What Happened To Jak And Daxter?
What Happened to Jak and Daxter?
Every gamer knows the moment they became a gamer, the moment they went from being a care-free child, casually enjoying the experience of gaming after school, or on the weekend, to a raging gaming lunatic, hell bent on beating and mastering games they already had, and impatiently waiting on the next anticipated release. Of course, there’s nuance, you don’t have to be a raging gaming lunatic to call yourself a gamer, but hyperbole makes the world go around, and never let the truth get in the way of a great intro.
As the highest selling console of all time, the PlayStation 2 defined a generation of gamers. It was the system that took console gaming to the next level and showed players the depths that are possible for story telling and gameplay from your own couch. Ratchet and Clank, Grand Theft Auto, Kingdom Hearts; these are series still alive today that grew to their strongest on the PS2 system alone. But, there is one series that stands above the rest when comparing popularity, critical review, and total abandonment, and that is Jak & Daxter. Whilst similar series like Ratchet & Clank, Crash Bandicoot, and Spyro continue to get new installments and remakes, Jak & Daxter hasn’t seen a new main series entry since 2004, or a side game since 2009. The trilogy has been bundled, remastered, and re-released twice in the last 10 years, yet we’ve seen no evidence of a new entry, or a remake.
Jak & Daxter (and Jak) have seemingly been abandoned, despite the community and fans of the series being just as active today as they were in 2004. Today, we are going to take a look at the series overall, and then try and understand why the series has gone into hibernation, and of course answer the raging question: is there hope for a relaunch?
Welcome to MojoPlays, I’m Mat, and today we’re looking at What Happened to Jak & Daxter.
Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Even though you can’t be a gamer today without having at least heard the name ‘Naughty Dog’, back in the late 90s, Naughty Dog was relatively unknown. Not because they hadn’t established themselves as one of the best developers in the industry, they well and truly had, but because gaming was still (by today's standard) in its infancy… Or at least its teens. Even for hardcore gamers, it wasn’t expected or demanded by fans to know the names of developers and publishers outside of the ones that drilled it into your brain when you turned their games on. Naughty Dog in their early years, were still trying to find what made them special, and had a crack at developing a wide list of game genres. It wasn’t until 1996 that they had their biggest breakthrough with “Crash Bandicoot”, a game that defined their history, and had all three entries in the top 10 best-selling PS1 games of all time. From 1996-1999, they dropped a Crash game every single year, finishing with “Crash Team Racing”. From here, the company was destined for success with whatever they put out next, and they decided on something new for the next generation of consoles: “Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy” on the PS2. It’s worth pointing out that although Crash Bandicoot defined an era of 3D platforming, it was completely outshone by “Super Mario 64” on the Nintendo 64. This almost instant competition trampling from Nintendo forced Naughty Dog to look at how they approached 3D platforming moving forward, as non-linear level design seemed to be the way of the future. Evan Wells was a game designer for Jak & Daxter, and up until his retirement in 2023, was co-president alongside names like Neil Druckmann, and sole president for a time, since the year 2005. Wells has explained that during early development stages of Jak & Daxter, before they even knew what they were working on, the team wanted to create a completely seamless experience with no loading screens. This focus on removing loading from the game was to allow for no break in the action, and to make for complete and nonstop immersion. With a dynamic day-night cycle, beautiful graphics and no loading screens, “Jak & Daxter” was not only Naughty Dog’s best game at the time, but it was one of the most advanced and ahead-of-its-time games to ever be made. The story of “Jak & Daxter” centers around Jak, a voiceless teenage protagonist, as he tries to assist his friend Daxter, who (after falling into a vat of Dark Eco) undergoes a transformation into an ottsel—a fictional blend of an otter and a weasel. Guided by Samos the Sage, an expert in the enigmatic energy known as 'Eco,' originating from the ancient race called the Precursors, Jak and Daxter discover the difficult task of rescuing their world from the rogue sages Gol and Maia. The malevolent duo aims to unleash Dark Eco onto the world, and as we saw with Daxter, it has the capacity to corrupt everything it comes into contact with.
This plot and world were incredibly engaging, and were only amplified by the outstanding open level gameplay that gave players plenty to do, and made 100%ing the game something that was actually fun and achievable for any level of gamer. It’s easy to boil this game down to a 3D platformer, but with collectibles, mini-games, no loading screens, and a great selection of quests, it was so much more than that. The public reception was beyond exceptional, and it took home its share of awards across multiple gaming award shows. It was universally adored, and set up the series for an inevitable sequel, which came just under 2 years later.
