Picture a pile of promises too tall to climb. The writers cannot keep them all, and a retcon would only add more. So the owner starts again. A reboot keeps the name and begins the story over; the old parts stop binding. A sequel adds a part; a remake tells one old part again.
Mortal Kombat1992 on
↓→
2011restarted
↓→
2023restarted again
Mortal Kombat did it twice. The 2011 game restarted the story from the events of the first game, after a message sent back in time. Twelve years later, in 2023, Mortal Kombat 1 restarted it again, in a new timeline made by one of its own characters. Same name, same fighters, a fresh list each time.
Mortal Kombatsame name
↓→
2011began over
Mortal Kombat's 2011 game kept the name and began the story over from the first game's events. Sequel, remake or reboot?
A remake. It retold the first game.
Not yet. A remake tells one old game again, as it was. This game retold the early events and then went its own way, as the start of a new list.
A reboot. Same name, the story begun over.
Right. That is the definition from the step before: the name is kept and the list starts again. The old games became the time that was undone.
A sequel. It came after the earlier games.
Not yet. A sequel adds a part to the story so far. This game did not add to the old story; it began the story again, which is a different thing.
Promises binding the new storynone
vsvs
Readers who can start hereall of them
What a reboot buys and what it costs. It buys a place to start: a newcomer can pick up part one and need nothing. It costs every promise at once, including the ones readers loved, and it costs the trust of readers who spent years on the old list. A reboot is the retcon of everything.
Each card is a game. Is it a sequel, a remake, or a reboot?
One card at a time. Tap the pile it belongs to.
Card 1 of 5
Tomb Raider, 2013: Lara Croft's story told again from the beginning, with a new past
God of War, 2018: the same hero, Kratos, many years after the earlier games, with a son
Final Fantasy VII Remake, 2020: the 1997 game's story told again, with changes its makers said were on purpose
Halo 4, 2012: the hero, the Master Chief, wakes years after Halo 3 and carries on
Mortal Kombat 1, 2023: a new timeline, the same fighters meeting for the first time
Tomb Raider, 2013: Lara Croft's story told again from the beginning, with a new past → A reboot
Not yet. A reboot. The name and the hero stay; the old games stop binding. The 2013 story is a new beginning, not a retelling of the 1996 one.
God of War, 2018: the same hero, Kratos, many years after the earlier games, with a son → A sequel
Not yet. A sequel. Its director said the old games were this Kratos's past and asked why anyone would throw that away. The new game carries them.
Final Fantasy VII Remake, 2020: the 1997 game's story told again, with changes its makers said were on purpose → A remake
Not yet. A remake. It retells one story rather than continuing it. Its producer said the story deviated from the original on purpose, so even a remake can break a promise.
Halo 4, 2012: the hero, the Master Chief, wakes years after Halo 3 and carries on → A sequel
Not yet. A sequel. New studio, same list of promises. Lesson 6's point: the hands changed and the story did not restart.
Mortal Kombat 1, 2023: a new timeline, the same fighters meeting for the first time → A reboot
Not yet. A reboot. The fighters meet as if never before, in a timeline a character made new. The old games are the time that was undone.
2Sequels
++
1Remakes
++
2Reboots
Right. Two sequels, one remake, two reboots. A sequel adds to the list. A remake retells one entry. A reboot starts the list again under the same name.
Set how tall the pile of promises is against how many new readers the owner wants, and see what the owner does. Made up to show the shape.
Promises100
↓→
New readers wanted10 of 100
↓→
Keeps going
The pile of promises: Short · New readers wanted: Few
A short pile, few new readers wanted: the owner keeps going.
Promises100
↓→
New readers wanted40 of 100
↓→
Keeps going
The pile of promises: Short · New readers wanted: Some
A short pile, some new readers wanted: the owner keeps going.
Promises100
↓→
New readers wanted80 of 100
↓→
Keeps going
The pile of promises: Short · New readers wanted: Many
A short pile, many new readers wanted: the owner keeps going.
Promises400
↓→
New readers wanted10 of 100
↓→
Keeps going
The pile of promises: Middling · New readers wanted: Few
A middling pile, few new readers wanted: the owner keeps going.
Promises400
↓→
New readers wanted40 of 100
↓→
Retcons a few things
The pile of promises: Middling · New readers wanted: Some
A middling pile, some new readers wanted: the owner retcons a few things.
Promises400
↓→
New readers wanted80 of 100
↓→
Retcons a few things
The pile of promises: Middling · New readers wanted: Many
A middling pile, many new readers wanted: the owner retcons a few things.
Promises1,200
↓→
New readers wanted10 of 100
↓→
Retcons a few things
The pile of promises: Tall · New readers wanted: Few
A tall pile, few new readers wanted: the owner retcons a few things.
Promises1,200
↓→
New readers wanted40 of 100
↓→
Reboots
The pile of promises: Tall · New readers wanted: Some
A tall pile, some new readers wanted: the owner reboots.
Promises1,200
↓→
New readers wanted80 of 100
↓→
Reboots
The pile of promises: Tall · New readers wanted: Many
A tall pile, many new readers wanted: the owner reboots.
When does the owner reboot?
When the pile is tall and the owner wants new readers. A tall pile alone gets a retcon; wanting readers alone gets nothing.
Right. Both dials have to be up. A tall pile is a burden on the writers. Wanting new readers is the reason to drop the pile, and dropping it costs the old readers' trust.
Whenever the pile is tall.
Not yet. Read the tall row with few new readers wanted: the owner retcons a few things and keeps going. A tall pile the old readers love is kept, until new readers are the goal.
Whenever the owner wants new readers.
Not yet. Read the short column with many wanted: the owner keeps going. A short pile is no barrier to a newcomer, so there is nothing to clear.
Move both controls.
Many Earthsbefore
↓→
Crisistwelve issues
↓→
One Earthafter
The biggest reboot in comics was a universe. By the mid-1980s DC Comics had decades of stories on many parallel Earths, each with its own version of the same heroes. A twelve-issue story called Crisis on Infinite Earths folded them into one Earth, so a new reader could start with one Superman and one past.
Slide the marker to the year DC began folding its many Earths into one.
Slide the marker to where you think the answer is, then press Lock. Nothing is scored.
1234
your guess · 1,960
the answer · 1,985
1,9601,9852,010
119601,960
219801,980
320002,000
420102,010
Your guess: —
Almost fifty years after Superman first appeared, in 1938. Guesses land later, because a cleanup that big feels modern. By 1985 the pile had been growing since before most of the writers were born.
Promises at the reboot0 made up
Five parts later150 made up
A reboot is also a new list starting at zero, and a new list grows. Mortal Kombat rebooted in 2011 and again in 2023. By part five of any restart the new pile has its own tangles, made by its own hands. The reboot does not end the problem; it resets the clock on it.
Same hero
++
From the start
++
Five old gamesno longer lead in
A studio announces that its next game keeps the hero's name but tells her story from the start, and that the five earlier games no longer lead into it. What is it, and who pays?
A sequel with a long gap.
Not yet. A sequel keeps the old games leading in. The studio has said they do not, which is the reboot's defining move.
A reboot. Newcomers gain a starting point; readers of the five old games lose every promise they were keeping track of.
Right. Name kept, list emptied. The gain is the newcomer's and the loss is the old reader's, and the owner has decided the newcomers are worth more today.
A remake of the first game.
Not yet. A remake retells one game. This one tells a new beginning and expects new games after it, which is a restart of the series, not a retelling of one part.
Lesson complete
A reboot keeps the name and starts the story again. Newcomers begin at part one; old promises stop binding.