9 video games that need to be adapted for TV
With the The Last Of Us premiering Sunday on HBO, here are more beloved games that deserve the prestige-television treatment
TV Features Video Games
Although TV shows based on video games have become more common in recent years—the last 12 months have seen adaptations of Halo, Cyberpunk, League Of Legends, Resident Evil, and more on the small screen—they’re still typically viewed as a rarity in comparison to the more common move from games to film. Gaming’s credibility in Network Land is likely to get a strong boost in a couple of days, though, when HBO deploys The Last Of Us, Craig Mazin’s pricey adaptation of Naughty Dog’s prestigious interactive zombie epic of the same name.
Because while The Last Of Us isn’t necessarily groundbreaking in terms of adapting a popular video game to TV, it is a major step forward in networks treating the end product like more than a shoddily produced afterthought. And that embrace by HBO opens the door for many of gaming’s other biggest franchises to get a similar treatment.
So we have to ask: Which beloved games could become TV’s next big things?
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What ever happened to the Alan Wake series? That always struck me as something that would make a good streaming show, but I haven’t heard any updates in a couple of years at least.
Alan Wake 2 is scheduled for this year, and the studio who created it set their previous game ‘Control’ in the same universe (there are references beyond easter eggs)
I agree with your sentiment!
https://www.alanwake.com/Sequel’s supposed to be out this year. My guess is that it will also serve as a sequel to the excellent Control.
Spoilers for the Control AWE DLC…………………..Especially since Control is essentially a de facto sequel to Alan Wake since he has literally conjured that entire game with his powers. Would be interesting if Jesse appears.
Control 2 got announced late last year, actually. But I assume there will be a lot on intermingling between the two series. I haven’t played Alan Wake, but the AWE DLC definitely got me interested in the Alan Wake 2.
How is Grand Theft Auto not on this list? It’d be a great anthology series.
Frank Tenpenny as the Big Bad or hard pass.
Because GTA is basically a parody culmination of multiple gangster, street crime, and thriller movies. You want to watch a GTA film? Go see Heat (1995), Scarface (1983), Thief (1981), Miami Vice (1984), The Transporter 2 (2005), or Smokin’ Aces (2007). All those movies basically amount to all of the GTA games put out so far and heavily inspired many aspects of the world and gameplay.
You do know the Last of Us has been done before in movies/shows too?
Not technically, no. The Last of Us is another infection sci-fi, sure, and that genre has lots of entries, but the world, the infection itself, the names of the monsters… it’s all original. It’s a narratively driven video game, which is why it would work for an adaptation where GTA wouldn’t.Too many aspect of GTA is literal parody, not a new film type in the crime genre. GTA Vice City borrows a lot from Miami Vice, Goodfellas, and Scarface, even down to the way characters dress. GTA San Andreas borrows a lot from Boyz in the Hood, Colors, and Menace II Society. They even have a central characters that is a directly spoofing the appearance and mannerisms of NWA, with direct plot points taken from Casino and Con Air. GTA V is no exception either… taking direct aspects of the plot beat by beat from Carlito’s Way and Heat. That’s why this doesn’t work for GTA because actual plots of the games are borrowed from films… There’s not even that much lore attached to the world since that’s never been part of their primary focus (especially when they spoof a lot of real-life events).Not to mention that the city conventions are obvious spoofs of real places. Liberty City = New York City. Vice City = Miami. San Andreas = Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Someone could try to make something completely original for a GTA movie, but honestly… the biggest draw of the GTA world isn’t entirely the story, people, and places (which, are good, but again, they’re all unoriginal parody), it’s the experience that matters most, which is why it’s unlikely for there to be a movie.
I guess I have to ask about a Red Dead Redemption adaptation, then. More pastiche than parody, I suppose, but it’s still filled with everything anyone has probably seen in any Western ever. Are my dreams dashed?
its rehashing already done stories in the context of a video game. cmon man.
