SEQUEL BAIT
There’s something so refreshing and satisfying about a story that is isolated, self-contained, and complete. A story that has a defined beginning, middle, and end, and knows exactly what it wants to say. And sure, we have many of those in games. But sometimes, some games decide to go ahead and taint these – to varying extents – by leaving some sneaky bait right at the end, hinting at the possibility of a sequel.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with sequel bait, and in some cases, it can even be exciting to see hints about a much more expanded universe in sequels. But why tarnish the complete nature of one story just to drop some bait for a sequel that may or may not come? For example, that hand reaching out of the water to grab that TITAN crate at the end of Batman: Arkham Asylum- it wasn’t offensive, no, and it didn’t completely ruin the ending, of course. But what did it add? What purpose did it serve? Why not just save all of it for a sequel and let Arkham Asylum be the solid self-contained story that it was?
