A Spiritual Successor is a type of sequel that is not part of the same world or story as its predecessor, but is nonetheless considered to be a successor because it shares common themes, styles, and elements. In other words, it’s a sequel “in spirit”.
I was thinking about how Bioshock is considered a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, went down a rabbit hole, and came across this list.
But you would not argue that F:NV is the spiritual “successor” to those movies just because they were referenced.
If I didn’t know about Hotline Miami and you told me about like: “It’s like somebody made a new Hitman game!” I would be completely lost playing the game. Whole different perspective, style, flow. IMO being a “successor” implies more than just similar elements or references.
That said, wtaching out for examples I do not find so many other, that I think are similiarly weak as the Hitman/Hotline one. So it may be the exception in the list.