How much obligation do sequels have to recap previous entries?

[Squilookle]

I'm on the fence- while I do appreciate a good recap in heavily story based sequels, well made games that have nothing to do with their precursors are far easier for me to get into without bothering with the series from the start, like Assassin's Creed, Just Cause, Mass Effect etc.

Wait, do you really need to know anything about other games in the Just Cause series? I only played 2 but I didn't even notice it had a plot, let alone a reason to care about the previous entry.

I agree it really does depend on the context. Vital plot points needed to understand this entry(when applicable) should at least have some kind of recap(even if it's just part of an in-game database or optional conversation) but otherwise wiki summaries and recap videos exist.

That's exactly my point- you can jump in to any of them and it'll be just fine if you haven't played the others.

 

[Smithnikov_v1legacy]

Not sure if 0 and 6 did it, but the Yakuza series had a nice optional feature to "reminisce" if you wanted a full and total recap.