8 Video Games That Had A Resurgence, Only To Fall Into Obscurity Again

These game franchises had new entries or remakes come about years later, but they seem forgotten once more.

Sometimes video games that enjoyed success in the past seem to fall by the wayside. It’s not just the cult classics or the obscure games; it can happen even to popular franchises. Years later, those same games might get a surprise new entry, or a modern remaster of a beloved original.

A new audience and renewed sense of relevancy are formed during these reappearances. It would seem like the ideal time for new entries in their franchise, or adapting earlier games for modern hardware. But instead, these games went dormant again despite their resurgence.

Vandal Hearts

Vandal Hearts is a series of tactical role-playing games from the original Playstation console. The first Vandal Hearts was one of the earliest games on the system from Konami. It had charming characters, an interesting story, and exciting battles.

The sequel game, Vandal Hearts II, was also for the Playstation. It had a new story, a new setting, and featured a unique approach to its tactical battles. Enemy units moved simultaneously with the player’s units each turn. This meant players had to try and predict what enemy units might do ahead of time. It felt like a tactical turn-based game mixed with real-time strategy elements.

The first Vandal Hearts released in 1996, and its sequel in 1999. It wasn’t until 2010 that a third game was released digitally for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Called Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, it featured many changes compared to its predecessors. Perhaps the most divisive part about the game among its fanbase was its new art style.

It’s been another 11 years since Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment, and the series has gone dormant after 2010. Konami’s departure from video game development in recent years surely hasn’t helped. Many of their franchises are stagnating these days. Still, a revival of the franchise on modern hardware would be welcomed by many.

Fear Effect

Fear Effect is an interesting horror/adventure game franchise that enjoyed a flash-in-the-pan moment of popularity back on the original Playstation, and then faded into obscurity after its two successful games. Some of that may be due to the fall of FMV style games as technology improved over time.

There was a resurgence many years later, and even a Kickstarter campaign to help revive the franchise. Fear Effect Sedna would go on to be a reality in 2018, 17 years after Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix released. But Sedna’s gameplay style was a departure from the games that came before it, alienating some long time series fans.

In the wake of Fear Effect Sedna, another project was announced titled Fear Effect Reinvented, which as the name suggests, is intended to be a modern remake of the original game. This seems more in line with what many fans were hoping to see in a series revival. However, the status of the game at the time of writing is unknown.

The last updates on the Fear Effect Twitter page showing content related to the game were from January 2020. As we all know, the Covid-19 pandemic started around that time frame, throwing the entire world into unprecedented times of loss, change and upheaval. It’s unclear whether this has impacted anything with relation to the project, and perhaps the game is still under development after a delay, but only time will tell.

Lufia

Lufia is an RPG series that has had five major games during its franchise history. The first two games were released on the Super Nintendo, and especially the second game, Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals, heightened the series’ popularity. Later there were two handheld games, Lufia: The Legend Returns (technically Lufia 3) on the Gameboy Color, and Lufia: The Ruins of Lore, a side story on the Gameboy Advance.

After Lufia: The Ruins of Lore released in 2003, time passed, and for 7 years the Lufia series remained dormant. Then in 2010, the series saw a new re-imagined version of Lufia II. Called Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals, it was developed for the Nintendo DS, and not only were there changes made to the story and its characters, but the gameplay shifted from traditional turn based RPG style to an action RPG game.

Since then however, there has been no word of any new entries in the Lufia franchise. 11 years have passed since Curse of the Sinistrals in relative silence, and the original company that developed the Lufia games has been disbanded. It’s anyone’s guess whether or not the games will return.

Hydro Thunder

Hydro Thunder is a fast-paced powerboat racing series that debuted in arcades, and had a number of successful home console releases. It’s perhaps the most well-known game of Midway’s “Thunder” franchise, including the likes of Offroad Thunder, Arctic Thunder, and 4 Wheel Thunder.

The last version of Hydro Thunder was released in 2000. Arctic Thunder, the last entry in the series during the franchise’s peak popularity, released in 2002. A collection of games in 2004 called Midway Arcade Treasures 3 included both Hydro Thunder and Offroad Thunder for home consoles.

It wouldn’t be until 2010 that Hydro Thunder would go on to get a sequel game. Hydro Thunder Hurricane enjoyed a successful release, and was a fantastic revival of the game. It did justice to what made the original game great and ushered it into the modern era, with HD visuals, online play, global leaderboards, and more.

It was available on the Xbox 360 as a digital download, and later would be released on the Microsoft storefront for Windows computers too. Xbox One owners can also play the game, as it was added to that console’s backwards compatibility list in 2015. The potential problem here is that Hurricane was published by Microsoft Game Studios, meaning the publisher was eager to keep the game solely on Microsoft platforms. That’s not a bad thing in and of itself, but for a game with a prolific multi-platform history, it’s a shame to see it locked up tight behind a single set of doors, so to speak.

Setting that concern aside however, even with the fantastic revival of the franchise, aside from a Windows Phone exclusive Hydro Thunder GO game in 2011, there has been no announcements of new entries or ports to other platforms since 2010’s Hurricane.

