Not to be confused with sequels, game spin-offs will often jump genres, even in some cases have tenuous connections to the successful game that preceded it (assuming that unsuccessful games wouldn’t generate spin-offs). While other console adaptations of existing game titles could be labeled as spin-offs, since those often have to take liberties with the source material, this list will only deal with spin-offs within the same playing field, whether on PC or on console. So, in order of latest to earliest, here are the ten best spin-off games.

Halo Wars
Halo series, 2009

Perhaps one of this list’s more controversial selections. The jury may still be out on the real-time strategy spin-off of the Xbox’s famous Halo series, but whether or not time looks favorably upon this title, and despite criticisms of an interface too simplistic for a RTS, there’s no denying that it was a commercial success given that it sold over one million copies in its first month, according to Microsoft. In the least, most critics have deemed Halo Wars a step in the right direction for console RTS games. and in the very least it proved that the Halo name still sells, whatever the genre.

Portal
Half-Life series, 2007

On the surface, this game may not seem like a spin-off. It was released as part of The Orange Box collection, but its self-contained story didn’t overtly borrow characters or settings from the Half-Life series. However, the Black Mesa science facility from the first Half-Life game was mentioned in passing, placing it within the same universe as Valve’s headline series, which had the added effect of making certain other vague references to the outside world much more foreboding. While primarily a series of a spatial physics puzzles as opposed to the first-person shooter adventures of Gordon Freeman, Portal has the same underlying grand-experiment-gone-wrong vibe to it that stems from the first Half-Life. If elements of Portal don’t find their way into future Half-Life plots, I’ll eat my crowbar.

World of Warcraft
Warcraft series, 2004

I would not be surprised if some WoW fans reacted to this by choking on their energy drinks and spitting, "Whaddya mean World of Warcraft is a spin-off?!" But it’s true. Originally a series of top-down RTS games (Warcrafts I to III), World of Warcraft is a spin-off primarily in the sense of genre, given that the massively multiplayer online role-playing game’s storyline picks up more or less where Warcraft III left off. Most people won’t know that, though, as millions more people have played WoW than the original RTS games it’s based upon.