The unfortunate thing about indie games is that, due to the nature of their production, not many of them receive sequels.
Even wildly successful and beloved indie games aren’t guaranteed to receive a follow-up, whether due to lack of funds or just no more stories to tell.
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No AAA here.
However, once in a blue moon, an indie developer manages to amass enough clout and capital to get a sequel to one of their games made.
Not all of these sequels are good, as with any sequel, but quite a few of them have managed to be just as good or better than their predecessors.
10Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
More Spins On Mass Murder
Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
Hotline Miami seems like a game that would be hard to make a sequel for just because of how simple it is.
How can you iterate further on “go to a place, put on a mask, and kill everyone?”
Well,Hotline Miami 2did it by introducing multiple playable characters over the course of the story.
Some of these characters have unique abilities while others come with limitations, forcing you to change up your playstyle on the fly as necessary.
The story’s still pretty confusing, especially given the shifting perspectives, but it wouldn’t be Hotline Miami if it wasn’t at least mildly inscrutable.
9SteamWorld Dig 2
A More Mapped-Out Mine
SteamWorld Dig 2
SteamWorld Dig was plenty of fun, combining platforming with multi-directional mining in a novel way.
It was a bit lacking in design focus, though, which is somethingSteamWorld Dig 2went a long way toward remedying.
Where the first game was a fairly straightforward affair, SteamWorld Dig 2 is a full-on metroidvania adventure.
The mining mechanics mesh perfectly with exploration gameplay, allowing you to dig your way into all kinds of hidden nooks and crannies while upgrading your skills and tools.
8Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
Grander In Scope
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
A good sequel should improve on positives and ditch negatives. While Ori and the Blind Forest was already a well-regarded game, every game has spots it can improve in.
Ori and the Will of the Wispskept the first game’sbreathtaking graphicsand engaging story, while fine-tuning its combat and platforming and broadening the scope of the world.
It’s the same kind of game as Blind Forest, but it generally feels easier to play and enjoy.
Will of the Wisps also ditched the first game’s somewhat weird saving system in favor of traditional autosaves, which assuaged a sticking point for some players.
7Shantae And The Pirate’s Curse
Less Magic, More Gadget
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse
In the first two Shantae games, the titular half-genie’s primary ability is transforming into various critters via magic dances.
In the third game,The Pirate’s Curse, that ability is swapped out for a variety of pirate gadget-powered skills.
Despite the shift, this game is still one of the most well-regarded of the series thanks to its tighter level design and crafty puzzles.
Whilethe games that came after Pirate’s Cursedid well enough, fans still seem to prefer its gameplay even in lieu of the returning transformation dances.
6The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth
The Ultimate Realization Of The Classic Roguelike
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
The originalBinding of Isaacwas a Flash game initially teased on Newgrounds in 2011 before releasing in full on Steam that same year.
The original game was fantastic, and went a long way toward popularizing the roguelike genre in the early 2010s.
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However, its sequel and remake, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, is what really got things firing on all cylinders.
The game was completely rebuilt from the ground up and received apositively galactic breadth of new content, absolutely eclipsing its humble Flash predecessor in scope and quality.
5Freedom Planet 2
Same Speed, More Characters
Freedom Planet 2
Freedom Planetwas an impressive send-up to the sidescrolling Sonic the Hedgehog games, boasting a similar level of speed and level design.
The game wasn’t without its warts, though, particularly in its somewhat weak story and some undeveloped character abilities.
All of these and more were remedied in Freedom Planet 2, which kept the speedy gameplay and clever levels while improving the rest.
The game featured more playable characters and refined the returning ones to better facilitate speedy movement and combat.
The story was also fleshed out and featured more bombastic setpieces and boss fights.
4Blasphemous 2
Still Hard, But With Deeper Mechanics
Blasphemous 2
It’s a popular concept to cross over the Metroidvania and Soulslike genres, and the original Blasphemous was a good example of this.
Its tight gameplay combined with its nightmarish artwork made it an instant classic, though it had a few sticking points that needed to be filed down.
Blasphemous 2maintains the series’requisite difficultywhile also giving you more agency in gameplay.
This arises through multiple usable weapons with different playstyles, as well as small tweaks like spikes no longer killing you instantly.
3Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly
A Fascinating Visual Novel
Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly
It can be hard to make a sequel to a visual novel without making the entire thing seem too formulaic.
Luckily,Coffee Talk’s flexible setting of fantasy folk in modern times provides plenty of fodder for engaging stories andcozy vibes.
Coffee Talk Episode 2 tells a tale that manages to be engaging and distinct from its predecessor, good for existing fans and newcomers.
It also adds small, yet poignant gameplay changes like the addition of a lost and found drawer, which provides more opportunities to subtly influence the story.
2River City Girls 2
Four-Player Beat ‘Em Up Mayhem
River City Girls 2
The first River City Girls was a grand old time, a loving send-up to the classic Kunio-kun games while being an excellent co-op brawler in its own right.
River City Girls 2is a straight evolution on its predecessor, maintaining the same general combat loop while adding various new wrinkles.
The most obvious changes are the addition of full four-player co-op and multiple extra playable characters.
The addition of the super-buff Marian as both a boss and a playable character is worth tons of praise on its own, to say nothing of the rest of the awesome cast.
On The Same Trajectory As Its Predecessor
When the originalHadescame out, it was an absolute bolt of lightning.
While roguelikes were well established at the time, no other game had so seamlessly merged the concept with in-depth character development quite like it.
Hades 2 may still be in its early access state at the time of writing, but much like the first game, it’salready become a darlingeven in its unfinished state.
The new mechanics of Melinoe’s sorcery, as well as the myriad of new and returning characters promises another roguelike storytelling epic.
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