10 Games That Deserve a Second Chance

If there's one part harder than launching a game, it's retaining players. Sometimes, companies plan and work on games that promise "electrifying action", "addictive gameplay", "engaging story", "adrenaline-fueled battles", and any other adjective marketing can think of to sell the idea that the game will be something innovative, interesting, and revolutionary.

Sometimes they even succeed, and players get involved with the game… for a while. And then, we see the player numbers plummet until the game is left to the flies. However, some of these games have good ideas, innovative gameplay, or some mechanic that deserves to be revisited and reviewed, even if only to make sure the game was really what you thought it was.

Let's talk about ten games that deserve a second chance and that might be worth revisiting. And if you have any questions, leave a comment.

Titanfall 2 is a first-person shooter with giant robots! The game mixes science fiction and shooting elements and takes place in the Frontier, a region of space where human colonies live in a constant war between the military corporation IMC and the Militia, formed by colonists fighting for independence.

The campaign follows Jack Cooper, a soldier who ends up taking over the Titan BT-7274 after the death of its original pilot. The relationship between man and machine is central to the story and creates some really cool moments throughout the campaign, alternating between fast-paced combat controlling the pilot and intense battles with the Titans on the battlefield.

In multiplayer mode, players can run on walls, make huge jumps, use jetpacks, and call in their Titans during matches, which keeps the combat interesting, since at any moment the game can turn around thanks to a Titan summoned at the right time.

However, even though it's considered one of the best FPS games of the generation, Titanfall 2 was overshadowed by being released between Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty Infinite Warfare. So, if you want something different in your FPS, give Titanfall 2 a chance.

Star Wars Battlefront II is a shooter based on the Star Wars universe that mixes ground combat with space battles set on various planets from the saga, such as Mustafar and Tatooine, among others. The game also features a campaign that follows Iden Versio, leader of Inferno Squad, an elite unit of the Galactic Empire.

The story begins after the events of Return of the Jedi and shows the consequences of the destruction of the second Death Star. During the campaign, Iden begins to question the Empire's actions and ends up changing sides. In multiplayer mode, it's possible to control soldiers, vehicles, space fighters, and famous heroes like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Yoda, creating confrontations that never happened in the films, such as Qui-Gon Jinn against Han Solo.

The major problem that led to the game's abandonment was the controversial loot boxes, which infested the game and practically required payment to progress. Even after several improvements, the Battlefront II remake ended up with a much smaller player base than at its peak and deserved a second chance, especially for its story, which expands the universe of the saga.

Chivalry 2 is a multiplayer game focused on large-scale medieval battles, pitting two fictional factions against each other in a war for control of a kingdom. On one side are the Agathians and on the other the Mason Order, two armies that clash in chaotic confrontations.

Matches can bring together up to 64 players on huge maps filled with swords, axes, spears, and catapults. Combat is entirely melee, with strikes, blocks, and counter-attacks happening amidst chaotic battles. The maps also feature objectives such as invading castles, breaching walls, escorting battering rams, or defending cities.

Despite good reviews at launch, Chivalry 2 ended up with fewer players over time due to repetitive content and competition with other multiplayer games. Even so, it remains considered one of the best games in the multiplayer medieval combat subgenre.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a first-person cooperative game set in the Warhammer world during the period known as the End Times. At this point in history, the world is on the brink of collapse as the Skaven, an underground race of rat-men, attempt to dominate everything.

Players control a group of five heroes, each with up to 15 different classes, unique abilities, and specific equipment. Matches are focused on co-op, with the group facing massive hordes of enemies throughout the levels while completing objectives.

Much of the combat takes place with melee weapons, such as swords and hammers, but there are also firearms and magic. You choose your weapon, your class, and go on a killing spree, without any messing around.

However, the repetitive missions and the specific gameplay style mean that only a portion of the audience remains playing. Despite being highly praised by Warhammer fans, the game has always had a more niche audience and today has fewer players than shortly after its release.

You know the story about Valve not knowing how to count to three? Taking advantage of this phenomenon, Turtle Rock Studios released Back 4 Blood.

A cooperative shooter inspired by the formula made famous by Left 4 Dead, with matches focused on facing hordes of monsters. The story takes place in a world devastated by a parasite that transforms humans into creatures called Ridden.

