Call of Duty is one of those FPS series that will never stop pumping out sequels. There are a number of other first-person shooters that are in the same boat, like Halo and Battlefield. However, for all of those franchises, countless others only received one game before fading into the sunset, despite possibly having the potential to produce sequels.
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Whether these sequels or spinoffs are bad games or are just embarrassing, fans would rather pretend they never existed.
That's not counting games that stopped having sequels, either. First-person fans would love to see Condemned 3, Titanfall 3, or Crysis 4 at some point, but those types of discontinuities are not the point of this article. At least, they got one sequel. No, let's look through history and pick out those fantastic FPS games that, for one reason or another, never led to anything more.
While we are focusing on solo games for the most part, we will consider spin-offs from other series, as long as they never received direct sequels. Some examples came close, though.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Battlefield Hardline
Bad Boys, Bad Boys
The Battlefield series has had numerous spin-offs, but most of them have been set in war zones throughout time: past, present, and future. Battlefield Hardline is still one of the most fascinating games in the franchise, being set primarily in modern-day Miami. Players were a police detective going after the drug cartel in the city, with a mix of action and stealth that allowed players to either shoot up gangsters or arrest them tactfully. Perhaps it wasn’t the high-octane action of the war zone games, but this different approach also made it a fun spin-off worthy of a sequel, despite the game having its share of issues at launch.
Bulletstorm
Kicking In The Name Of
Bulletstorm has come so close to a sequel that it’s almost painful no one has pulled the trigger yet. The game was initially released in 2011 for systems like the PS3 and Xbox 360, serving as a more over-the-top shooter parodying others, like Halo 3, with its nonsensical story and ludicrous gameplay. It received decent enough scores, and the next attention it got was a remaster, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition, which added Duke Nukem as a playable character, along with a later VR edition: Bulletstorm VR. While keeping the game accessible and its name alive is great for new audiences, old fans would also love an actual sequel, since this universe has so much potential to develop into something more.
Deathloop
Live Die Repeat
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
Deathloop is now five years old, hitting the halfway point of being retro with no future in sight. While not quite a roguelike, the time loop nature of the gameplay lends itself to the other genre. As Colt, players are trapped on an island, doomed to repeat their lives until they can kill the leaders on the island. The twist is that a second player, Julianna, could try to actively kill Colt along with the AI enemies, but players could opt out of this multiplayer aspect if they wanted. While challenging, the game had a lot of great ideas from the masters at Arkane Studios, and they could assuredly nail it with a sequel, given the chance.
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Squad Up
- Developer(s)
- LucasArts
- Genre(s)
- Tactical, Shooter, FPS
- Platform(s)
- PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox (Original)
There’s almost no genre out there that Star Wars hasn’t touched in games, including quite a handful of first-person shooters. Star Wars: Republic Commando is among the best ones, which was originally an Xbox console exclusive in 2005 before getting a remaster in 2021.
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As a group of four Clone Troopers, players got to command their squad throughout tight missions, blasting droids of all varieties with plenty of laser blasts and thermal charged grenades. There technically was a mobile sequel, Star Wars: Republic Commando: Order 66, but that’s not really the same thing as a fully fleshed-out console/PC successor that builds on the first game's ideas. Sadly, there was a proper sequel planned called Imperial Commando, but work didn’t get too far before it was canceled.
Darkwatch
Riders In The Storm
Vampire stories and Westerns mix so well together, and Darkwatch might be the best video game that combines the two. A cowboy named Jericho gets turned into a vampire, with players able to fight the disease or embrace it to gain powers during the campaign as they fight the forces of darkness for the titular Darkwatch organization. Elaborate steampunk crossbows, revolvers, shotguns, and more aided players in their campaign.
The game was never ported in any form, making it virtually unplayable today without a physical copy (at least, legally), and worse yet, Darkwatch almost had a sequel, but it was canceled. Evil West is probably the closest we will get to a spiritual successor to Darkwatch, and it is far from the same thing.
Prey (2017)
Mr. Mimes Everywhere
Prey is an interesting example with a rich history. This 2017 version is essentially a reboot, having almost nothing to do with the 2006 game, also called Prey, nor the canceled Prey 2 game, which was tied more to the original. In this reboot, also from Arkane Studios, players were trapped in a space station that was slowly being taken over by aliens that could mimic things from cups to cones.
The slow progression through the space station had a similar gameplay hook and atmospheric vibe to BioShock, and players were given plenty of freedom, space, and tools to carve their own solutions to most challenges. Nowadays, Prey is regarded as one of the best modern immersive sims, and it could and should have been the start of a franchise (or, at least, a trilogy). While it did get an expansion, Prey never got its dream successor.
Singularity
From Russia With Love
Singularity is another game that tried to have a BioShock feel to it, although it was less claustrophobic, as there were more open spaces. Stuck in a Russian experimental station, players could switch between the past and present using a device to manipulate time. For example, a corroded staircase could be repaired, or a human could be aged up and turned into dust.
The tools added a new flair to the decent shooting, and the setting was also quite enrapturing, but sadly, Singularity 2 never got created and released to really build on the first game's rock-solid foundations. At least, Singularity can still be purchased on Steam, which is not something that can be said for every FPS game from the PS3 and Xbox 360 era.
Black
The Gunner’s Choice
Black’s genetic name probably didn’t help it much, but the cover’s bullet casings were meant to lure in shooter fans. Beyond the cover art, the game’s actual selling point was to create an immersive shooter experience for the dying original Xbox and PS2 in 2006.
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While the spy-themed campaign was not that memorable back then or now, the graphics and sound design of all the weapons were beyond impressive, especially with headphones or surround sound. It can still be played via backwards compatibility on Xbox consoles, and that’s its sole legacy now.
James Bond 007: Nightfire
Not Quite GoldenEye
The James Bond film series is not known for having canonical direct sequels, although there are some exceptions, and this also applies to the gaming world as well. That’s why it was not surprising that James Bond 007: Nightfire was a one-and-done, but this hidden gem is worth discussing regardless of whether it needed a sequel.
Like most Bond games of the early 2000s, Pierce Brosnan’s likeness was used, and Nightfire fits really well into that era of Bond. Heck, an argument could be made that it is a better finale than Die Another Day for this version of 007. Fans of GoldenEye 007 can expect more of the same mix of stealth, gadgetry, and non-stop shooting antics in this Bond game that is incredibly hard to play on modern systems.
TimeShift
Another Time-Based Shooter
Shooters go hand in hand with time antics and special bodysuits, with TimeShift having both. It was one of the earlier games to hit the PS3 and Xbox 360 era of consoles, but thanks to it getting a PC version as well, it can still be purchased on Steam, and some of the game’s peskier bugs did get ironed out over time. As a futuristic shooter, the weaponry is pretty standard, but the real selling point is the suit that can slow down or stop time, letting players kill enemies more easily or even steal their guns mid-combat, which is pretty funny. There are puzzle-based scenarios where the suit comes in handy too, like rewinding time to prevent a disaster, or slowing down time to get through something about to close. TimeShift is not perfect, but neither is time as a concept.
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