There are many venerable game series that gamers would love to see new entries in and I’ve come up with a 2-part series for sequels I consider many gamers to be anticipating highly to hear about in the nearby future or within a few years. This list specifically (and its second part) focuses on game franchises that have seen large economic success and some also enjoy the backing of mega game publishers to have a high potential of happening in the not too distant future. I explain why many would have a reason to anticipate these sequels as well as how developers could improve these releases to deliver exceptional quality entertainment. This list of 10 anticipated sequels is structured in no particular order and discusses each game on its capacity to happen. Among endless sequels in the gaming market, these are most desirable for many as these franchises and IPs don’t appear too often.

• all screenshots are of the previous entries these games are supposed to be sequels to, all images are credited with a source link

      1. Dragon Age: Inquisition 2

Dragon Age: Inquisition wasn’t a perfect game, but it brought the series back to a great start by setting the game in an open world. Aside from some apparent flaws however, Dragon Age: Inquisition was a solid entry in EA’s fantasy RPG series and a direct sequel or another game set in the universe would further flesh out the world of Thedas. Dragon Age: Inquisition 2 makes perfect sense to happen, and all BioWare needs to do is iron out some glaring issues and improve the gameplay to have a sales success on their hands. Keeping EA’s Frostbite 3 (or perhaps Frostbite 4 is around the corner?) engine would give the sequel the same beautiful look of Inquisition, and BioWare has full potential to expand further on the open-world gameplay mechanics.

      2. Max Payne 4

Rockstar’s reinvention of the Max Payne series with the third title brought us something to look forward into the future of the franchise as Rockstar could bring us another quality release with Max Payne 4. Given Rockstar is busy with Red Dead Redemption 2, it would be a long while until gamers hear any news of another Max Payne title and its unknown whether the publisher plans to continue the series at all, but the quality of Max Payne 3 that Rockstar brought us warrants for people to look towards a sequel. Perhaps bring the series into the open-world or give players a twist on existing mechanics of Max Payne 3, and a sequel is bound to be an economic success. For now, though, there’s Red Dead Redemption 2 to look forward to, and hopefully that title eventually makes its way onto PC.

      3. The Elder Scrolls 6

It’s been almost 7 years since the release of Skyrim and Bethesda has been hard at work to bring back or continue their staple franchises with Fallout 4, 2016’s Doom and a sequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order. Along with that, Skyrim has been re-released with multiple editions that now span every available gaming platform including the Nintendo Switch. They even released it in VR – that’s how much Skyrim was a success in gaming. However, at this point gamers are dying to at least hear an official announcement of The Elder Scrolls 6, since so far we’ve only heard slight rumours of its potential existence and Elder Scrolls Online hasn’t exactly delivered on its multiplayer potential. With a 6th title in the excellent RPG series, Bethesda can top its own success at delivering another quality RPG release. Given the commercial success of The Elder Scrolls 5 and its widespread release as an RPG icon, a release of The Elder Scrolls 6 makes perfect sense in the near future.

     4. Trials Fusion sequel

Trials Fusion has not been released too far ago, and RedLynx studios even released a wacky spin-off in the style of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon since the main game’s release (coincidentally named Trials of the Blood Dragon), but it doesn’t mean the gamers this niche title appealed to can’t dream of a potential sequel that would further explore the unique world and gameplay of the Trials series. The futuristic spin of Fusion gave us the best environment design yet and it would be nice to retain that style in the sequel, but a more grounded version similar to Evolution wouldn’t be a bad one either. RedLynx has no need to change the game mechanics of this series, but expanding the trick system of Fusion could be one of the ways to improve upon that entry.

     5. GRID 3

Following 2014’s GRID Autosport, Codemasters have intensely focused on refining their F1 racing series, with F1 2016 and ’17 coming to earn the titles as the best entries yet in Formula 1 racing. Further, Codemasters effectively rebooted their Dirt series with excellent Dirt 4 and Dirt Rally built on a brand new racing engines. In 2018 or ’19, it is a perfect time for Codemasters to refine their track-focused GRID series, with perhaps a GRID 3 in the works. To produce an excellent sequel, Codemasters could build another GRID entry from the ground up using a new engine. Following from either free-form racing fun of GRID 2 with diverse modes or the track-focused GRID Autosport, Codemasters have potential to achieve great success with their once famous racing franchise. Perhaps a new entry is just around the corner, but so far we haven’t heard any official news regarding GRID 3.