Right, it’s “rehashing” and not making direct-line parodies.That does make a difference.Here’s what a GTA: Vice City movie would be like: Ray Liotta (RIP) as Henry Hill walks into the Scarface mansion with Philip Michael Thomas reprising his role as Ricardo Tubbs from Miami Vice. They both get in a shootout with Luis Guzmán, portraying his famous character Pachanga from Carlito’s Way. After that, they have a meeting with Sean Penn, reprising his exact role as a retired David Kleinfeld, and happens to be Ray Liotta’s lawyer. They are then joined by Burt Reynolds, dressed exactly as his Florida native character Bo “The Bandit” Darville from Smokey and the Bandit, and he has a mission for them to illegally transport 400 pounds of cocaine. But first, they have to help a mob boss escape from prison, but BIG SURPRISE, one of the protagonist’s confidants kills the mob boss, betraying him, and frame Ray Liotta for the hit, who now has to go into hiding (in Miami). Unfortunately, he gets in a shootout at his hotel with some mobsters and… huh, all that sounds familiar… I’m pretty sure those are missions from the game.
Who said they have to adapt Vice City or that they even have to follow the plot of the game at all. I mean Resident Evil made 7 movies with it’s own plot independent from the game.
“I mean Resident Evil made 7 movies with it’s own plot independent from the game.”You seem to have either not played the games or watched the movies. A lot of the plot and dozens of scenes follow aspects of the games—even to the point of recreating some of fight scenes shot for shot from the video game cinematics. Resident Evil isn’t even a good example here, because more than half of those movies are entirely lackluster or just plain shitty, and they have the luxury of being completely original—its characters, locations, monsters, and the virus itself are all unique and recognizable. A lot of fans complain that they should have stuck closer to the source material, because many of the changes and choices they made are generally not good… even though they still follow many aspects of the games (which you apparently didn’t know about).
I kinda have to ask then… What do you want from a GTA movie? What would you have to see or hear for it to be a GTA movie? Is it the GTA characters (the spoofs and parodies of existing movie characters)? Is it the locations (famously existing places with real world landmarks and different name)? What would make a GTA movie seem like GTA? Lazlow Jones on the radio?In Superman, the city of Metropolis is kinda like New York City, but it doesn’t have any of the landmarks of New York City. One of the only times Superman runs into actual US landmarks is in Superman IV when he goes to New York City. In GTA IV, Liberty City quite literally has it’s own Statue of Liberty in it, renamed to the Statue of Happiness… It also has the GetaLife building, which is exactly modeled after the MetLife Building in NYC, because the creators literally spoofed and parodied pretty much everything from existing stuff. I shouldn’t really have to explain why that works in a video game like GTA, but would translate quite poorly to film… Moviegoing audiences unfamiliar with GTA would get lost trying to remember that they’re not in New York City… they’re in Liberty City, with all the same landmarks as NYC but with different and often ridiculous tongue-in-cheek names. If we’re not even gonna have GTA accurate landmarks, characters, or plots in the GTA movie, then what are we even using from GTA? The city names…? That’s just asinine.Are you getting the point yet as to why that doesn’t work when transitioning to a film?
No, because it seems to me YOU didn’t play the games or watch the movies. And then you went on to explain the point I made, so thanks, I guess? They plucked some characters from the games, the main baddie (Umbrella, Wesker) but followed a non existent protagonist in the game (Alice). Yes they sprinkled fan service in every now and again but the plot was something completely different than the games. Also, if you read my original comment, I didn’t say GTA movie, I said anthology series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_with_All_the_Gifts_(film)Its a case of parallel development , but they both have a mushroom based “zombie” plague , and both feature “a girl who must be protected at all costs” …but both go in very very different ways.
Right, but there’s been a million “person” who must be protected at all costs to save humanity stories. Shit they did even did it in the context of zombies with Eugene before he admitted he was full of shit.
