They said the game was over, but they were wrong. Some titles just refuse to quit, rolling out surprise content and patches long after their devs promised the end. Take No Man’s Sky, which added entire new systems years post‑launch, or Cyberpunk 2077, still getting meaningful updates even after its official final patch.
Heck, Dragon Age: The Veilguard even dropped free weapon packs months after BioWare had moved on. These are more thanlive-service titles. They’re proof that some games just keep going.
Hello Games has pushed out 30+ major free updates (from Atlas Rises and base-building to the Aquarius fishing overhaul in 2024) since the game’s rocky launch in 2016. After logging 200+ hours, I can confirm that scraping alien fish off my lin in zero-gravity is oddly satisfying.
This ongoing evolution isn’t really a patchwork. It’s more like a transformation. The game is very different from when it first came out, even though it was meant to be technically ‘finished’ at launch. This is one game that just refuses to go away.
9StarWars: Empire At War
Released in 2006 and technically ‘done,’ Petroglyph and community modders have continued updating thisRTSfor 17+ years, adding updates like 64-bit support and multiplayer maps. The last of these updates came out onOctober 2024. It’s a bit wild to see this game still thriving on Steam.
These patches keep the game moving forward, despite approaching 20 years old. Perhaps most importantly, this game still works on modern computers, which is a bit of a feat in itself.
City of Heroes was shut down by NCSoft in 2012, but this beloved superhero MMO just kept going on private servers. Then, in January 2024, NCSoft officially licensed the fan-run Homecoming team. That means that everything that was going on in the private servers now has full legal backing.
Now, you can chase villain spawn points with a squad of strangers, and it’s as great as ever. It’s not every day that you see dead games rise from the ashes with the full support of their publisher.
Originally a mid‑2000s platformer, this cult classic got a surprise Steam re-release in 2017, and the devs shipped HD textures, a 64-bit build, bug fixes, and a mod kit as recentlyas April 2024.
Sure, it’s a very niche game, but you have to give them some credit. There aren’tmany games from the 2000sthat still work on computers. The fact that the team still supports it (likely for minimal revenue) is proof that some games are passion projects first and profit second.
This hack-and-slash RPG received a robust Anniversary Edition overhaul in 2016, ten years after it was released in 2006. Then, it saw a new DLC drop in 2021. There are new classes, quests, and quality-of-life tweaks are still popping up fifteen years post-launch.
This game isn’t just alive. It’s become a full-featured RPG that you can argue outshines newer entries in the genre. It just isn’t still playable. It’s still getting better.
Cyan Worlds dropped a surprise ‘Rime’ world update in March 2025, which added new content that was originally designed in 2000 but left out of the 2020 remaster. As someone who’s replayed this myst-like classic across VR and desktop, discovering a whole new island with fresh lore felt like unearthing a lost chapter decades later.
Myst is proof that even a three-decades-old puzzle game can still surprise you. It was one of the last games I thought would still be getting updates at this point.
Originally released in 2009, Resident Evil 5 seemed like a closed chapter, until PC players got an out-of-the-blue update in February 2023 (which restored the beloved split-screen co-op mode 14 years later). The return let players sprint through Africa with a friend perched on the couch next to them. The return of the feature was both nostalgic and a genuine surprise.
Capcom didn’t promise this, didn’t hype it, but quietly delivered. It’s proof that even legacy games can surprise you when devs listen and remember what fans truly care about in their game.
Bloodstained launched in 2019 but kept rolling out 7 new updates through May 2024, adding new characters and verses modes. These updates felt a lot like new questline, not just quality-of-life patches. It deepened replayability rather than just fixing bugs.
Of course, this game is a bit of a passion project for Koji “Igavania” Igarashi. This kind of support highlights what happens when this passion meets a community that truly loves this game.
Arkane Austin’s vampire shooter hit in May 2023 and seemed done, but in May 2024, “one last” update added DLSS, single-player pause, and a major Overhaul to core systems.
I dropped in for a replay and was struck by how much smoother and more polished it felt, despite its rocky reception. Technically, this game was already ‘finished,’ but this surprise update did help fix some of the problems players were experiencing.
1Sonic Dream Team
Sega promised three DLC updates and delivered on those updates after Sonic Dream Team released in December 2023. However, four more free content drops dropped in late 2024. Highlights? Time trials, boss revamps, a Sweet Dreams world, Shadow as a playable character, and secret challenges.
My speedrun-focused friend logged over 60 hours chasing every medal, and every update gave new reason to boot it up. While this game is still very new, it’s still delivering updates that weren’t expected.
