It’s not easy to create a video game anthology that is both popular and endures for a long time. But these names show that it is possible.
Since the beginning of video games, there have been a lot of sequels, remakes, spin-offs, and games that are similar in style to the original. But only a few video game series have been able to surprise people with a totally different story every time. In many of these titles, the plots and characters change with each new book.
These six video games use the anthology structure better than any other game in their series. These games show that even if something isn’t broken, it’s still a good idea to try something new, whether it’s making the most of every character or giving each entry a fresh new feel.
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UFO 50
UFO 50 comes from the same team that made indie hits like Spelunky and Time Barons. It will have 50 different minigames that can be played alone or with other people. But the game hasn’t come out yet, and as of December 2022, the highly anticipated collection of minigames is still being worked on regularly.
Still, fans can be sure that this anthology game will be worth the wait, given how polished the team behind UFO 50 has been in the past. Drift Boss seems to have a lot of simple games with cute mascots, pictures from the NES era, and great music to go with them, so it’s likely that this will be another classic.
Stories Untold
Stories Untold is a PC game that came out in 2017 and is a traditional example of the anthology genre. It has many features from adventure games from the 1980s. It has four episodes, and the first three seem to be completely different stories that require players to go through a series of text-based adventure games and puzzles set in the same world.
The fourth episode, “The Last Session,” ties all three of these episodes together by showing that the player is always in control of the same character. Even though it’s an interesting take on the anthology concept, its short length and lack of interesting gameplay make it mostly easy to forget.
Live A Live
This example of an anthology game, which came out in 1994 for the Super Famicom (known in the West as the SNES), is a standard example of how the formula is used. It didn’t come out everywhere until 2022, when it was redone for the Nintendo Switch. It was then moved to the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. There are seven main players in the RPG, and they live in seven different times.
Like a real anthology, Live A Live is built around different stories that don’t come together until the eighth and last part. Along the way, players fight turn-based battles in places like imperial China, the American West, and the far future. Even though reviewers love it, some RPG fans don’t like its more experimental and story-based parts.
Game & Wario
Among Nintendo’s anthology series, the WarioWare series is arguably the most well-known. It often has the same group of characters around Wario, and each of them has their own unique set of minigames for players to beat. But the Wii U game Game & Wario has some of the most interesting and unique minigames in the series so far.
Unlike the previous games, each character has their own minigame, which is more involved than the other WarioWare games. Gamer, which is both exciting and scary, and Fruit, a multiplayer game in which one player steals fruit while the other players try to guess who the on-screen thief really is, are two of the best.
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill is different from the other games on this list because it is an anthology property, not because each game in the series has its own story. Silent Hill fans like the 2001 game Silent Hill 2, which was first released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. It is based on the movies of David Lynch, who is a master of the anthology format.
In the game’s own story, players follow a widowed man who goes to Silent Hill after getting a message from his dead wife telling him to meet her there. Many people think it’s one of the best computer games ever made, and as of 2022, a remake is in the works. Fans are hoping that the remake lives up to their hopes for their favorite story in the anthology series.
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 7 is part of a series of anthology stories, much like Silent Hill 2. Final Fantasy 7 is also thought to be one of the best video games ever made. It stars the famous character Cloud Strife, whose group of soldiers must stop an evil company from stealing the world’s energy, which makes for a very sad story.
Final Fantasy 7 is an important game in the RPG genre, and its influence goes on in many ways. Cloud and Sephiroth are possible characters in Super Smash Bros., and a remake of the game will come out in 2020 from Square Enix. Even though it has nothing to do with the other games in the Final Fantasy series, these figures will always be important in the history of video games.