After recently playingAvowed, I started thinking about how many great video games were also spin-offs of existing series. There are some cases where spin-off titles have become so much more popular than the games they originated from that I didn’t even realize there weren’t the first in the series. I quickly realized a lot of my favorite games originated from another IP in one way or another.
Similar toAvowedandPillars of Eternity,not all spin-offs are super blatant about their connections to existing games. While anyPillars of Eternityfan would immediately knowAvowedtakes place in the same world, I would guess plenty of players just saw ads for a new action RPG by Obsidian and didn’t realize its origins. On the flip side, some spin-off titles rely heavily on their connection to their predecessors, though the best ones ultimately still work as standalone titles.
10World of Warcraft Became Far More Popular Than Its Predecessors
World Of Warcraft Was A Spin-Off Of The Warcraft Strategy Games
While far from the first MMO,World of Warcraftwas a huge turning point for the genre.World of Warcraftbecame something of a cultural phenomenon, and was even so popular that it had an entire (Emmy-winning) episode ofSouth Parkdedicated to it. I think part of the appeal ofWorld of Warcraftis that it was both a little more accessible and less punishing than other MMOs from around the same time, likeEVE Online.
World Of Warcraft Shares New Look At Player Housing, Including An “Advanced” Decoration Mode
Blizzard has revealed how interior design will work in World of Warcraft’s upcoming player housing update, and there’s some surprising freedom.
When I first heard ofWorld of Warcraft,I had no idea that it was actually a spin-off of theWarcraftRTS series. It’s not like the game was hiding this fact by any means, but I was pretty young whenWoWfirst came out, and the previous titles hadn’t reached the same level of mainstream popularity.Warcraftwould end up spinning off again into the digital-only TCGHearthstone(which you won’t find on this list of good games).
Red Dead Redemption 2, and the firstRed Dead Redemptiongame, werespin-offs of the gameRed Dead Revolver. While you could maybe argue that they are all entries in theRed Deadseries,Red Dead Revolveris different enough from the latter two games that I would consider them to be a separate series. Though they share some similarities,Red Dead Revolverwas a more linear experience, and not what someone would expect if you told them it was part of theRed Dead Redemptionseries proper.
While bothRed Dead Redemptionand its sequel are great games, if I had to choose one to be considered the best, it would beRed Dead Redemption 2.The scale of its map and the sense of immersion it creates is unrivaled, and its story is one of the best I’ve ever experienced in a video game. That said, hadRed Dead Redemption 2never come out, the first game probably would still have made it onto my list of the best spin-offs.
8Persona 5 Royal Adds Life To The Shin Megami Tensei Series, Literally
The Later Persona Games Have Added Life Sim Elements Absent From Its Original Franchise
ThePersonaseries has some of the most engaging turn-based combatI’ve ever played. This is especially true forPersona 5 Royal, which uses things like the Baton Pass mechanic and Showtime attacks to keep the pace moving. It doesn’t hurt thatPersona 5 Royal’s soundtrack includes stylish and invigorating battle music that helps add a sense of excitement to every encounter.
I initially considered puttingPersona 4here instead, as I prefer the game’s story and cast of characters. However,Persona 5 Royalis a much smoother gameplay experience, and doesn’t require any tiresome grinding.Persona 3 Reloadalso has more engaging combat mechanics, though exploring Tartarus feels much more tedious thanPersona 5’s unique Palaces. WhilePersona 4is still my favorite,Persona 5 Royalis probably the best entry point in the series.
Metaphor: ReFantazio Does Personas Better Than Persona 5
Metaphor builds on the Persona formula in many ways, even improving on its core concept: the battle and development mechanics of Personas.
ThePersonagames started as a spin-off from theShin Megami Tenseiseries, with the first game being marketed asShin Megami Tensei: Personawhen it was released outside of Japan.Shin Megami Tenseiis more of a dungeon-crawling experience, so while thePersonaseries shares some qualities with it, you won’t get the same life sim elements inShin Megami Tenseias you do inPersona 3throughPersona 5.
7The Sims 4 Has Come A Long Way Since SimCity
The Sims Were Initially A Spin-Off Of A City-Builder
While there are solid arguments to be made thatThe Sims 3andThe Sims 2are better games, I think someone jumping intoThe Simsin 2025 would likely go withThe Sims 4.The base game is free-to-play and is still fun and charming, even if it lacks some of the personality of its predecessors. As someone who has drunkThe Sims 4Kool-Aid and bought a good amount of the DLC, I would say that this is probably the game with the most to do in the series if you’re willing to pay extra for it.
The Sims 4also seems like it will be the mainSimsgame indefinitelyfrom this point on. With the announcement ofThe Simsuniverse project, which will useThe Sims 4as the basis for several spin-off titles, it doesn’t seem like we’re getting aSims 5any time soon. If you want new content forThe Sims, that means you’ll have to playThe Sims 4.
Funnily enough, since it has spawned some of its own spin-offs,The Simswas originally a spin-off title itself.The Simsis a spinoff of Maxis' city-building game,SimCity.SimCityhad several spin-offs, likeSimFarmandSimCopter, though none reached the same heights of popularity asThe Sims.
6Pokémon Snap Is Full Of Fun Secrets
Pokémon Snap Was A Big Departure From Pokémon’s Typical Gameplay
Pokémon Snapwas a game that had no right to be as good as it was. A game where you just take pictures of Pokémon reeks of a franchise just trying to quickly capitalize on its popularity and try any style of game that would allow for the brand to be stapled to it. However,Pokémon Snapproved to be a lot of fun, and its many secrets gave the game a lot of replay valuein an era before it was easy to just look up guides for every aspect of a video game.
