While many video game franchises get milked with new entries seemingly every year, there are some that unfortunately get left by the wayside. In terms of the horror genre, these dormant franchises even consist of series that were once some of the biggest the gaming industry had to offer, making their absence even more upsetting and puzzling.
There are many dormant horror game franchises that deserve a comeback, but there are five in particular that come to mind that seem to be the most deserving. Whether or not any of these horror game franchises ever come back from the dead remains to be seen, but any one of the ones listed here would likely excite fans of the genre.
Here are five dead horror franchises that should be resurrected.
Dead Space
The original Dead Space could best be described as Resident Evil 4 in space. The sci-fi survival-horror game allowed players to explore a spaceship as engineer Isaac Clarke, equipped with unique armor and a variety of tools that could double as weapons. In Dead Space, Clarke has to survive against horrific alien creatures called necromorphs, which can only be killed by dismembering their limbs. The game was critically-acclaimed and successfully launched an entire franchise for EA, complete with comic books, animated films, and more.
EA followed up the original Dead Space with Dead Space 2, which earned similar critical acclaim as the original and featured a wide number of gameplay improvements. EA also moved forward with a couple of spin-off games, including the well-received on-rails shooter Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii. However, 2013's Dead Space 3 was a major departure for the series, eschewing the pure horror of the other games in favor of a more action-oriented approach, microtransactions, and co-op gameplay.
These changes to the Dead Space formula were not well-received by most fans, and the series has been dormant ever since. It's been over seven years since the launch of Dead Space 3, and no new game is in sight. But at this point, many fans may settle for a remake or remaster of the original games. And with next-generation consoles on the horizon, now seems like the perfect opportunity to bring the franchise back from the dead.
Dino Crisis
Capcom's Resident Evil gets all of the attention when it comes to the company's survival-horror games, and RE is still going strong to this day, with Resident Evil 8 set to launch in 2021 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. But Resident Evil isn't the only survival-horror franchise Capcom has produced over the years. Some fans may recall the Dino Crisis series, which started in 1999 and was essentially Resident Evil with dinosaurs.
Dino Crisis 2 was more action-oriented than the original game, but was still generally well-received. But then the franchise went off the rails a bit, experimenting with a light-gun shooter that flopped with critics, and finishing with 2003's Dino Crisis 3, a game that was was universally panned.
It's been 17 years since Dino Crisis 3, though, and so it's safe to say that many fans are ready for a follow-up. And even if Capcom doesn't want to produce an entirely new Dino Crisis game, maybe the studio could give the original Dino Crisis a similar treatment as the Resident Evil remake. Reports have indicated that Capcom has experimented with new Dino Crisis game projects here and there over the past 17 years, so there may still be some hope just yet.
Fatal Frame
The Fatal Frame franchise has the reputation of being one of the scariest there is, with players taking photographs of ghosts while exploring eerie locales. The first three Fatal Frame games are widely considered to be the peak of the franchise, but then the games started to be Japan-only releases, with the exception of the Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir spin-off that released for the 3DS.
Fatal Frame finally left Japan again with Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water for Wii U, though that game received far lower scores from critics when compared to the first three games in the series. It's been over five years since Maiden of Black Water launched, and there's been no substantial updates on a potential new game in the long-running franchise. However, Fatal Frame series producer Keisuke Kikuchi has said that he would be open to developing a new game for the Switch if Nintendo is interested.
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 were huge hits for Valve, with the FPS co-op zombie games standing as two of the most popular titles of the seventh generation. But as the old saying goes, Valve can't count to three, and so the Left 4 Dead franchise hasn't seen a new release in over a decade.
While a Left 4 Dead 3 may or may not ever materialize, Left 4 Dead is admittedly in much better shape than the other franchises on this list. Since Valve hasn't released any new Left 4 Dead content for years, the community has taken it upon themselves to release a new Left 4 Dead 2 update called The Last Stand, plus the developers of the original game, Turtle Rock Studios, is working on a spiritual successor called Back 4 Blood.
Silent Hill
Konami's Silent Hill franchise was once one of the top survival-horror game franchises in the entire world, perhaps second only to Capcom's Resident Evil. Silent Hill 2 in particular earned acclaim, but like with Konami's other franchises, recent years have not been kind to Silent Hill or its fans. At one point, Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima was working on a new Silent Hill game, whose potential was demonstrated by the PT demo, but Konami ultimately scrapped the project and parted ways with the famed game designer. No new Silent Hill games have been announced ever since.
But while Kojima's Silent Hill project was canceled, there is still hope that a new game in the series may be in the works. Reliable leakers have said that a Silent Hill PS5 exclusive game is in active development, and it is expected to be revealed before the year is out. Whether or not there is any truth to that remains to be seen, but maybe Silent Hill will come back from the dead sooner rather than later.