Players control survivors known as Cleaners, who try to reclaim cities and eliminate the creatures. Matches take place in groups of four people traversing maps full of enemies and objectives. One of the main mechanics is the card system, which allows you to modify abilities and create different play styles.

Even with a strong launch and many players at the beginning, interest waned over time, and content support was eventually discontinued. It's a shame, because B4B is the closest we'll get to having a Left 4 Dead 3.

Halo Infinite continues the story of Master Chief after the events of Halo 5, pitting him against the Banished faction on a damaged Halo ring. The campaign brought significant changes to the series, with a semi-open world map that allows exploration of various areas of the alien installation.

The player can move freely through parts of the ring while facing enemies and completing objectives. The game arrived with a risky strategy for a game in the franchise: while the campaign was sold in stores like Steam and the Xbox Store, the multiplayer mode was released as free-to-play and, initially, gathered millions of players. The matches maintain the classic Halo style, with competitive arenas, familiar weapons, and traditional modes.

Even with a strong start and the strategy of releasing multiplayer for free, delays in updates and few new maps caused the player base to drop significantly over time.

Unreal Tournament is one of the most important multiplayer shooters in video game history and marked the end of the 1990s on PC. The game presents a future where prisoners and mercenaries participate in a violent tournament organized by large corporations.

The story serves more as a backdrop for the arenas where the battles take place.

The gameplay is very fast-paced and demands reflexes, good movement, and mastery of the weapons scattered across the map. Modes like Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Domination became very popular in LAN houses and online servers.

Even though it's remembered as one of the pillars of competitive multiplayer on PC and the "father" of several other games that started as Unreal mods and became independent games, Unreal Tournament ended up stagnating while other shooters dominated the market.

Tribes 2 is a multiplayer shooter that was part of a well-known series from the late 1990s and early 2000s: Starsiege: Tribes, released in 1998. The game is set in a future where different human tribes fight for territory on distant planets. The series' main highlight has always been the players' mobility during matches. Each character uses jetpacks and can traverse the maps at high speed.

A technique called skiing allows you to glide across the terrain and gain even more speed. Battles take place on huge maps with vehicles, bases, and various strategic objectives. The Capture the Flag mode was the main focus of the matches and required coordination between teams to capture the rival base and win.

At the time of its release, the game had a very active community. Even so, the series ended up losing ground over time, mainly due to lack of maintenance, inadequate management by the developers, and bugs. Today, Tribes is remembered as a franchise that deserved a comeback and is kept alive by fans on private servers.

LawBreakers was a competitive shooter created by Cliff Bleszinski, one of the names behind Gears of War.

The game is set in a future where a catastrophic event altered Earth's gravity. This change directly influences gameplay: some areas have zero gravity, allowing for aerial combat or characters floating through the environment. Matches are fast-paced and demand a lot of movement and precision.

Each character has unique abilities and weapons, creating a mix between traditional shooters and the hero shooter style with unique abilities. It only had one problem: a strong competitor called Overwatch, which prevents many hero shooters from succeeding.

Despite its interesting ideas, the game sold very poorly after its release. The servers were shut down in 2018, and today some private servers keep the game active. LawBreakers barely had a chance to shine and ended up becoming just another game that deserved a second chance, especially for its zero-gravity combat concept.

A Dragon Ball game on a list of games that deserved a second chance seems strange after successful titles like Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, and Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, but the truth is that Dragon Ball: The Breakers is the kind of game that could’ve been very successful, if it weren't for Bandai Namco's greed.

The game takes place in the Dragon Ball: Xenoverse universe, where the Time Patrol must keep the timeline intact while villains attempt to alter key historical events in the Dragon Ball universe and rewrite history.

The Breakers is an asymmetrical co-op/PVP multiplayer game in the style of Dead by Daylight. Players control a series of ordinary people, without powers or Ki, fleeing from one of the saga's major villains, such as Cell, Frieza, Kid Buu, and others. The objective is to survive by activating time machines or timeline regulators, while the villain must eliminate the other players.

The curiosity and the Dragon Ball name attracted attention, but the full price and monetization system drove players away. Peaks of 4,000 players were the highest the game recorded, but its servers quickly emptied, and today finding matches is a more difficult mission than surviving a Cell attack. If it were relaunched as a F2P game, it would certainly rekindle the curiosity and interest of fans.