The fact thatPokémon Snapis a spin-off of the originalPokémongamesis no secret. Around the time it came out, there was an explosion ofPokémonspin-offs, fromPokémon StadiumtoHey You, Pikachu!, butPokémon Snapstands out to me as one of the better ones. Its concept is novel, and it lets you interact with Pokémon in a way that you typically never get to.
5Mario Kart 8 Is The Perfect Casual Racing Game
The Mario Kart Series Is One Of Many Mario Spin-Offs
LikePokémon Snap,theMario Kartfranchise is another spin-off series with obvious origins. There have been countless spin-offs of the originalSuper Mario Bros.series, which itself was a spin-off of the originalDonkey Konggame. While I enjoy a lot of Mario spin-offs, likeMario PartyorLuigi’s Mansion, theMario Kartseries stands out as the best to me.
Thanks To Mario Kart 8, The Next Mario Kart Has One Massive Challenge To Overcome
While Mario Kart 9 looks promising so far, it has a lot of work ahead of it before it can surpass the content that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has provided.
Mario Kartis easily one of the most accessible racing games, making it a great option for in-person multiplayer sessions. The game also does a good job giving every player a chance to come back with powerful items like Blue Shells or Bullet Bills, which keeps the game competitive even across skill levels. Personally, I thinkMario Kart 8is the best the series has ever been, though I’ve also thoroughly enjoyedMario Kart: Double Dash!!and the Wii version.
4Tales From The Borderlands Made Me Care About Borderlands' Story For The First Time
Tales From The Borderlands Was A Telltale Games Series Connected To The Borderlands Franchise
Personally,I don’t like theBorderlandsseries' story. My biggest complaint is that, sinceBorderlands 2, it always feels kind of like you’re playing a supporting character in fan fiction about your character from the previous game. That’s why it was such a shock to me whenI played the story-focused spin-offTales from the Borderlandsand actually really enjoyed it.
I probably wouldn’t have playedTales from the Borderlandsif it weren’t for the quality of other Telltale Games series likeThe Walking DeadandThe Wolf Among Us. However, I’m glad I did, becausethe game features a charming cast of characters and some of the biggest laughs in theBorderlandsseries. One of the few saving graces for me inBorderlands 3’s story was getting to catch up with characters like Rhys and Vaughn from this game.
3Final Fantasy Tactics Offers Challenging Strategic Combat
Final Fantasy Tactics Adds More Depth To Final Fantasy’s Combat System
The onlyFinal Fantasygame I’d played previous toFinal Fantasy TacticswasFinal Fantasy 8. While I was drawn to the story and characters inFinal Fantasy 8, at the time I lacked patience for its combat system. When my friend who had shown me the game introduced me toFinal Fantasy Tactics,I was immediately drawn to its style of strategic combat. I would creditFinal Fantasy Tacticsas the game that spawned my love for the genre and got me interested in games likeXCOMandFire Emblem.
Although the game feels dated in some respects, I was pleasantly surprised when I picked it up again recently and still found it to be a fun challenge. I was also tickled to see Cloud in the game now that I had actually playedFinal Fantasy 7. WhileFinal Fantasy Tactics' gameplay sets it apart from the rest of the series, this spin-off also still feels on par with the quality main-series titles in terms of story and the overall experience.
2Persona 4: Dancing All Night Is The Perfect Kind Of Spin-Off
Persona 4: Dancing All Night Isn’t Afraid To Drastically Change The Genre Of Game It Is
Persona 4: Dancing All Nighthas the distinction of being a spin-off of a spin-off. For a dancing-themed rhythm game, it’s actually surprising how wellPersona 4: Dancing All Nightserves as a narrative sequel to the originalPersona 4.ThePersonagames are also perfectly suited to rhythm game spin-offs, seeing as they each have incredible soundtracks with distinct tones for each game. That said, thePersona 3andPersona 5dancing spin-offs aren’t as good asPersona 4, since they have no real story to follow.
While I wouldn’t considerPersona 4: Dancing All Nightto be the best rhythm game I’ve ever played,it’s a game that I love the concept of. While franchises likeMarioorPokémonhave always embraced silly spin-off titles, this seems much less common with an M-rated title likePersona 4. I’d love to see more titles take weird creative risks on games like this that are fun distractions but still connected to an IP that I enjoy.
1Avowed Perfectly Translates Pillars Of Eternity To An Action RPG
Pillars Of Eternity And Its Sequel Were CRPGs
Avowedis the game that got me thinking about this list in the first place, and for good reason.I enjoyed thePillars of Eternitygames, and was a bit cautious ahead ofAvowed’s release. I was worried the transition from CRPG to action RPG would be as rough as it had been for theFalloutseries. It didn’t take long into my first playthrough ofAvowedto realize that I had nothing to worry about.
Avowed: 10 Mods That Will Improve Your Experience
Avowed is a fantasy RPG that has great gameplay and a beautiful world, but using mods allows players to enhance it based on their general preferences.
Avowedretains the unique world and complex choices that initially attracted me toPillars of Eternity, while also delivering satisfying fast-paced combat. As someone who is lukewarm onSkyrim’s combat system, I was pleasantly surprised to find how much more I enjoyed fighting inAvowed, despite their seeming similarities at first glance. I also rarely play games that give me the option to make the exact type of role-playing choices I want to, making this a real treat narratively as well as mechanically.