Jak II
During the later end of 2001, when “Jak & Daxter” was released, a relatively unknown game dropped on the scene that slightly impacted the trajectory of gaming for years to come. You may have heard of it. Grand Theft Auto III. Of course you’ve heard it, and the reason you’ve heard of it is because it was freaking awesome! I enjoyed it, you enjoyed it, and you know who else enjoyed it? Many Naughty Dog developers.
A focus group conducted by Naughty Dog yielded results that showed the majority of gamers (including gamers who were only 8 years old) preferred games with a more mature tone, and that platformers were possibly destined to be pushed out of popularity. This led to the inevitable discussion of “do we continue this series after the massive success of our first game? Or do we start something new and gritty?” Well, why not do both?
Because of their love for the series and the characters they’d created, Naughty Dog decided to continue with the series, but give it a darker tone, a grittier atmosphere, and give Jak one of the most substantial character changes we’ve seen across the entire history of gaming. After defeating Gol and Maia and uncovering a mysterious object, Jak and Daxter team up with Samos the Green Sage to observe Kiera, as she tests an ancient artifact called the Rift Rider. This mechanical device is connected to an ancient portal known as a Rift Gate. When Jak activates the device, the gate opens, unleashing strange creatures into the world, and the rider draws the group inside. During the ride, Jak and Daxter get separated from the others and eventually land in Haven City—a dystopian metropolis ruled by the tyrant Baron Praxis, and 500 years in the future. The city is patrolled by the Krimzon Guard, a paramilitary force led by Praxis's right-hand man. While Daxter makes a hasty escape, Jak is apprehended by Errol and thrown into prison. Over the next two years, Jak undergoes a series of experiments conducted by Praxis, involving Dark Eco, as part of an effort to create a new soldier for the "Dark Warrior Program." Sooooo, see what we mean by tonal change? This darker tone obviously had an effect on the story, but it also impacted the gameplay in major ways. Even though the game maintains platforming sections as well as Jak’s previous fighting style, it definitely leans heavier towards the action/adventure genre in this entry. It features flying cars that can be used to traverse the now completely open world city map, and on top of that, it features a BUNCH of guns. The addition of guns really took this game away from what it was previously, and made it match the combat heavy games of the time.
As with any new venture, or any change to something people love, there are going to be people who hate it, and there was a section of Jak & Daxter fans who found the changes to the game’s style unappealing. They aren’t necessarily wrong, it’s a completely objective experience. The game went from a light, cute, bright platformer, to a dark, angsty, gothic action adventure… So no matter how you felt about it, you’re technically right.
Criticism was directed at “Jak II” for its limited mission checkpoints and overall high difficulty level. Naughty Dog developer Josh Scherr openly acknowledged this by stating, "One thing that everybody can agree on though, is that the game is just way too fucking hard." IGN ranked “Jak II” as the #8 most challenging PlayStation 2 games, pointing to its demanding combat, platforming, city navigation, and instances of instant death. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine commented, "It isn't proper to expect us to be perfect in order to make up for your game's many imbalances… Life might not be fair, but I certainly expect my games to be." However, some viewed the game's difficulty as a positive aspect, with PlayStation Magazine noting, "I appreciate a good challenge in today's games, and ‘Jak II’ offers it."
The game took a risk and although it didn’t work for some, it definitely paid off, proving (as they would time and time again over the coming 20 years) that Naughty Dog knows how to take a risk effectively, and always manage to make the right choices to move their company forward with the industry, and not get bogged down in old styles and habits. “Jak II” created a world with great mythology and plotlines that would get the resolution they deserved in the third and final entry in the trilogy.
Jak 3
“Jak & Daxter” dropped the Daxter and moved on to “Jak II” (or “Jak I I” for my roman numeral fans), then they dropped the roman numerals and moved on to “Jak 3” (number 3 for the layman). Whether this is a nod from Naughty Dog as they tell the player that they aren’t gonna get bogged down in patterns of previous games, and trivial things like gameplay, style, or even names, is unclear. What is clear is that Naughty Dog knocked it out of the park again with the third entry.
“Jak 3” takes everything it learned from the previous two entries and puts it into practice. Although it’s very similar to “Jak II”, the player can see clearly that they improved upon pretty much every element of this second entry that needed work, and then added some cooler features on top as a nice little dusting of fun. “Jak 3” truly felt like the culmination of years of education and learning from a developer who watched their players with open hearts, and open minds. “Jak 3” ends up being the perfect conclusion to the previous two entries. Combining the bright and fun platforming of “Jak & Daxter” with the angsty emo world of “Jak II”, wraps up the trilogy in a satisfying and full circle way that still leaves Jak’s story open for more adventures… More adventures we were hoping to see, but never got to.
