The Xbox One, among its many initial struggles, found it hard to establish new franchises. Some returned from the previous generation like Gear of War and Halo, but what about the new IPs? Where did they go?
This list will take a look at first-party exclusives along with third-party releases to find out if a sequel should be in the cards. Every entry will also track down what the developers have done after every release. Have they been in the dark, or did they release anything new after the game in question came out? It’s time to figure out what the Xbox Series X might have in store for gamers this fall.
10 Ryse: Son Of Rome
Ryse: Son Of Rome released alongside the Xbox One in 2013. It wasn’t a first-party game, but Microsoft did publish it for Crytek making it a console exclusive. Since then Crytek has put out several games, with their most recent being Hunt: Showdown. There hasn’t even been a sniff of a sequel, which may be because it received middling reviews.
9 Sunset Overdrive
Revealed in 2013 and out in 2014, Sunset Overdrive was a big surprise for Xbox fans. That is to say, Insomniac Games had pretty much been a Sony exclusive developer for over a decade. This was their only release on the Xbox One.
Since this came out Insomniac put out 2016’s reboot of Ratchet and Clank, Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018, and some smaller titles as well. As of February Sony bought the company and they now also own the rights to the Sunset Overdrive IP. So if a sequel happens, it will be on PS5.
8 Shape Up
This was an exclusive for the Kinect peripheral for the Xbox One. This was one of very few games for the accessory before Microsoft slowly put it out to pasture. Anyway, similar to Ubisoft’s other workout game, Just Dance, Shape Up wanted to gamify the workout experience. It was a solid idea, but because the Kinect went away, a sequel was never made. Just Dance continues to dominate though.
7 Project Spark
Project Spark was a similar idea to Super Mario Maker and LittleBigPlanet. Basically, it was a game created to create other games. It launched a beta in 2013, was out officially in 2014 to little fanfare, and was shut down in 2016. The strangest part of this was the Conker tease at E3 2014. There has yet to be a real Conker game from said tease unless one counts the extra data in Project Spark. Again, it was a weird announcement.
6 Quantum Break
This was announced in 2013, alongside a TV show. After some retooling and several delays, Quantum Break launched in 2016. The TV show then became an integrated part of the experience. Since then Remedy Entertainment put out Control as of last year. Both scored well, but fans and the press were more enthusiastic over Control meaning if one of these two games is getting a sequel, Quantum Break will be left in the dust. That said, Microsoft owns the IP so they don’t necessarily need Remedy to do it.
5 ReCore
ReCore is another early showcase for the Xbox One. It was shown at E3 2015 and released a year later. However, it was not complete and was very blatantly rushed out the door with missing content almost slapping players in the face. This was remedied a year later with the “Definitive Edition” which did indeed feel more like a complete game. Since then Comcept was acquired by Level-5 in 2017, who put out a phone game in 2019. The co-developer, Armature Studio, has worked on various ports since, like this year’s Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th AnniversaryBundle.
4 Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Resident Evil: Revelations 2 released in 2015 as an episodic experience. This line of spinoffs was meant to invoke the more classic, haunting feeling of the originals to varying degrees of success. With the 2017 release of Resident Evil VII, the main series seemed to be back on track for the survival horror genre. This includes the two remakes as well. So in a way, Revelations 3 is not needed.
3 Battlefield Hardline
Another 2015 spinoff was Battlefield Hardline. There are two notable things about this spinoff. One, it was made by Visceral who also developed Dead Space. Two, it focused not on war zones, but the police force.
It was an interesting idea with generally positive feedback as a cool new take for the brand. Unfortunately, after the launch Visceral was shut down along with their in-development Star Wars project.
2 D4
D4, or Dark Dreams Don’t Die, was the next game from Hidetaka Suehiro, aka Swery65. This followed the release of his cult smash hit, Deadly Premonition. This was a console exclusive, but it later got ported to PCs in 2015. Two episodes were put out, but it was never finished. There is only one screenshot out there of the canceled third episode which can be found on Unseen64.
1 Murdered: Soul Suspect
Another murder mystery game that has been forgotten is Murdered: Soul Suspect. This was published by Square Enix in 2014. For those that don’t remember, it starred a detective who dies and has to solve his own murder as a ghost. It’s a little like Ghost Trick mixed with Heavy Rain, with some Dementors from Harry Potter thrown in for good measure. While it didn’t leave an impressive mark critically, the idea could be smoothed out for a better sequel.