Indies and Steam fodder notwithstanding, what's the last AAA game you played that wasn't a sequel, prequel, adaptation, remake, reboot, "re-imagining", spin-off, tie-in, spiritual successor or otherwise part of a series of household IP? What's the last big game you played that wasn't an openly derived product? And when?
Extra points if the game didn't go on to spawn a franchise itself.
In my case it's Catherine, about a month ago. On top of being a peculiar game unto itself, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction playing something, for once, that wasn't riding on an artifact title, wasn't leading me on to more games, wasn't comparing itself to other entries in a series of ups and downs, wasn't cashing in on anything other than itself and most importantly told all there was to tell about what it was telling. It was just this one game, "shaped like itself", and that was that. That doesn't happen that often doesn't it?
Extra points if the game didn't go on to spawn a franchise itself.
In my case it's Catherine, about a month ago. On top of being a peculiar game unto itself, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction playing something, for once, that wasn't riding on an artifact title, wasn't leading me on to more games, wasn't comparing itself to other entries in a series of ups and downs, wasn't cashing in on anything other than itself and most importantly told all there was to tell about what it was telling. It was just this one game, "shaped like itself", and that was that. That doesn't happen that often doesn't it?