Episodic video games were popularized by Telltale Games when they released their take on The Walking Dead, but the genre had been around for quite some time beforehand. The episodic format can be good for developers with the right planning, allowing them to work on small chunks of a game at a time.
There are a lot of risks, however. Episodes need to be incomplete from a story perspective to keep fans coming back, but if something were to happen in between episodes, or a project gets canceled, then that means that the story remains incomplete and fans are left unsatisfied.
10 Afro Samurai 2: Revenge Of Kuma Was Too Broken
Afro Samurai 2: Revenge of Kuma was an action game based on the famous anime series. It was developed by Redacted Studios and released in 2015. The game was ultimately set to release in three volumes, however, only one volume was ever released. The first volume was universally panned due to the game being extremely broken, and it was quickly considered one of the worst games of the year.
It was released in such a poor state that the publisher, Versus Evil, removed the game from all platforms and canceled the next two volumes, as well as the Xbox One port that was supposed to release in late 2015.
9 D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die Was Stopped Short
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die was an episodic game released in 2014 and directed by Swery, who is famous for having directed the 2010 cult hit, Deadly Premonition. In the first episode that was released, D4 promised to be another bizarre entry to add to the fantastically weird collection of Swery's games.
Unfortunately, Swery had stepped away from the project before development on the next episodes could begin. With Swery gone, the game was quietly canceled, likely because it was hard for most developers to try and recreate Swery's development style.
8 Nobody Liked Sonic The Hedgehog 4
In 2010, Sega released Sonic The Hedgehog 4, a continuation of the original Sonic games on the Sega Genesis. The game was marketed as a return to form for the series, as the games had been 3D for some time and fans missed the old style. As the game received an extremely poor reception, Sonic The Hedgehog 4 only received two episodes before being canceled.
Originally, the games were thought to be smartphone exclusives, which many fans did not appreciate. Then, when the game actually released, it was criticized for its physics being far inferior to the Genesis games.
7 Xenosaga Was Supposed To Be Six Episodes
The Xenosaga series was a trilogy of games that were released on the Playstation 2. The games received positive reviews and sold relatively well. The series enjoys a dedicated following to this day. The series was originally planned to be a 6 episode series, but after the first game, development was switched over to entirely new staff, ultimately leading to the whole project being scaled back to a trilogy.
The series would have still seen more releases if the trilogy did well, however, the series had apparently underperformed across the board, with sales and critical reception had significantly waned.
6 Penny Arcade Adventures Changed Drastically
Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness was an episodic action-adventure game based on the Penny Arcade webcomic series. The game was planned to release four episodes, until development team Hothead Games decided to shift focus to another game, DeathSpank, and discontinued the Penny Arcade project altogether after episode 2.
The project was eventually completed, though under a different developer, Zeboyd Games, though about four years after episode 2 came out and having a drastically different style compared to the first 2 episodes.
5 Rap Jam: Volume One Never Had A Chance
Developed by American development studio 64WD, Rap Jam: Volume One, was a basketball game that was released for the Nintendo SNES in 1995. Unlike the basketball simulation games of modern times, Rap Jam was similar to NBA Jam, focusing on spectacle rather than realism.
The game's hook is that the basketball games are much more physical and violent than normal, with players able to outright fight each other on the court, and there are no foul calls from the referees. There were initial plans for a sequel, unfortunately, the publisher would go out of business shortly after the release of the game.
4 The Wolf Among Us Never Got The Chance It Deserved
The Wolf Among Us was made by Telltale Games in the midst of their major boom in popularity. Based on the Fables comic book series, the game focused on Bigby Wolf, who was the Big Bad Wolf in his fable, as a detective navigating the seedy underworld of New York. The game was able to complete its first season, and news about a second season was announced in 2017, though nothing came of it.
After Telltale shut down in 2018, the project was revived by LCG Entertainment, and season 2 was again announced in 2019, though there hasn't been any other news about the project ever since.
3 Half-Life Is The Most Famous Example
It is a real challenge to find an example of a video game never finishing its story that is more famous than the Half-Life series. After Half-Life 2: Episode 2 ended on a cliffhanger, the internet has turned the potential Half-Life 3, or Half-Life 2: Episode 3, into one of the most prolific gaming in-jokes that still endures to this day.
Valve has since disclosed what it was that held up their ability to continue the series, which ultimately amounted to an inability to find anything new to add to the gameplay experience. As it stands, it's safe to say that the story of Half-Life will never be fully completed.
2 It May Be The End For Shenmue
Fans of the controversial Shenmue franchise were under the impression that Shenmue 3 would finally put a cap on the story. Unfortunately, the game ended with yet another cliffhanger, and its hero, Ryo, is only marginally closer to avenging his father. Many fans hated this turn of events, as Shenmue 2 was released in 2001, making it an 18-year gap in between those games.
Director Yu Suzuki has since expressed a desire to work on a Shenmue 4, but there has been no official confirmation that it is being made, and many speculate that it may never happen because of Shenmue 3 being a huge financial disappointment.
1 SiN Episodes Wasn't Meant To Be
Based on the 1998 computer game, SiN, SiN: Episodes was an expansion of that game's universe. Releasing in 2006, Episodes was originally planned to be nine episodes long, however, only one episode was actually released. Behind the scenes, there were a number of issues happening with development, with the most damaging being the acquisition of Ritual Entertainment by MumboJumbo.
The devs were given a new list of orders and many of its developers subsequently leaving the company. This had completely stalled development on the rest of the episodes, and there hasn't been any other news about the game since.
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