Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. That has been the case throughout the history of art in its many forms. From paintings to music, to movies to video games, imitating the greats of a particular genre has always paid off, provided it’s done right.
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Multidimensional excellence is the best kind of excellence.
In video games, that line can become a bit tough to delineate, as direct copies are often forgotten about, but those inspired by their own ideas manage to stand out from the pack in a big way.
We’re going to check out some games that created something even better than their inspirations did.
10Sleeping Dogs
True Crime: Streets of LA
Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogsis one of the best games in its genre. That statement carries a lot of weight, but it’s all true nonetheless. As a spiritual sequel to the forgottenTrue Crimeseries,Sleeping Dogswasgritty and original and provided some of the best melee combat ever put in a game.
You play as an undercover cop trying to take down a Triad gang and the majority of the game has you taking on missions from both your commanding officers and the gang you’re trying to prove yourself to.
This unique back and forth brings to mind stories from films like The Departedand its executed masterfully here, with a great main character in Wei Shen to carry along the proceedings.
Combat is a mix of melee and gun fighting, but the melee is definitely the main event.
Sleeping Dogs employs an advanced version of the Arkham fighting system, except here, we get environmental kills on top of that.
There are tons of moves to unlock, and brutal executions to perform, and it all feels impactful and as painful as it looks.
Sleeping Dogs also provides an amazing asian cast highlighted by various celebrities like Lucy Liu, and it was refreshing to see that type of representation at a time when it was all too rare.
The remastered version improves the visuals and various QOL features, so there is no better time to jump in.
9Lost Odyssey
Final Fantasy
Release Date:
February 12th, 2008
Developer:
Mistwalker
Lost Odysseyis a classic JRPG that came out in 2007, a year when the JRPG genre was slowly clambering down from the heights of glory days within the mid to late nineties.
It was produced by Mistwalker, who had employed multiple ex-Final Fantasy developers to create what was to be the next great JRPG while trying to avoid copyright infringement in the process.
The result is a far more faithful game to theFinal Fantasygame thanFinal Fantasy 13ever was.
It’s turn based, involves a similar magic system and the characters are vibrant and interesting (except for the children, who suck).
The story itself is very solid as well, involving immortals who have lost their memory and their interactions with humans throughout the ages.
The gameplay is full of the typical random battles, dungeons and big bosses, but for that time, that style of game was not the norm, so it was a great throwback.
The best part ofLost Odysseyis that it stands up great today,as one of the true JRPG classics that is a must-play for anyone that’s a fan of the genre.
8Xenoblade Chronicles
Xenogears/Xenosaga
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Xenoblade Chroniclesis a spiritual successor to the Xenogears and Xenosaga games and improves upon them in almost every way.
WhileXenogearsis a game near and dear to my heart, it never enjoyed the massive success of its spiritual successor in Xenoblade Chronicles.
For one, it’s a fully finished game, providing a gargantuan open world to explore that easily ranked as the biggest a JRPG had ever had when it first released.
You follow Shulk and a handful of companions as you explore the lands of Bionis and Mechonis on a mission to take down the mysterious Mechon. It’s a wild story, full of twists and turns and some of the best surprise moments in JRPG history.
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The gameplay is completely different from the previous Xeno games, with a real-time combat system reminiscent of MMO’s instead of turn-based RPGs.
The result was a game that wonmultiple Game of the Year awardsand spawned an entire trilogy of its own, with the subsequent two sequels being outstanding and well regarded titles in their own right.
Xenoblade Chroniclesstory includes many of the same themes that Xenogears was built on back in 1998, and it carries that legacy into the future of gaming in very strong hands.
System Shock
Bioshockis the spiritual successor toSystem Shockand managed to outdo its predecessor in just about every way.
Coming a full decade after the System Shock series debuted, Bioshock took many of the ideas introduced in System Shock and put them to better use in an underwater Dystopia called Rapture.
From the powers to the themes, everything in Bioshock is inspired in part by the predecessor series, but System Shock never enjoyed the samesuccess as Bioshock. You will often see Bioshock on plenty of best games of all time lists, and it’s not a surprise.
The unique mix of special abilities, brutal combat and fascinating exploration is the perfect medley of gameplay, and the world of Rapture is one of gaming’s most fascinating places to visit.
6Unicorn Overlord
Ogre Battle
Unicorn Overlord
Unicorn Overlordcame out of nowhere to become one of the best reviewed games of 2024, and it did that by emulating games of years' past.
The gameplay loop of Unicorn Overlord is a spiritual successor toOgre Battle, which used a similar system of giving commands to units in a battle and watching it play out on screen.
