Basic Trope: Game gets re-released several times with occasional tweaks to make it seem new.
- Straight: Charlie's Quest II receives more weapons in Super Charlie's Quest II, then receives more dungeons in Super Charlie's Quest II Redux, then receives some more weapons in Hyper Charlie's Quest II...
- Exaggerated: The Charlie's Quest franchise never receives another installment, only new campaigns through re-releases.
- Downplayed: Charlie's Quest II has significantly more DLC than any other game in the franchise.
- Justified:
- The changes aren't significant enough to justify a sequel, but too significant to be marked down with version numbers. Also, money.
- The changes aren't of the kind that make the newer versions more than Mission Pack Sequels.
- Inverted:
- A heavily censored version of Charlie's Quest II is released as Super Charlie's Quest II.
- Every new platform has a Charlie's Quest which is a polished start of the platform game. They all have the same title and don't receive a re-release despite demand.
- Huge changes get added to the original game through updates, even though they would be better as a sequel.
- Subverted: A large enough update to Charlie's Quest II is separately released as Charlie's Quest III.
- Double Subverted: Charlie's Quest III then proceeds to go through several more re-releases.
- Parodied: You can tell how many updates have been made to Charlie's Quest II by how many new words there are in the title.
- Averted:
- Charlie's Quest II uses version numbers to signify updates.
- Charlie's Quest II doesn't get updated at all.
- Enforced:
- The publishers only have the rights to Charlie's Quest II in the franchise and are willing to Loophole Abuse it into extending it as much as possible.
- Charlie's Quest III is a game that will never see release, but the creators, unwilling to admit defeat, keep releasing remakes of CQII to fund development.
- Lampshaded: Ship of Theseus is a Long Runner game series about keeping your cursed ship afloat by reassembling it with replacement parts. The original game dates back to the 80s, and it's only received new games in the form of re-releases.
- Invoked: The publishers behind Charlie's Quest II originally wanted it to be a live service game, but decide against it and go back to the re-releases model because of the potential backlash the former would cause (e.g. complaints about Fake Longevity or the inevitable server sunset).
- Exploited: The publishers behind Charlie's Quest II continue re-releasing the game despite the growing influence of its live service competitors, pleasantly surprising the game's fanbase for the perceived committment to quality. Advertising for the game plays this up for all it's worth.
- Defied: The publishers behind Charlie's Quest II insist on re-releasing the game despite its competitors doing otherwise and/or negative fan reaction to the practice. After some convincing, saner heads prevail and Charlie's Quest III is greenlit instead of Super Charlie's Quest II Redux.
- Discussed: Alice and Bob, while playing Hyper Charlie's Quest II together, randomly come to the realization that this is the fourth time they've played the same game and talk about it at length.
- Conversed: Alice and Bob come across Hyper Charlie's Quest II on a window display at their local game store while heading out for lunch. They briefly share some snide remarks about the business practice, then go on their merry way.
- Played for Horror: Gamer Bob goes mad after playing so many similar games and turns into a Serial Killer. Bonus points if the people he kills have extremely graphic deaths.
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