August 10, 2020

10 Games You Didn’t Know Were Secret Sequels

Kevin Thielenhaus / Features / Alan Wake, Code Vein, control, Dark Souls, Deus Ex, Drakengard, earthbound, Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, God Eater, Halo, Ico, Marathon, Mother 3, Nier, Pathways Into Darkness, Project Snowblind, Shadow of the colossus, Vagrant Story /

Project Snowblind Is A Secret Sequel To Deus Ex

Deus Ex is one of the greatest games of 2000. This conspiracy-themed RPG-FPS is the inspiration for countless modern gaming trends, and has its own series of sequels. Project Snowblind is a generic shooter you’ve probably never heard of — but originally this game was meant to be an additional sequel to be released alongside Deus Ex 2. And you can see the Deus Ex fingerprints everywhere.

Project Snowblind isn’t an RPG. This game is all about shooting everything in sight — but you’ll gain new powers through augmentations, and have some choice over your method. Will you use stealth, or go all-out? Really, it doesn’t matter — but the glowing blue nanomachine tubes look straight out of Deus Ex 2. The mechs look similar too, and the combination of stealth / hacking and mod problem-solving made this extremely derivative shooter stand-out in 2004. It was almost something unique by 2004 standards!

Shadow of the Colossus Is A Secret Sequel To ICO

ICO was a revelation in video game storytelling, and Shadow of the Colossus hooked us all over again with incredible colossus designs and exciting boss battles. No one really expected a sequel to ICO, but by the end of Shadow of the Colossus, the connection is impossible to miss.

Your in Shadow of the Colossus is to free an entity called Dormin. By defeating all the collossi, you recreate Dormin — a dark being that rampages at the end of the game, revealing that you goals weren’t entirely pure. Before escaping, a warrior seals Dormin inside the temple; but the main character’s maiden has been revived.

As the game end, the maiden enters a secret garden and discovers an infant with horns. The horns match the look of the main character’s horns in ICO, revealing that the game truly is a prequel — the game’s director, Fumito Ueda, claimed that it was all up to interpretation. And it is, but that horned child makes a very solid link between these two seemingly unrelated games.

Discover more secret sequels in gaming on the next page.