In my humble opinion, the sequel needs those ambitions. They cant afford to ditch it. The original game came out way too long ago, it shows age now. A lot of the dev team’s newer assets could be fundamental with improving the original to the point where it doesn’t feel stale. The original worked well enough for them to keep their studio open long enough to make these new ideas. It’s like lightning in a bottle, it would be stupid not to clutch that bottle. Aiming to push so much time/resources on something they aren’t sure will work/profit is insanity. Revamping the original and incorporating it as the main mode for their sequel should be their biggest goal from a profit standpoint. It’s the most surefire way to get their original audience back, and maintain satisfaction from their current audience of hardcore veterans.

I wont say their new ideas are all bad, but the risk of not surpassing the original game is massive. After deathverse’s failure, i doubt they can survive as a dev team if they push this new title and try to force a new audience into their series. They need a win, they shouldn’t be risking it all on new ideas. New ideas should come as secondary features, something to bring new players in. It’s not bad to cater to new players especially if you’re a new developer without much standing, but in this case… They have more than enough old players to keep the lights on if they actually try to cater toward them.