Spiritual successor

Spiritual successor games are sometimes made by the same studio as the original, but with a new title due to licensing issues.[5]

The game Dark Souls by From Software was inspired by the studio's earlier game, Demon's Souls, an exclusive title for the PlayStation 3. Because Sony Interactive Entertainment held the rights to Demon's Souls, the studio would be unable to produce a direct sequel on other platforms, leading them to create a new property with similar gameplay mechanics for the Xbox 360 and other platforms.[2][6]

Irrational Games' BioShock is a spiritual successor to their earlier System Shock 2. While System Shock 2 was met with critical acclaim, it was considered a commercial failure, and publisher Electronic Arts would not allow a third title in the series. After several years and other projects at Irrational, as well as being acquired by a new publisher 2K Games, the studio developed BioShock, with a similar free-form narrative structure.[7][8]

Shadow of the Colossus was considered a spiritual successor to Ico by Fumito Ueda, who directed both games as leader of Team Ico. Ueda expressed that he did not necessarily want a direct canonical connection between the games, but that both had similar narrative themes and elements that he wanted players to interpret on their own.[9]

Another example would be Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo by British game developer Frontier Developments, which are spiritual successors to RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and Zoo Tycoon respectively, developed by Frontier in the 2000s and 2010s.

Alternatively, a successor may be developed by some of the staff who worked on the preceding game, under a new studio name.

Yooka-Laylee is a spiritual successor evoking the style and gameplay of Rare's Banjo-Kazooie. It was developed by Playtonic Games, which consisted of many former Rare staff members, including composer Grant Kirkhope. Yooka and Laylee, the game's animal protagonists, serve as direct stand-ins for the original game's Banjo and Kazooie.

Mighty No. 9 closely resembles the gameplay and character design of the Mega Man series, which project lead Keiji Inafune worked on, and is considered a spiritual successor.

A number of games from Bullfrog Productions have spawned spiritual successors in the years after the studio was closed by Electronic Arts in 2001. These include Godus- succeeding Populous,[10] War for the Overworld, succeeding Dungeon Keeper,[11] Satellite Reign, succeeding Syndicate Wars,[12] and Two Point Hospital, succeeding Theme Hospital.[13] While Bullfrog had closed, all of these successor works have involved staff from the preceding titles, such as Godus' Peter Molyneux.[14]

The term is also more broadly applied to video games developed by a different studio with no connection to the first, and is simply inspired by the gameplay, aesthetics or other elements of the preceding work.

For example, The game Cities: Skylines (along with other city-builder games) is considered a spiritual successor to the SimCity series, because they both focus on constructing and managing a simulated city.[15] Likewise, Axiom Verge is a side-scrolling Metroidvania game which succeeds Metroid.[16]

Other examples include Citizens of Earth, succeeding Earthbound.[17] War for the Overworld (succeeding Dungeon Keeper) crossed through several of these categories over the course of the development. Originating as a fan-made direct sequel to Dungeon Keeper 2, the game then became a spiritual successor with only thematic connection after moving away from the Dungeon Keeper IP. Finally, the hiring of returning voice actor Richard Ridings presented a direct staff connection to the original.