Final Fantasy Tactics

No, your eyes do not deceive you. There is a Final Fantasy game on this list. Final Fantasy Tactics, despite being a very successful spinoff series of the legendary RPG franchise, has been dormant for many years now. For too long, some might even say.

Its first entry debuted on the original Playstation to great acclaim. It was followed by Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Gameboy Advance in 2003, and its sequel, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift for the Nintendo DS in 2007/2008. 2007 also saw a remastered port of the original game with expanded content, new cinematics, and a revamped translation with the PSP’s Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. A modified release of this version of the game would later be made available on iOS in 2011/2012 and Android devices in 2013/2015.

Despite having critical success and widespread popularity, we haven’t really seen a new entry in the franchise since 2007/2008, outside of the Japan-exclusive Final Fantasy Tactics S mobile game which debuted in 2013 and went defunct a year later in 2014. It’s fascinating in a way, that a series so beloved and successful has been dormant for so many years now.

Parasite Eve

Parasite Eve’s unique mixture of survival horror and turn-based RPG elements debuted with two entries on the original Playstation. At the time, fans were impressed with the newness of the combination, and the games were generally seen to be a success, especially the first entry. But there wouldn’t be a third game in the series for a long time.

11 years would pass between Parasite Eve II in 1999, and The 3rd Birthday in 2010. In addition to dropping “Parasite Eve” from the title, The 3rd Birthday was a third-person shooter with RPG elements added, making a departure from the style of gameplay of its predecessors. Although, players do still play as Aya Brea, the protagonist from the first two games in the series.

Perhaps it was due to a more mixed reception among fans at the changes for the third game, or other reasons unknown, but Parasite Eve is another franchise that has been dormant since 2010 without much mention over the past decade.

Lunar

The Lunar RPGs hold a special place in the hearts and memories of many who had the privilege of growing up playing them. They told fantastical stories, and the power of song was a primary focus in ways that hadn’t been seen before in an RPG. Connecting people and feeling empathy for the world, music and song have always held a strong significance in humanity’s history, and the Lunar games resonated strongly with that.

Originally released on the Sega CD in the early 1990s, and then re-mastered on the Sega Saturn and released for the original Playstation in the mid/late 1990s, Lunar: The Silver Star/Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue/Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete are beloved classic RPGs. The magic of these first two games has never quite been recaptured elsewhere in the decades since.

However, there have been attempts. In 2001, the first Lunar game was ported to the Gameboy Advance as Lunar Legend, though it changed a few elements of the original story. 2005/2006 saw the release of Lunar: Genesis/Lunar: Dragon Song for the Nintendo DS. A spinoff game in the series, it was the first entry in a long time, though for many fans it failed to live up to what came before.

In 2009, a modern remake of the first game, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony was released on the PSP. The level of detail and attention given to the game was on par with the Sega Saturn and Playstation remasters, and while there were some fans that preferred the earlier releases, it was a sign of a very dedicated release that did justice to the original game and gave it a fresh coat of paint at the same time. In 2012, it was also ported to iOS platforms as Lunar: Silver Star Story Touch, though unfortunately that version never made the jump to Android platforms.

It seemed like the Lunar franchise was finally on track for a full revival. Though notably absent from all of these remakes and ports was the second game, Eternal Blue. And despite the seemingly successful return, the series has fallen by the wayside yet again, with little mention in the last decade.

Xenogears & Xenosaga

Saving perhaps the best for last, Xenogears released on the Playstation in 1998, and later the Xenosaga trilogy of games released on the Playstation 2 from 2002 thru 2006. These fan-favorite RPGs have incredible stories full of depth and imagination. Despite the differences in name, they’re actually pieces of a single massive story. Xenosaga trilogy is episodes 1 thru 3 of the story, and Xenogears was intended to be episode 5.

Originally, the Xenosaga project was envisioned to be all 6 parts of the total story, including a remake of Xenogears, but because it was such a massive undertaking, the scope of the project was cut short to three entries during the years the games were in development. Even still, these are some of the most beloved RPGs with a large and passionate fanbase.

With modern HD remasters being all the rage these days, and many late 1990s and early 2000s era games getting remastered releases on modern consoles, it’s a wonder that Bandai Namco hasn’t tackled a Xenosaga HD Trilogy. There were some talks about it back in 2019, but at that time it seemed like Bandai Namco was not interested. One can only hope they might change their mind in the future.

Even more interesting perhaps than the idea of a Xenosaga HD Trilogy remaster would be a re-release of the original Xenogears, especially if the game is given a chance to realize its full potential. In recent years the game’s director mentioned they ran out of development time to fully realize the original vision for the game back when it was made. Even if it was just a port of the game on more modern hardware without additions or updates, it would still enable many new players to experience the classic RPG masterpiece.

Aside from a digital release of the original Xenogears on the Playstation 3’s Playstation Store, and a few cameo character appearances of Xenosaga characters in other games, Xenogears and Xenosaga haven’t really been active in about 15 years now. It would be fantastic if that changed in the future, but until then, all we can do is hope and wonder.