re-released.