We’re living in a golden age of gaming adaptations.
From Amazon’s excellent work bringing the Fallout universe to life to the frenetic, family-friendly fun of the Sonic films, it seems like the days of shoddily made cash grabs like the Assassin’s Creed and Doom films are a thing of the past. Though some duds still feel like they were made by a committee of studio producers who have never played a video game in their lives, for the most part, Hollywood seems to have learned to respect the artistry and storytelling behind games.
As HBO’s television adaptation of The Last of Usmakes fans of the games relive their emotional trauma and Until Dawn seeks to scare up some box office returns, let’s take a look at some games that, in the right hands, could make for some solid watches.
Check out the 10 Video Games we think should be adapted for the screen below:
1. Dishonored
There’s a scene in Arkane Studios’ first Dishonored game where, in between all the wanton murdering you do, the child empress Emily shows you a violent drawing of your character and tells you, “Sometimes when you come home, you smell like blood.” This was my first experience with a game with a morality system, where I wasn’t just playing through a predetermined story, and my character’s actions had a tangible impact on the world and how events unfolded.
Amid the backstabbing (both figurative and literal) and tale of righteous vengeance, there’s so much to explore in the world of Dunwall, from its witches and gods to its crumbling society with whale-oil-fueled technology. A three-season storyline could adapt each of the series’ installments and see Corvo, Emily and Billie Lurk each struggle to find the balance between meting out deadly punishment or employing stealth and mercy in their quests for vengeance. Since they exist in the same universe, a Deathloop spinoff wouldn’t be out of the question.
2. The Elder Scrolls
It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a good “swords and sorcery” type show, ever since Game of Thrones fumbled its ending. House of the Dragon has struggled to be consistent, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is full of wasted potential, and The Witcher was never all that great in my opinion.
Given how well Amazon Studios was able to adapt the post-apocalyptic sandbox world of Fallout into a fun and action-packed ride, I’d love to see them do the same with the world of Tamriel. I mean, they’ve already ported Skyrim to every possible system, including Amazon Alexa, so they might as well port it to TV. Plus, how funny would it be if we got The Elder Scrolls: The TV Show before we got The Elder Scrolls VI?
3. Mass Effect
When Mass Effect 3 was released, when I was in high school, my friend Connor’s parents let him skip school to play it. I didn’t get around to playing the series until years later, but now I completely understand that decision. Commander Shepherd and the crew of the Normandy are such lovable and iconic characters; their adventures in space fighting off the Reapers could be built over several seasons and/or films. All I ask is that they keep Garrus hot.
4. Red Dead Redemption
My dad has never been particularly interested in playing or watching video games. However, something about Red Dead Redemption 2 drew him in. I don’t know whether it was the gorgeous scenery or the incredible story, but he’d watch me play it every night. When I finally finished it and moved on to another game, he said, “Aw, you ‘re not playing that cowboy game anymore?”
The heroically tragic stories of Arthur Morgan, John Marston and the Dutch Van Der Linde gang have the cultural cache to get audiences interested once again in stories about the American West. If you cut out a lot of the extra stuff and just stick to the barebones story, you could probably fit the Red Dead games into a movie apiece, but to really capture the beauty and violence of the Old West, you’re probably need several seasons of good quality television, plus one extra if you’re feeling spicy and want to take on the Undead Nightmare zombie expansion.
5. Lost Planet
I will get a bit obscure here, but Capcom’s first Lost Planet game was one of my favorite games from the XBOX 360 generation. It’s got all the elements you’d need for a great action sci-fi movie: a hostile planet, rugged survivors, cool weapons, a bunch of different mechas and, of course, kaiju-level aliens. The second game was passable at best with a weak story, and I never got around to playing the third installment, but as a standalone adaptation, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition has the makings for a great sci-fi film.
6. Dead Space
While discussing dangerous aliens, how cool would it be to get a film adaptation of the Dead Space games? Currently, the only consistent name in the space horror genre is Ridley Scott’s Alien series, but why should the Xenomorphs have all the fun?
Technically, Dead Space has already been adapted for film, and the series has two animated films, though they were direct-to-DVD releases. However, with the recent advances in digital and practical effects, there’s no reason why the necromorphs can’t look terrifyingly realistic on the big screen in a live-action theatrical movie release. With the pressure and time crunch to escape an infested space station, Dead Space would make for a great big-budget horror film.
7. Hades
Supergiant’s smash hit roguelike dungeon crawler combined a surprisingly addictive gameplay loop with a short but engaging story and some quirky, lovable characters. Though I don’t think the source material could sustain a full season of a show, a mini-series or a movie made in the same hauntingly gorgeous art style following Zagreus’ many deaths and rebirths in his quest to defy his father Hades and find his mother Persephone would be loads of action-packed fun.
There have recently been a lot of attempts made at television adaptations of Greek mythology, and while not all of them have been successful, a focus on the action and characters could be what would set a Hades project apart.
8. Donkey Kong
Nintendo’s partnership with Illumination to bring Mario to the big screen was incredibly successful and way better than it had any right to be. While I’m still not sold on Chris Pratt’s version of Mario, Seth Rogen’s goofy bro take on Donkey Kong won me over. A sequel to the Mario movie as well as a live-action Zelda film have already been announced, but a spin-off focusing on the great ape would have tons of fun potential, not to mention it would make incredible business sense considering Universal Studios’ new Donkey Kong Country theme park and upcoming Switch 2 game.
It’s been decades since the animated Donkey Kong Country cartoon was released, and it’s about time new audiences were introduced to DK, Diddy, Dixie, Funky and all the Kongs and their battle against King K. Rool.
9. Phoenix Wright
The world doesn’t need more courtroom dramas, but what about a courtroom comedy? The Phoenix Wright series relies on players to conduct observations and use their logic in the courtroom against some truly bizarre characters with even more confounding testimony and reactions. Phoenix Wright is a sandbox where some skilled writers could test the boundaries of logic and legal precedent.
A Japanese-language film was made in 2012 but was only released in Japan and at some international film festivals, and not much came of it. While an animated series would probably suit the material best, another attempt at a live-action film with real people balancing buffoonery with the dignity of the courts might just be unhinged enough to work.
10. The Oregon Trail
Wrapping this list up with another western, The Oregon Trail is one of those classic video games whose legacy has long outlasted its active player base. While it would be easy enough to make a strict adaptation of what pioneer life on the real Oregon Trail was like with some references and game elements mixed in, the legacy of The Oregon Trail game is so prevalent that it might be more fitting to take a more comedic and self-aware approach to the material.
That’s not to say that a movie or TV adaptation can’t carry the same spirit of edutainment as its source material. Still, a comedic take on the rigors of frontier life would be much more appealing to the kids that the game targeted initially. Comedy theater group Starkid has already created a stage show based on the game called Trail to Oregon, so the blueprint, if not a direct adaptation, is already there. I only ask that we hear a character say, “You died of dysentery.”