Unicorn Overlord takes that system to a whole other level. The beautiful graphics fuel the experience, but there’s so much more.
An in-depth command system that allows you to tweak your characters' reactions to every possible scenario on the battlefield gives an in-depth experience that feels like the full evolution of the concepts introduced in Ogre Battle in the mid-nineties.
Ogre Battle was very much ahead of its time when it was released in 1993, and it had several copycats following in its footsteps.
Unicorn Overlord is clearly a game inspired by it, but it has enough of its own ideas and a unique aesthetic to keep it separate.
It’s alsoone of the best new franchises in the JRPG/ Strategy RPG world, and we can’t wait to see where it goes next.
5Dark Souls
Demon’s Souls
Dark Souls
Dark Soulsis arguably the most important game of the modern gaming era. Its origins, though, lie inDemon’s Souls. A great, but brutally difficult title that FromSoftware made in 2009 that didn’t quite hit big the way its follow-up game would do.
Dark Souls took the ideas of Demon’s Souls and pretty much its entire aesthetic, and put it into a slightly more manageable form for the mainstream to enjoy.
The difficulty was still a culture shock, butDark Soulshad a pull that improved upon what Demon’s Souls built.
Unrelated in every way story wise,Dark Soulstook an equally vague approach to story telling that is now pervasive in many of the best games today. The souls-like combat has also become a gaming staple, with the slow, cerebral approach becoming commonplace everywhere you look.
WhileDemon’s Soulswas great in its own way,Dark Soulstook the ball and ran with it to inspire an entire generation of gaming.
4Lies of P
Bloodborne
Bloodborneis one of FromSoftware’s greatest achievements, but as calls for a sequel fell on deaf ears, the talented creators in the world of gaming production started turning their gears.
The result isLies of P, a haunting rendition of the story of Pinocchio that screamsBloodborneeverywhere you look. The decrepit city you begin the game in feels like Yarnham to start.
There is also a creepy, monotone woman who helps you level up and there are obscure and weird happenings going on all over the place that feel just as weird as the ones inBloodborne.
This isn’t a stretch, as the developers have admitted to being heavily inspired by FromSoftware’s masterpiece. However, what they probably didn’t realize is just how good their game would end up being.
Lies of Pis the superior game in many ways, from the amazing variety in combat to the thankfully comprehensible story and twists it takes.
The overall product is tighter, with the same highs and fewer lows, and we may be seeing the new king of the souls-likein the form of the amazing talents at Neowiz.
3Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroeswas one of the most anticipated games in ages due to the impressive pedigree behind it and, for the most part, it delivered big time.
As the spiritual sequel toSuikoden,Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroeslooked to recreate the classic JRPG feel in a brand-new story with a wealth of characters to carry it. While the overall story might not have hit the same way, the overall experience is far better.
The combat has been expanded to include more options, and several quality of life improvements exist that just weren’t possible back in the mid 90s during the prime ofSuikoden.
There is real heart here, which is what defined the gamesEiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroeswas inspired by.
You can see the inspiration as the game moves in motion, and its fully intentional as several people working on the game were involved in the creation of theSuikodenseries.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroesis not perfect, but it does enough to improve upon its inspiration and looks to be the start of something great in its own right.
2Assassin’s Creed
Prince of Persia
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Assassin’s Creedhas become one of the longest running franchises in gaming, but it wasn’t the first game to take place in past starring a charmingcharacter who loved to parkour and fight.Prince of Persiadid it first and did it damn well in the process.
ThePrince of Persiagames were well regarded, and they fulfilled a niche that wouldn’t be touched upon until Assassin’s Creed took the torch and ran with it.
Assassin’s Creedthen managed to up the ante, giving us incredible open worlds to explore, even better combat to experience and amazing, cinematic storytelling.
Ubisoft is responsible for both, and whilePrince of Persiahas fallen by the wayside for the most part,Assassin’s Creedcontinues to be a successful franchiseall these years later.
Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemptionwas the next mega hit in Rockstar’s arsenal and many thought it to be a completely original franchise at the time.
However, the reality is, it is the spiritual successor toRed Dead Revolver, a lukewarmly received third-person shooter that involved some slick slow-motion features in the combat, but little else that resembles Rockstar’s western masterpiece.
Red Dead Redemptionimproved in every way over its spiritual predecessor, from storytelling, to combat, to characters, everything was far better in the re-imagining, with the only thing left tacked on being the ability to slow down time and mark your targets while shooting.
Going back and playingRed Dead Revolveris quite the task, as it just doesn’t hold up to the incredibleRed Dead Redemptionseries, but nonetheless, it’s a fun little footnote to visit in gaming history.
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