      6. Dying Light 2

The original Dying Light is perhaps the best zombie game you can currently get, and Techland continues to support the title up to this date with free content update and DLC releases. Dying Light’s unique blend of Dead Island and Mirror’s Edge gameplay created a really fun experience, and I’m just one of the many people who keep replaying Dying Light for its fun open-world action mechanics. A sequel that retains all of the original’s gameplay and presents a brand new setting is totally acceptable to see in the next few years, however Techland could also improve on all of Dying Light’s flaws and give us a world greater than the two districts of Haran available in the original. The developer should have all the funds available to produce a quality sequel, and a repeating partnership with WB Games could further assist with the development budget. Many gamers are all up for a similar sequel that would expand on all elements of the original and deliver an even better story and improved gameplay.

     7. Saints Row 5

This title is a tricky entry on this list, mostly due to the question “How do you top the insanely fun action game with wacky superpowers and entertaining missions of Saints Row 4?” To their credit, Volition gave us something new with Agents of Mayhem – a new IP that loosely blended Saints Row lore into a Saturday morning cartoon-style plot. It will be a few years till gamers hear of Volition’s next planned release, but a Saints Row 5 has potential to be in the works. It is up for debate what the next entry in the series would do, be it a grounded experience in the scope of Grand Theft Auto or another superhero-style action game, but a full new entry into the Saints Row series would be welcomed by lots of gamers around the world. In my personal view, Volition needs to take time to develop an in-house game engine before moving on to Saints Row 5 if it hopes to compete with the likes of Watch Dogs and Grand Theft Auto. With that said however, Saints Row has always been a unique franchise where sense of humour and fun gameplay prevail over the graphical detail of most major releases.

      8. Rage 2

Rage was a fairly unique shooter that introduced an open-world and RPG elements into id Software’s regular shooter fare, however the game never saw any large economic success due to some major flaws. None of those were deal breakers on their own, but the game’s overall execution did not match to the original vision of a post-apocalyptic open world in a first-person shooter with RPG elements. With Bethesda’s recent economic success and the frequent release of new titles in the publisher’s series, Bethesda should consider taking another stab at its currently shelved IP and perhaps come up with a fully open world shooter with a scope of Fallout or the Elder Scrolls series. Although Rage didn’t receive acclaim upon its release, it was still a fairly unique and enjoyable shooter experience set in a somewhat brand new setting. With both Bethesda’s and id Software’s recent successes, there’s no obstacles for Rage 2 to happen, and hopefully average sales of 2011’s Rage haven’t forced Bethesda to can the series for good. Another attempt at this unique IP has potential to produce a really solid open-world shooter so perhaps Bethesda could bring the IP back in the near future.

      9. Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 is the most likely entrant in this list to happen, as Gearbox not too long ago teased a prototype of a potential sequel based on the Unreal Engine 4. With Borderlands 2’s release in 2012, it is a good time for Gearbox to focus their efforts on producing a brand new entry into the series. Give us even more guns, a better loot system and for god’s sake get rid of that horrible user interface, and most fans of the series would be perfectly happy to see a new release, and will in fact give Gearbox a much needed recovery from the Aliens Colonial Marines scandal that still haunts the company to this year. With that said, Gearbox appears hard at work on Borderlands 3 except they keep it very silent, but a major sequel to Borderlands 2 (not counting the Pre-Sequel entry) would be highly anticipated by many gamers who enjoyed the series. All Gearbox has to do is improve further on existing game mechanics and better yet, introduce an entirely new setting for its RPG shooter series.

     10. Burnout Paradise sequel

This one would be a highly desirable release for all kinds of racing fans, as this stunning crash spectacle has been absent from our systems since 2008’s Burnout Paradise. Criterion games have then changed direction after their average reboot to Need for Speed: Most Wanted and announced their branching out to other gaming genres. What followed since was an announcement of a new IP that immediately went silent, however Criterion has continued contributing to every new Need for Speed entry since then. With their involvement with racing games, Criterion games should consider developing a new Burnour Release that will follow up from Burnout Paradise’s formula. Criterion’s spectacular crashes have been present in every Need for Speed release since 2010, but nothing compares to intensity of Burnout Paradise and its constant fare of detailed crashes. Nothing is as satisfying as seeing your car crumble to bits after a head-on collision at 200 mph. Criterion should consider bringing gamers a new Burnout release to remind the gaming market of the unique flavour of the once popular series. Another partnership with EA and potential use of Frostbite 3 could bring the best Burnout game yet.