In recent years, Naughty Dog has been known for its gritty and realistic action games, like the Indiana Jones-style Uncharted series or its grim survival-horror franchise The Last of Us. But before it was known for making intense shooter games, Naughty Dog built its reputation on colorful platformers, with the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy serving as three of the most-defining games on in the entire PlayStation 1 library.
After its work on the Crash Bandicoot franchise, Naughty Dog moved on to create a brand new IP on the PlayStation 2 in the form of Jak and Daxter. As was the case with Crash Bandicoot, all three games in the core Jak and Daxter series earned widespread critical-acclaim and are generally considered some of the best games on their platform. Unfortunately for Jak and Daxter fans, a new game in the series hasn’t released since 2009’s Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, and there is no return in sight.
While there is no new Jak and Daxter game known to be in development at this time, that doesn’t mean the franchise can’t return eventually. And in fact, now many be the perfect time for a complete Jak and Daxter reboot.
Since Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune launched for the PS3 in 2007, Naughty Dog has exclusively made realistic games with human-looking characters. While both the Uncharted and Last of Us franchises are gorgeous-looking games, and in fact some of the best-looking games ever made, there’s no denying that they generally have a much darker color palette when compared to some of Naughty Dog’s earlier work. This is necessary to achieve the photorealistic graphics that Naughty Dog shoots for, but it can be limiting from a creative standpoint.
Imagine returning to the Jak and Daxter universe with today’s technology. The Jak and Daxter series never really left the PS2 era (unless one counts the HD Jak and Daxter collection ports) and a new game in the series could be lightyears ahead of the original games from a visual standpoint. The brightly colored worlds of the Jak and Daxter games could take great advantage of the PlayStation 5’s hardware, and it would allow Naughty Dog’s artists to work on something completely different where they aren’t limited by having to make things fit in a realistic world.
Not only that, but the general tone of the Jak and Daxter games would be a nice change of pace compared to Naughty Dog’s recent titles. While there’s plenty of humor in the Uncharted games, The Last of Us titles are oppressively dark in tone and can be downright depressing. Jak and Daxter had a lot more comedy, and while there were plenty of dark moments sprinkled throughout the series, it generally stuck to a lighthearted vibe.
A new Jak and Daxter game would trade the realistic-looking worlds of Uncharted and The Last of Us for something bright, colorful, and more optimistic than Naughty Dog’s recent titles. It would serve as a big change of pace and would give fans of company’s work something different to play.
Naughty Dog has consistently made Uncharted and The Last of Us games since 2007, releasing no other games in the interim. If nothing else, having a new Jak and Daxter game could provide some variety and ensure that Uncharted and Last of Us fans don’t get franchise fatigue.
Now, when some people see “reboot,” they sometimes think that means throwing away what was established in previous games, but that’s not always the case. A new Jak and Daxter game could be a reboot in the sense that it wouldn’t require people to play earlier games to understand the story, while still not contradicting the events of the previous titles. This way, Naughty Dog would be able to appeal to a wider audience, and it would potentially ensure that the new Jak and Daxter game is more successful than it would be otherwise.
The reason why a soft reboot may be in order for the Jak and Daxter series is because of how long it’s been since a new game has been released. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier released for the PSP 12 years ago at this point, and the last game in the series developed by Naughty Dog came out all the way back in 2005 with Jak X: Combat Racing. While most of the Jak and Daxter games are regularly available on PS4 and PS5, it could be risky to expect people to play through these older games to understand what’s going on.
Whether or not a Jak and Daxter reboot happens remains to be seen, but one thing is clear, and that is Naughty Dog is working on a PS5 game. Whether that PS5 game is a sequel to one of its established franchises or a new IP is up for debate, and with The Last of Us 2 just releasing last year, it will likely be years before fans get a glimpse of it.
But remember, Sony owns the rights to Jak and Daxter, and it doesn’t necessarily need to have Naughty Dog make a new game in the series. In fact, the PSP spinoff Daxter was made by Ready at Dawn and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier was developed by High Impact Games, so there’s already a precedent for other studios making games in the series.
Whatever the case may be, hopefully Jak and Daxter fans can look forward to a new game in the series sooner rather than later.
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