Half-Sequels Like Uncharted Lost Legacy Are The Future
Standalone Expansions, half-sequels, glorified DLC… whatever you want to call it, I’m a fan of these kinds of not-quite-full game, not-quite-DLC experiences. And with AAA game development now expected to take longer than ever, these half-sequels might be a way to address a potential new release shortage. So far nobody has done them better than PlayStation.
Why Standalone Expansions Are Great
- They offer a fresh perspective on a familiar world. Uncharted Lost Legacy is one of my two favorite Uncharted games in the series, alongside Uncharted 2, and Miles Morales‘ big advantage over Spider-Man was telling a story I had rarely heard before.
- They are more concise than full sequels. I prefer shorter games, and these standalone expansions deliver full-length quality experiences without the decade-long wait.
- They are a perfect way to bridge the gap between major releases. Uncharted Lost Legacy and The Last of Us: Left Behind both released at the halfway point between The Last of Us Part 1 and The Last of Us Part 2, offering something for fans to enjoy while they waited for the next big game.
The Rise of the Standalone Expansion
It’s not just PlayStation either. FromSoftware has never released a DLC I wouldn’t consider among my favorite games of all time, from Dark Souls’ Artorias of the Abyss to the all-time hall-of-famer, Bloodborne: The Old Hunters.
Admittedly the distinction between a standalone expansion and DLC is pretty arbitrary. I suppose the only defining trait of the standalone expansion is that it might cost more than what we expect a normal DLC pack to cost, but even that’s not really accurate. Consider a character pass in games like Street Fighter where getting 4 new characters now costs $30 as Capcom seemingly don’t release their new character a la carte anymore.
Why Standalone Expansions Are Necessary
However, one thing that isn’t a personal preference is that game development times are becoming much, much longer. It’s been happening slowly, and we should only whisper it for now, but the biggest AAA games are taking almost a decade to come out. Literally, who knows if and when we’ll see Ghost of Tsushima 2? Could be 2026 — could be 2036. Either way, we shouldn’t treat expansions as appetizers when they might be the only major release we’ll see from a studio in years.
CD Projekt Red, with several projects that we know of in development but no release date for any of them in sight, has gifted us with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, a standalone expansion for the ages and a challenger for Game of the Year in a year that saw the release of both The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3.
The point is, with AAA game sequels looking increasingly further away, we’re likely going to approach a new paradigm. One where ideally big studios can take a chance on new IP and in the meantime satiate existing fans with smaller, more bespoke experiences from our beloved franchises. Especially if the sequel ends up being just a bloated version of the first game that gets bogged down by being essentially the same game but with “more systems and more waypoints.” I won’t name names, but I can think of at least two major sequels in the last five years that could’ve benefited from being a standalone expansion instead.
Poll: Which Sequels Could Have Been Standalone Expansions?
Which sequels do you think could have been standalone expansions?
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Psychonauts 2
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Resident Evil 3 Remake
- The Last of Us Part 2
- Doom Eternal
The Future of Gaming
Something is going to change in AAA game development, it has to. But until then, I think we should appreciate the standalone expansions especially as they deliver full-length quality experiences without the decade-long wait.
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