Hollow Knight: Silksong and the Video Game Sequels That Were Worth the Wait

After eight long years that felt like 80, the sequel to Team Cherry’s Metroidvania classic Hollow Knight is finally here! Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced almost immediately after the release of the first game in 2017, yet it took so long in development that many fans wondered whether it was a tangible piece of software or a myth propagated by the internet. If the game is as good as advertised, those who waited patiently will receive the ultimate payoff for their troubles. 

Hollow Knight: Silksong isn’t the only sequel to take nearly a decade or longer to come out, contrary to what its fans might assert. In fact, putting up with development hell is one of the great drawbacks of being a video game geek. And although it seems unfair during the hiatus for a long-dormant franchise, a wonderful sequel after an extended wait feels like Christmas morning! These are the best video game sequels that hit it out of the park after years in the dugout.

Psychonauts 2

When it comes to platform games, not many companies outside of Nintendo have been able to get a foothold in the genre in the 21st century. Enter Tim Schafer’s Psychonauts. Propelled by a quirky story about a kid exploring a camp full of others with psychic powers, the premise and the gameplay come together to manifest a cult classic.

The game’s financial misery made it seem like a sequel was merely a figment of fans’ imaginations, but an aggressive crowd-funding campaign and a sale to Microsoft allowed Double Fine to make Psychonauts 2 in 2021, 16 years after the first game. The game was the spiritual evolution of the genre, a fantastic mix of old-school 3D platforming and new concepts that will be modeled by other developers in the future. 

World of Goo 2

World of Goo is undoubtedly on the indie gaming Mount Rushmore. It’s a certified classic you have to play before you die, revolutionizing the potential of small developers in a world dominated by AAA conglomerates. 2D Boy’s puzzle masterpiece was released in 2008 and gave people who were craving a wholly unique puzzle experience everything they could have imagined. 

Fast forward 16 years, and the sequel finally came out in 2024 to a fanbase that was more surprised than hungry for more. World of Goo 2 essentially regurgitates the first game without anything too novel thrown in, but the puzzles remain top-notch, and the social commentary regarding capitalism and environmental destruction rings even more true today than at the end of the 2000s. This is a sequel that didn’t get fancy, and most often that’s the best thing to be. 

Shenmue III

Before there was Breath of the Wild and Skyrim, open-world gaming’s pioneering title was Shenmue. The world is bright with anime storytelling and fun lifestyle simulation genre-pieces, as players could go anywhere they wanted in a fictional version of 1980s China. The first two titles garnered a sturdy set of fans, but those people were left in the dust for years before a third Shenmue came out 18 years later. 

Shenmue III wasn’t perceived with critical acclaim, but it was worth the wait because it understood what its audience desired. Much of the open world exploration is no longer novel by the time this came out in 2019, but it didn’t have to be. Having the heroic Ryo Hazuki on the PlayStation 4 was something that seemed far-fetched for two decades. 

Neo: The World Ends With You

The World Ends With You was one of the Nintendo DS’s best RPGs. With battles set across both the upper and lower screens, and a melancholic setting and characters, Square Enix’s newest title of the late 2000s seemed like it would be a franchise-starting hit. 

NEO: The World Ends With You didn’t just replay the same notes as the original game, instead opting to change the aesthetic of Tokyo with a 3D world that fit the contemporary hardware to a tee. It’s not as good as the first game, but it’s essential if you loved the DS hardhitter. 

Diablo III

The Diablo franchise doesn’t really lack for sequels anymore, but once upon a time, that wasn’t the case. Diablo II is one of the most acclaimed action RPGs of all time, with a gameplay loop so addictive that people would often turn to internet forums for therapeutic empathy after losing their marriages due to playing the game excessively. 

The 12-year gap between Diablo II and Diablo III only made the heart fonder for the second game in the series. Some complained that the new graphics and colorful palette just weren’t Diablo. Blizzard maintained the core mechanics of the series in the third game, though, crafting a more modernized version of the hack-and-slash format that unbiased fans had been awaiting for over a decade. The third game is awesome in its own right, and people who were dissatisfied with the results were never going to be happy anyway. 

Luigi’s Mansion 2

Luigi’s Mansion was one of the more peculiar choices for a launch title back when the Nintendo GameCube came out in 2001, and it still seems like an oddity almost a quarter-century later. Using Mario’s brother as the star of a new system was daring, but deserved. Luigi’s Mansion was the Big N at its most creative. An adventure game that takes place inside a haunted house, this cult classic never really seemed like it needed a sequel until the day it came out for the Nintendo 3DS. 

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon was right at home on the handheld. 12 years of time between the two games allowed the first one to age properly and get the adulation it deserved. This sequel expanded the series by crafting new mansions and settings for Luigi, and it sold well enough to spawn a third game on the Switch in 2019.