The modern gaming landscape is one dominated by long-running franchises. Whether it's Call of Duty releasing new games every year or a leak of early Grand Theft Auto 6 gameplay completely dominating the conversation, name recognition of such revolutionary series has led to them being some of the most financially successful media properties in existence. But when it comes to innovation, the sequel format has several shortfalls -- issues that are overcome with spiritual successors.
A spiritual successor is a game designed to recapture and grow on the elements of what makes a game popular. These games are typically designed by fans of the original series, and the fresh elements introduced can sometimes end up elevating what made the originals great into something even better. Harvest Moon's spiritual successor, Stardew Valley, has become such a phenomenon that it has begun to see its own spiritual successors in titles like Lightyear Frontier, which further continue to evolve and grow the cozy farming simulator to new heights. This fast evolution of concepts is one of the biggest benefits of spiritual successors, and it's also where sequels can suffer the most.
As franchises grow older and release more games, it almost seems guaranteed that fan reception will cool. Halo Infinite's initial high praise has dwindled after just one year, and while expectations are high for the next installment, Assassin's Creed has been a series with many shortfalls and controversial development choices. While hardly the only series to suffer from waning reception, both show the clear pitfalls of long-running franchises: catering to fan expectations while attempting something new.
Developers have long had to walk the fine line of making the next installments of their games feel fresh while also not pushing the gameplay too far as to alienate longtime fans. Failing to balance properly can lead to sequels becoming interchangeable. This is part of why a decade-old FIFA game is better than the 13 that have come after it. Without having the chance to truly innovate and change, series can run stale and end up leaving behind the fresh feeling that made them popular in the first place.
Where spiritual successors succeed is in their ability to take the concepts of fan-favorite games and run in whatever direction they please. There's perhaps no better example of this than Undertale, a spiritual successor to the Mother series that has managed to eclipse the original to such a degree that a parody of the Mona Lisa featuring a character from Deltarune was sold for over $20,000. Undertale's success is due to creator Toby Fox's freedom to craft completely new stories, mechanics, and ideas while using Earthbound as inspiration. If Undertale had instead been Mother 4, there's a good chance it wouldn't have seen the success -- nor the innovative, unique design it's known for -- that it has today.
While difficult, developers can manage a perfect mix of spiritual successor and sequel. 2018's God of War was seen as a major turn in the series and became a rousing success, so much so that some are worried whether God of War: Ragnarök can live up to it. The game managed to completely reframe and retool the hack-and-slash franchise into a deeper and more complex narrative while still maintaining the brutal nature of Kratos' god-slaying past. God of War is the rare case of developers taking the chance to do something new and succeeding with near universal support.
Developers can't be expected to risk their major series on drastic changes every game -- God of War's success is an exception that proves the rule, after all. Still, where sequels can see gradual growth with small improvements and changes, spiritual successors can provide developers with the freedom to create something brand new while still capturing everything that makes the original games so enjoyable.