That’s not what they meant and you know it. I hate this tendency to be like, oh, you want a movie about a media property, well what about all of those movies that are sort of aesthetically and thematically similar??? Checkmate!! They want a GTA movie, not a GTA-like movie. Which GTA characters, locations, and storylines are present in those movies? None at all? Ah, but apparently they still count as GTA adaptations because (reasons).There was this super annoying dude on the Something Awful film forums back in the day who would not shut up about how Hancock was “the best Superman movie ever made.” Any thread discussing that movie, or really any superhero movies, and he’d be out there screaming that out for the umpteenth time. You are basically that person right now.
“Well what about all of those movies that are sort of aesthetically and thematically similar? …Which GTA characters, locations, and storylines are present in those movies?”A lot more than you seem to know. As I wrote elsewhere on this, GTA Vice City borrows a lot from Miami Vice, Goodfellas, and Scarface, even down to the way characters dress, the names of some characters, and various plot points that were literally added as playable spoofs of those movies. Lance Vance in that game is literally voiced by Ricardo Tubbs who played the character he’s spoofing from Miami Vice. GTA San Andreas borrows a lot from Boyz In The Hood, Colors, and Menace II Society. They even have a central characters that are a directly spoofing the appearance and mannerisms of NWA, along with direct plot points and missions taken from Casino and Con Air. GTA V is no exception either… taking direct aspects of the plot beat by beat from Carlito’s Way and Heat. All of the designers for these games are incredibly candid about their inspirations, and Leslie Benzies himself has even gone on record drawing direct parallels to all a lot of the movies I’ve mentioned.I apologize for you being triggered by some guy in the Something Awful forums back in the day like it’s some form of PTSD. You should probably see someone for that, or try and talk to someone close to you.
eh i mean they made tomb raider AND uncharted movies. i also don’t think a gta movie is a good idea, to be clear.
They made two sets of Tomb Raider movies to go with the two sets of games.
Isn’t that “The Fast & The Furious”?
Yes! But I want it to reflect the way the game is actually played: the protagonist forgets about the plot for about 30 minutes every episode and murders a few hundred total strangers, specifically trying to see how far he can get people to fly after fishtailing them with his car. Then, pursued by several hundred cops, he gets back to his apartment and takes a nap and everything is fine.
Everyone just forgot about Mass Effect, huh?
I really want to see Mass Effect get made into something, but then again, I hoped the same for Halo a long time ago… And that didn’t turn out very well.
So basically, the pitch for a 6 episode season of Hitman would be a more drawn out version of the ending(s) of “Clue”? Only we know who did it, just not necessarily how from one episode to the next.
What no leisure suit Larry?
No, but there’s Hoity-Toity Harry plugging a book about his racist family.
post-hangover (like 08-12) i thought zach galifianakis would have been an incredible leisure suit larry.
He’s well aged out of it , but I always saw Jon Lovitz as classic Larry.
Starring Will Arnett
For sure, but NEVER Will Ferrel.
He could be a supporting character in one episode
If we’re going that far back, someone better adapt Fantasy World Dizzy.
omfg I came here to post this
Now do board games!
Clue? Battleship?
Scrabble: The Movie
Hungry Hungry Hippos.
NOM!
Queen’s Gambit, but with Boggle.
Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Fallout: New Vegas, Far Cry 4 + 5, Frostpunk, Hades, Shadowrun are some off the top of my head that beg for adaptation.
Shadowrun could be a really cool series, and they wouldn’t have to adapt it directly from one of the games.
FALLOUT is on the way.MASS EFFECT, DRAGON AGE, and KOTOR are some that I assume will get made at some point in the next 10 years or so as streamers look for readymade IP. They’re cinematic as all hell.
Yeah, but not the good Fallout.
