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Assassin’s Creed Mirage has gotten the reboot it truly needed, so why shouldn’t other companies take note and follow through on that idea? Throughout the years, franchises have tried to evolve and adapt to the trends of modern gaming. While it can work in certain cases, others are not as successful, and some tend to lose themselves and what made them special in the first place. Here are 5 game series like Assassin’s Creed that need a hard reboot.
5. Resident Evil
Capcom knows exactly what they need to do with Resident Evil. It’s been evident in the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes, so it begs the question, why haven’t they returned to that format? Right now, the most recent game in the Resident Evil universe is Resident Evil: Village, which favored a more action-based approach rather than that of survival horror.
With the amazing success of the remakes, it’s clear that the path back to greatness for this franchise lies in the return to survival horror. Fans want third-person romps through this terrifying world with little ammo to be found, puzzles to solve, and zombies of all shapes and sizes to contend with. It seems with the DLC for Resident Evil: Village, we may be headed back to that realm, but it remains to be seen if Capcom will follow through and get back to its roots.
4. Batman
The Arkham series is over, we know that, and we bemoan it, but it surely shouldn’t mean that Batman is done with as well. The passing of Kevin Conroy as the iconic voice of Batman was a huge loss, but the character has always survived, and the gaming industry should be no different than the film industry. Gotham Knights was not the way to go, and while Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League hasn’t been released yet, its disastrous previews and subsequent delay definitely didn’t inspire much confidence, to say the least. Rocksteady is capable of bringing back this character, and if they do, the words live service and multiplayer should stay far away.
What made the Batman Arkham games amazing was the atmosphere, combat, the writing, and, most importantly, the characters. Batman has countless stories to draw from, and while the Arkham series was largely original content, nobody would be upset with a game that recreated the Killing Joke, for instance. That gameplay doesn’t get old, and having the series resurrected on a next-gen system would be incredible.
3. Battlefield
It’s no breaking news that Battlefield 2042, despite its improvements, is far from the game that we expected when it was first released. DICE wanted to evolve the franchise in a big way, but the result was something that felt like an uninspired attempt to become another Call of Duty.
The best games in the franchise delivered an over-the-top take on war sims, with massive multiplayer battles where each player filled a role, and the different classes were cohesive. Battlefield is one of the best military shooter franchises of all time, but it needs a reboot like Assassin’s Creed Mirage to get back to basics.
2. Ghost Recon
While there is actually a lot to like with both Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Breakpoint, the overwhelming thought is that Ghost Recon needs to reboot to the way it used to be. Ghost Recon was such a breath of fresh air when it was first released. It made every bullet feel real. Your team was everything; if they went down, you were finished. It wasn’t about loot or microtransactions; it was about strategy and planning. It was tactical and serious, and that’s why people loved it.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was the last game to encapsulate that, and it’s over a decade old. While Ghost Recon: Breakpoint threatened to destroy the series forever, it tried to rebound a little bit, but it was too little too late to save it from mediocrity. The writing is on the wall to make sure this great series survives. Give us the gritty, silent, everything-or-nothing approach the originals took. It used to feel dangerous and important, with the missions packed with tension aka the opposite of whatever went down in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. Ubisoft is behind Assassin’s Creed Mirage, so they are certainly capable of doing another reboot if they felt like it.
1. Halo
Halo is the franchise that put the first-person shooter on the map. It’s over 20 years old at this point and still maintains a ferociously devoted fanbase to this day. Halo: Infinite was not the return to form that it was supposed to be. It went full open world for the first time, and that was a bit divisive, to say the least. The thing that made Halo incredible for the first three entries was how each mission felt singular.
In Halo: Infinite, the missions blend into each other, and that feeling of progression to more dangerous and alien worlds was somewhat lost in the open-world. Add to that, the co-op wasn’t even available at launch, and the multiplayer and campaign were released separately. 343 Industries should look to the past to get this amazing franchise back on track. Bring back the emphasis on mission design, remember what made the original three so special, and get rid of the micro-transactions. There is so much more to do in this universe, and the answer forward is located in the past, just like Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
