Sometimes, video game developers play it safe and stick to the same IP and continue iterating on it with sequels and spin-offs rather than starting a new venture. But certain developers aren’t afraid to dabble in multiple genres and are excellent at creating different kinds of experiences.

Even Naughty Dog, which has stuck to its core series like Uncharted and The Last of Us, has created Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, an interstellar sci-fi adventure. Sometimes, studios known for narrative games or for focusing on one type of gameplay style go on to experiment with something different entirely. You might be shocked that some of these games came from the same developer.

10Life Is Strange And Jusant

Don’t Nod Entertainment

While Lost Records: Bloom & Rage was a return to form for Don’t Nod, and even horror RPG-like games like Vampyr and Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden are still on par for the developer, you might’ve been shocked to discover Don’t Nod also made Jusant. Jusant’s visual style and overall vibe give off a debut indie game developer, not a veteran studio that’s been viewed as a narrative titan in the industry.

Don’t Nod crafted a very refreshing game with Jusant. It’s not the suspense-filled, choice-driven story you know and love from the studio, but a simpler tale about a young climber with a cute creature called a Ballast scaling a tall tower together, with interesting mechanics and environmental storytelling. If you’re into climbing, Jusant offers some next-level climbing physics and is a more chill experience.

9Death Rally And The Alan Wake Series

Remedy Entertainment

You’ll know Remedy for its acclaimed Alan Wake and Control series, which are now connected. They mix mind-bending storytelling and eerie supernatural horror elements, especially in Alan Wake 2. Before Alan Wake, the studio was known for the iconic detective noir series with a bullet-time mechanic, Max Payne, all of which came from Sam Lake’s writing and creative direction.

But before all those esteemed narrative games, Remedy Entertainment’s first game in 1996 was Death Rally. It’s a racing game with weapons and armor for your car as you attempt to take down your opponents. It didn’t gain the same popularity as the Twisted Metal series from PlayStation, though it did surprisingly receive a remake in 2011 that launched on mobile.

8Grounded 2, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, And Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy

Edios-Montréal

Grounded is a first-person survival game with the interesting premise of being shrunk and having to survive the giant insects and bugs in your own backyard, with spiders that will terrify you even if you’re not prone to arachnophobia. While exciting to see all the insects Grounded 2 will have in store, the one detail already clear is that none other than Eidos-Montréal is aiding Obsidian with the sequel.

Eidos-Montréal was a support studio for Crystal Dynamics' 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and then the sole developer of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It was also responsible for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (a game I couldn’t get enough of) and Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. This studio is known for strong narrative-driven action-adventure, so Grounded 2 is an odd new direction, but now we know it’ll be great.

7Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death And The Sniper Elite Series

Rebellion

You might all be familiar with the Judge Dredd movies, such as the ones starring Sylvester Stallone or Keith Urban. But there was also a 2003 video game called Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death, a level-based first-person shooter comparable to Wolfenstein and Doom. And it’s from none other than Rebellion Developments.

Rebellion is most famous for the Sniper Elite series, where you get to snipe Nazis and see glorious bullet time and X-Ray kills. It’s also known for the zombie version of the series, Zombie Army. Dredd isn’t the developer’s only licensed title, as Rebellion also made a few Alien vs. Predator games (including the 2010 version), but Judge Dredd is the most unusual and hasvery in-your-face Red Bull product placement.

6The Punisher, Red Faction, And Saints Row Series

Volition

Volition is mainly associated with the Saints Row series, which even got a new reimagined form in 2022. Volition is also responsible for the sci-fi Mars shooter Red Faction series,one of the best PC games from the 2000s. But did you know this studio also developed a Marvel game based on the Punisher character?

In Volition’s The Punisher, actor Thomas Jane reprises the role of anti-hero vigilante Frank Castle from the 2004 movie of the same name. The levels and story are inspired by the film and also the comics. The gameplay is highly reminiscent of Max Payne and offers a brutal combat system and kill animations. Kingpin, Bullseye, and Jigsaw are some of the exciting villains you’ll also encounter.

5Detention And Nine Sols

RedCandleGames

Every horror fan has probably played RedCandleGames' Detention, a side-scroller gameinspired by Silent Hillset during Taiwan’s White Terror period, when the country was under martial law. It’s very eerie and full of memorable horror enemies, scenes, and puzzles. If you thought the developer would follow it up with another horror gem, you’d be sorely mistaken.

What RedCandleGames cooked up next isa very underrated Metroidvania titlecalled Nine Sols. You get to play as a cat with Sekiro-adjacent deflection abilities, with a setting inspired by both cyberpunk visuals and Taoism. You play as a cat-like character, and the title is a very clever spin on cats having nine lives, and the main enemies you must dispatch are the nine Sols.

4Killzone HD Remaster, Until Dawn, And The Dark Pictures Anthology

Supermassive Games

Everyone now knows that the same developer behind the breathtaking and unique Horizon series starring Aloy, going up against machine-like animals, also started with the Killzone series. It’s an FPS game with iconic soldier suits for the Helghast faction, which saw multiple installments, with the final one being the PS4 title Killzone: Shadow Fall.

However, the original 2004 game received a remake for PS3 in 2012 from Supermassive Games, precisely the same game developer known for its amazing branching choices and narrative-heavy games like Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures Anthology. This remastered version of Killzone was included with the PS3 Trilogy Edition.

Motive Studio

How can a studio that gave what is essentially a first-person Star Wars flight and dogfight simulator go all Bloober Team and remake one of the most iconic and frightening horror games since Silent Hill, Dead Space? Motive is an EA studio that deliveredan astounding horror video game remakewith its take on Dead Space, graphics-wise, atmosphere and lighting-wise, and sound design-wise.

It’s actually interesting that Motive developed games in very established franchises, but Star Wars: Squadrons, though criminally underrated, was met with lackluster reviews and couldn’t ultimately measure up to Respawn’s Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor games. Dead Space Remake, on the other hand, did so many things right, both expanding on certain elements and staying true to the original horror beats.

2Ryse: Son Of Rome And Hunt: Showdown

Crytek

Crytek is primarily a first-person shooter studio, best known for the original Far Cry game before expanding into the Crysis series. Now, Crytek is most associated with the multiplayer Southern Gothic horror extraction FPS game, Hunt: Showdown. But did you know this studio was also behind one of the most infamous Xbox One exclusives, Ryse: Son of Rome? Ok, maybe the naming convention gives it away.

Ryse: Son of Rome is a cinematic, brutal third-person hack-and-slash game set in the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Nero. It follows Roman general Marius Titus as he fights off hordes of barbarians and invades Britannia. One of the unique elements of this game was its dismemberment system and kill animations, which are color-coded to the Xbox controls. The rich historical story is also unexpected from Crytek.

1Total War Series And Alien: Isolation

Creative Assembly

It remains an anomaly how a developer known for the popular real-time strategy series Total War could go on to make one of the most unnerving and scariest games of all time, Alien: Isolation. Creative Assembly rightfully earned that name for taking the creativity from the RTS format to a first-person sci-fi horror game with a story that’s a sequel toRidley Scott’soriginal Alien, featuring Ripley’s daughter as the protagonist.

Alien: Isolation sees Amanda Ripley seek answers about her mother, which takes her to Sevastopol Station, where the Xenomorph threat is already present. The story is quite long and feels brilliantly agonizing in that way because of how many close calls you’ll have with the Xenomorph and the corrupt Seegson Synthetic androids. The Xenomorph AI is intense and will have you stressed the whole game.