They are, IMO, approaching the Fallout series in exactly the right way – telling a new story rather than trying to re-tell a story from one of the games.The Fallout universe is very well drawn and as such it’s a great canvas to work on. Todd Howard said that they’re going not going to contradict canon/lore from the games, and that should be enough to forestall the “tHiS iSn’T fAlLouT’ dross (even though it won’t). It’s a big enough universe that there are lots of new stories that can be told.Directly adapting something like TLoU makes sense. I do not feel that’s the case with Fallout; it would be done in service of hardcore fans, but those are exactly the kinds of fans who would freak out about any tiny deviation from exactly what happens in whichever game they decided to adapt (though that would be its worst if they tried to do it with NV).
I absolutely agree that it’s better to tell a new story than adapt, in almost every case. What I meant by “not the good Fallout” is that I don’t like the Fallout 4 aesthetic over the NV vibe, gameplay notwithstanding. The candy-coated look of Fallout 4 just doesn’t do it for me. I find the settings of NV to be far more compelling. I am genuinely interested in the TV adaptation and look forward to seeing what they do with it, but I’d prefer patrolling the Mojave.
Aren’t they just adapting Fallout? If they aren’t sticking to any one story, then I don’t know what would be served by adapting New Vegas. I mean, other than having storylines on the show just fail for the hero talking to the wrong person or the pleasure of shooting Benny in the face one more time.
There’s lots of ways to approach a Fallout NV story. Mr. House, pre-war; the transition of the gangs into The Three Families; the struggles of the NV chapters of the BoS and Enclave, respectively; the early days of the Legion or the establishment of Joshua Graham’s presence among the natives; exploring the vaults and their inhabitants as the doors open…These are a few off the top of my head and I’ll bet a writers’ room could come up with better ones.
Bioware’s stuff begs to be TV. Their quest design actually have story arcs, and that would make for great individual episodes.
As for Fallout, I’ve been wanting that in particular for a long time, so I hope that lives up to expectations
Undertale, Myst, even Portal could be amazing with the right script.
Yes to Myst!
They’ve been trying to adapt it to screen for years, and even have a writer (Ashley Edward Miller) for a proposed TV series.
But who knows if it’ll ever see the light of day. With streaming services wanting content the way they are currently, I hope so.
I really really would love a ShadowRun show , although Bright and Onward’s failure probably would stack slightly against it.
Yeah, I would say that Bright is the closest thing we’ll ever get to a Shadowrun series.
Frostpunk is dismal enough. That game is the most depressing videogame ever. Or maybe tied with This War of Mine. I can’t imagine a movie with hundreds of people freezing to death.
I will see your nod to Psychonauts, and I will raise you a Secret of Monkey Island.Our Flag Means Death shows us we need more wacky pirate hijinks.
Dishonored as an anime…after the success of Arcane. They could probably use the same assets. They both share similar aesthetics/oil painting look.
I love it
Perfect Dark
Pong. There’s about five seasons worth of deep, rich subtext that could be explo…. uhhh, Warners/Discovery just cancelled it.
You jest, but the Bit.Trip video game series is almost literally “Pong + a metric TON of subtext,” and I kinda would mind that got turned into a (trippy, obtuse) tv series.
The only problem is that on TV you don’t get that wonderful 2:3:5 aspect ratio.
Can’t believe GTA, specifically GTA V, didn’t get a mention. And having been playing through for almost a year, Elden Ring seems rife for a 10 season HBO adaptation.
there is no way Elden Ring doesn’t get an HBO adaptation of some sort.
Because GTA is basically parodies of movies and TV that already exist.
Maybe an animated series based on “Monkey Island”?
i always thought maniac mansion/day of the tentacle are ripe for adapting. maniac mansion is just such a perfect name. give it to dan levy and keep the legacy alive!*half life as well. my dream videogame adaptation would be earthbound at pixar, if we’re fully blue skying it.*eugene levy had a short lived maniac mansion adaptation that, i think, only aired on canadian televsion.
I vaguely remember it. The video game was weird in almost a creepy way but I loved it. The show I think was too upbeat when the game seemed more suspenseful.
I’d heard of the MM show but never actually seen it!
