Fans of these well-known game series have been teased by the idea of shared worlds.
There are more shared worlds now than ever before. No matter if it’s Star Trek, Marvel, or DC, no one wants good shared stories. But while this happens a lot in movies these days, it doesn’t happen as often in video games.
Because Nintendo owns the IP, it’s easy for their characters to show up together. Other properties have been brought together through mergers or deals. After characters that used to belong to one company were bought by another, some writers had some fun with it.
Doom Is Connected To The World Of Wolfenstein And Quake
What began as B.J. Blazkowicz facing a Cyberdemon from Doom in Wolfenstein RPG has turned into a weird family tree of space marines who kill demons. This family tree has been a part of id Software’s library ever since ZeniMax Media bought the company in 2009. Because of this, the company has linked Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake into an interesting shared universe.
Through the Blazkowicz family tree, it’s possible that many people with this last name become space marines during the events of the Doom series.This universe of demons and monsters is growing right now with Quake Champions. The game has tried to clean up some of the less-than-stellar story by saying that heroes from all over this universe can fight together in arenas.
Final Fantasy 7 And Final Fantasy 10 Might Share A World
Over the course of the Final Fantasy series, a kind of universe has grown into a number of separate worlds. This is even more solid now that Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is out. Finally, there aren’t many clear links between the Final Fantasy games, but there is one that stands out: 7 and 10.
Shinra, a character in Final Fantasy 10, talks about the Farplane as a possible energy source that he could use to make some kind of energy. He later starts the Shinra Electric Power Company in Final Fantasy 7. This makes it sound like the world of 10 (called Spira) changes into the cyberpunk dystopia world of Gaia from 7.
The Remedy Shared Universe Connects The Worlds Of Alan Wake, Control, And Max Payne
Over time, Remedy has slowly built up an interesting world where stories can be set. In Alan Wake, the main character writes a series of detective books with Alex Casey, who looks a lot like Max Payne. Casey will be in Alan Wake 2, which is coming out soon. James McCaffrey, who voiced Max Payne, will do his voice, and company head Sam Lake will be in the movie’s face.
Control, meanwhile, made sure that characters from earlier games would appear, and they even set up Alan Wake’s events as part of an Altered World Event that seems to lead right into the next game. There are a few references to Control and Alan Wake in Quantum Break, but since it’s a Microsoft property, it’s not clear how it fits into the world.
The Worlds Of Ninja Gaiden And Dead Or Alive
In the 1980s, Ninja Gaiden first came out as a set of action-platformers in arcades and home consoles. At the same time, the fighting game genre was becoming more popular. This was the start of Tecmo’s own fighting game series, Dead Or Alive. Ryu Hayabusa, the star of Ninja Gaiden, was one of the first characters you could play as.
The years that have passed since then, figures from Ninja Gaiden and Dead Or Alive have appeared in and out of different games in each series. Even though there isn’t an official timeline, the fact that the Ninja Gaiden series from the 2000s takes place before the Dead or Alive games adds some fun backstory to this world.
Grand Theft Auto Is Set In The Same Universe As Manhunt And Bully
Since Rockstar’s games tend to take place in grounded, somewhat realistic worlds, the idea that they might be connected seems a little more likely than most. This is exactly what’s been going on, as Rockstar has done a lot to connect their different games in a sneaky way. There are a few more clear possibilities for when L.A. Noire might take place besides decades after Red Dead Redemption.
A few radio stations in Grand Theft Auto 3 talk about Carcer City, which is where Manhunt takes place. In Grand Theft Auto 4, there is also a TV show called Bullworth Academy from Bullly. These small references seem to connect all of Rockstar’s beautiful and dramatic looks at sin and crime in a very subtle way.
Half-Life And Portal Share The Same Universe
Valve’s groundbreaking first-person shooter has inspired many follow-ups, but the most interesting thing about Half-Life and its success is how it works with Portal. It was made as a school project and was called Narbacular Drop. Valve saw it and turned it into Portal. Things quickly turned strange when Portal‘s evil Aperture Science was seen as competing with Half-Life’s Black Mesa.
There is also a link between the two stories through a lost cargo ship called the Borealis. This ship was said to have dangerous technology that the Combine was looking for. Judy Mossman found it in an arctic base that you can see quickly in Half-Life 2: Episode One. In Portal 2, players can find the ship’s dock where it went missing.
Hideo Kojima’s Grand Shared Universe
Even though Hideo Kojima is busy making Death Stranding 2, this isn’t the first time the independent game maker has played around with shared worlds. A character in Policenauts named Meryl Silverburgh looks a lot like a character from Metal Gear Solid. Also, a small robot called Metal Gear Mk. II seems to show up in both Snow Rider 3D and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots.
Outer Heaven is the name of a bar in Snatcher, and the fact that Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was re-released in 2006 makes it seem like Big Boss was part of the Snatcher Project. In a lot of ways, Kojima’s links here feel like a kind of multiverse, where these people and situations could happen in an endless number of worlds and futures.
Bomberman Becomes Lode Runner
One of the ideas for Lode Runner came from Doug Smith working with a few other students. Their project idea was funded by Broderbund. Hudson Soft made a NES version in 1984 after the arcade version was a hit. The next year, in 1985, they made a NES version of Bomberman with an enemy figure from Lode Runner as the main character.
Bomberman‘s goal in that game is to get to the top as he blows his way out of a slave factory to become a person. Once he does, it’s clear that Bomberman and Lode Runner have some family ties. In fact, Bomberman comes before Lode Runner and shows how one figure changed into another.
The Origin Systems Shared Universe
It’s interesting to think about how Origin Systems became one of the most trusted and admired game makers in the 1980s and 1990s. Because Origin has such a large portfolio, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they were up to no good during their time, with many ties.
SHODAN, the evil AI from System Shock, is talked about in Crusader: No Remorse, and in Ultima VII, you can find a Kilrathi ship. A stronger link can be found in Ultima Underworld II, where a Kilrathi descendant has a very clear link to the Wing Commander series.
Ivalice Bridges The Final Fantasy Series Together
The Ivalice series, which has many games and spin-offs, is its own subgenre within the Final Fantasy series. It was created by Yasumi Matsuno. Ivalice made its first appearance in Vagrant Story for the PlayStation 1. It now has its own small world inside a much bigger one.
In Final Fantasy Tactics, characters from the main series show up at different times, and in Final Fantasy 12, the city of Lea Monde from Vagrant Story is talked about more than once. Balthier from Final Fantasy 12 shows up in Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, making the connections between these cult-favorite RPGs even stronger.
