5 Spiritual Successor Games Worth Trying

You ever see that meme template "what game would you play if it were remade?" Always an intriguing concept, even though I believe that almost any game is worth revisiting, if you cherish the memories of it that fondly. But it's generally a reverence of dormant or forgotten intellectual properties that a big time publisher has sat on for upwards of decades. This leads to the original game director or team leaving to recreate that magic. Some examples include Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, developed after Suikoden creator, the late Yoshitaka Murayama, wished to scratch that itch after leaving Konami. Or the ways the RPG I Am Setsuna pays homage to the beloved battle system qualities found in Chrono Trigger.

I enjoy delving into games that were conceived due to heavily influence of a beloved IP. Here are five that I have played, and feel are worth giving some attention to, should you indulge.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Windows)

Inspiration: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse - While Koji Igarashi broke away from Konami to craft one of crowdfunding's crown jewels in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, the Inti Creates team was staffed with developing a retro-inspired prequel that established the events leading towards the exploration dungeon crawler. Curse of the Moon draws more from Castlevania's beginnings; linear-based action, a style I always prefered (both are great, mind you).

And what a game it turned out be. With a great story, intricate level design that includes branching paths, and the ability to switch between Zangetsu, Alfred, Miriam, and Gebel, it combines the very best elements of the best NES Castlevania game, mixed with beautiful pixel art. Depending on who you recruit will determine the game's ending. While I backed RotN on Kickstarter and enjoyed it, Curse of the Moon and its sequel made the crowdfunding more than worth it.

Crimson Dragon (Xbox One)

Inspiration: Panzer Dragoon - Considering that former Panzer Dragoon staff members were on board for this project, including series director Yukio Futatsuji, yeah, it's only natural that this would play very close to home. It's too bad that the microtransactions Crimson Dragon pushes can hamper the game, as it can feel a little grindy. If I were to play Devil's advocate, I can assume that these were efforts to try and breathe some replayability into a genre that has faded into obscurity. Rail shooters are certainly a product of their time.

Crimson Dragon's core gameplay is solid, hearkening back to the style that made Panzer Dragoon so enjoyable. It's not as crisply executed, as the camera and difficulty spikes can turn its experience into quite a chore that involves buckling down and cranking the senses on high. Futatsuji spoke in the past that a sequel and a full-fledged RPG would have been in the plans, depending on Crimson Dragon's success, but the reception was middling. This might be the weakest offering on the list, yet a fascinating venture that will probably remain a "what if...?" should this had become a hit for the ill-fated Xbox One. At least it plays better than the clunky remake, which took updates before it even felt playable. For some other Panzer Dragoon insight from myself, you can read the review I wrote for Panzer Dragoon Orta.

Daemon X Machina (Nintendo Switch)

Inspiration: the Armored Core series - With the release of 2023's Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, it might put a tiny bit of a damper on this, but I believe both can exist as competing mecha-based action franchises. Originally revealed during the 2018 E3 showing, this was one of the Switch exclusives that caught my eye. FromSoftware's Armored Core seemed to be a dormant franchise around this time, so AC producer Kenichiro Tsukuda aligned himself with Marvelous Studios.

Like Armored Core, in Daemon X Machina, your hangar allows you to customize your machine, meeting certain parameters for your loadout to determine your effectiveness. What I enjoy a little more about DxM is the more enriched lore. For as much as I like AC, it is a pretty dry series; you're generally a faceless mercenary taking on odd jobs for various benefactors, there's little in the way of characterization. Daemon X Machina's avatar creation adds some personalization. Also, the ability to deploy your player character from you mech and take on the rouge A.I. is quite ingenious. The staunch difficulty is not as paramount here, but it can be a hearty challenge. It may not be better than Armored Core overall, but it's a pretty fun game. It warranted enough appeal to earn a sequel, Titanic Scion, earlier in 2025.

Spidersaurs (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Android)

Inspiration: Contra - Wayforward has a knack for giving a presence to video games of yesteryear, that they blend with their Saturday morning cartoon attitude and sense of humor. The California-based studio seemed to not get enough of their Contra fix, so they bring the run-n-gun formula that worked well in their Contra 4 offering back for Spidersaurs. It's silly, and whacky, and it's a pretty good action platformer.

It blends two Contra styles, the Hard Corps. inspired mini-boss madness and the more traditional side-scrolling stage blasting Konami's classic series is known for. Victoria and Adrian have some distinct difference in their arsenal, which keeps the gameplay fresh for solo and co-op play. At six levels, it's not terribly long. Spidersaurs is not as grueling as Cuphead when it comes to difficulty, but it's quite respectable. I'm amused by the comedy, it's self-aware and tongue-in-cheek, which I respect.

Protodroid DeLTA (Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows)

Inspiration: Mega Man X8 - While a good number of indie developers were aiming to recapture the magic of the Mega Man series, it took Adam Kareem to draw influence from one of the more progressive games in Capcom's franchise. Most of the gaming community was done with Mega Man. After Mega Man X2, there was little else to explore, but 2004's X8 properly made up for X7's misfire by making a 3D action game that was tolerable. It was far too late.

Protodroid DeLTA takes the 3D action portions of X8 and builds an entire game around it. And it's done quite well. This was another crowdfunded venture that follows the eponymous Delta, a robot with near-human empathy and reasoning, as she fights against the "Vypers", a rogue group attempting to bend the city of Solarpunk to their will. These include some of Delta's allies and friends. for a free-roaming 3D game, the development team did everything possible to ensure that faulty camera angles would not be a hindrance. with solid (if not occasionally fickle) auto-aiming and quick respawn points, Protodroid DeLTA looked at many details that plague this little-explored sub-genre and accommodates them well. Some points can be quite frustrating, like some jumps that are very stingy, and enemies that deal a LOT of damage. Upgrades can curb some of this, but can be maddening.

That being said, the characters are charming, and the story has some great appeal and cultural representation, giving a unique and fresh look at something we've seen before with a set of new eyes. It's not reinventing the wheel, but it doesn't have to be enjoyable.