What is the greatest video game sequel of all time?

Second acts that buried the original, from quietly tightened classics to total reinventions.

1. 1
   Half-Life 2

   Valve's 2004 sequel, which made physics a storytelling tool.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Resident Evil 4

   Reinvented survival horror as an over-the-shoulder action game in 2005.
   719pts
3. 3
   The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

   A darker, stranger follow-up built in a year on Ocarina of Time's engine.
   660pts
4. 4
   Red Dead Redemption 2

   A prequel-sequel that slowed the western down until every chore mattered.
   582pts
5. 5
   Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

   A Cold War prequel widely held to be the series' best-told story.
   513pts
6. 6
   Street Fighter II

   The sequel that created the modern fighting game and the arcade boom around it.
   434pts
7. 7
   Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

   Took Vice City's formula and stretched it across three cities and an entire state.
   434pts
8. 8
   The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

   The third Geralt game, and the one that made CD Projekt a household name.
   434pts
9. 9
   Civilization IV

   The entry most strategy players still name as the series' peak.
   434pts
10. 10
    Diablo II

    Refined the loot-and-click formula so thoroughly that players never really stopped.
    342pts
11. 11
    Super Metroid

    The 1994 sequel that defined an entire genre's map design.
    342pts
12. 12
    Super Mario Bros. 3

    The 1988 sequel that rebuilt the platformer with a world map and power-up suits.
    342pts
13. 13
    Mass Effect 2

    Cut the first game's tedium and added a cast worth dying for.
    342pts
14. 14
    Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

    The sequel that turned a solid adventure series into a system seller.
    233pts