Let me be old school…
1) Oh, what I would do for a Monkey Island movie adaption. If it was done right with the humor, puzzles and creative solutions to social situations it would be marvelous. Pirates of the Carribean meets Monty Python.
2) Another great choice would be the movie adaptation of the 7th Guest. A creepy house of horrors filled with puzzles would be an awesome combination. Cube meets Agatha Christie meets old-school horror.
3) Finally, a Metroid movie would be spectacular. Samus Aran is a beloved female hero and a movie about descending into deep caverns and fighting metroids would be a combination of Alien, Tomb Raider and Descent.
I think Phantasmagoria would work better for that. When’s the last time you played 7th Guest?
The big risk for Metroid would be, the games really are modeled on just being one person alone in an alien landscape, NO other characters you interact with except as enemies or occasionally helpful Chozo ghosts or animals, and there aren’t a lot of examples of that sort of thing on film. Like it could be done but it would be a conceptual challenge.
I think many movies are now so focused on hitting all the conventional narrative beats that they don’t allow their movies to breathe. Imagine a movie like the middle part of Avatar 2, except in a hellish underworld landscape full of strange creatures with the eerie silence only occasionally punctured by sudden scares. And then just being lost in this world for 2 hours or so as Samus slowly discovered more and more advanced life stages of the Metroid.
Now that I think of it, the cultural example that comes closest to mind to such a project would be Samurai Jack, a cartoon not afraid to use long stretches of silence to its advantage.
I’m amazed a Metroid movie hasn’t happened in all this time. It’d have been a higher priority for me than things like Need for Speed or Rampage.
Metroid would make a very cool series IF Nintendo were ballsy enough to let it be more than PG13.
When I first got into Comedy Bang Bang I thought Scott Aukerman would make a perfect Guybrush, but I suspect he’s too old at this point.
ok I am basically printing Money for Netflix with this ideaLive action Persona 5 remake
Bioshock too obvious?
I think we’re getting that on Netflix.
It looks like you might be right. https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/bioshock-netflix-movie-everything-we-know-so-far-09-2022/
“….and its cancelled.”
System Shock though … I think the world needs more Shodan.Or a Talkshow with her and GladOS co- hosting …Actually a GladOS Talk Show would be pretty cool .
Halo still needs an adaption. The current bastardized show Halo does a massive disservice to the fans and the game. It’s too late for Warcraft, but I still have no idea why they never made a show that just followed the game series instead of making a single movie about an event that only the hardest of WoW players knew.
The Halo show is beyond a disservice; it’s almost actively disrespectful of the source material and completly ignorant of why the games mean so much to the fans.I can only presume the show-runners never, ever had any real connection to the games. I was genuinely blown away by how bad it was.Turning Master Chief into a COMPLETELY different, unrecognisable character was just bewildering.The fact the show and Halo Infinite had absolutely zero crossover – promotional or otherwise – says everything.
On that note, I’d say Resident Evil still needs an adaptation, too! For ALL the same reasons
I wanna see Sam Raimi involved with an RE adaptation. I think he’d nail the right mix of horror, action, and goofiness.
Too late for Halo.
The Mandalorian basically took all the energy with having a stoic protagonist who never takes off his helmet.
The Mandalorian basically took all the energy with having a stoic protagonist who never takes off his helmet.
Nope, not the right comparison.
Because here’s the reason that one failed…
Halo the show at least got the visuals right. I only watched the pilot but it one thing in less than 10 minutes that the games have never done in two decades, and that’s make the plasma rife come across as a terrifyingly powerful weapon. The scale of Spartans vs Humans vs Elites was spot on too. It’s a shame about…everything else.
With the The Last Of Uspremiering Sunday on HBOYou should probably put a space in there.
I dunno, nothing in this list strikes me as particularly interesting. I think I’m still pretty allergic to video game adaptations though, there’s just an inherent weakness to adapting a story that worked well as a video game to something you don’t interact with at all. Last of Us was unique in its cinematic storytelling while still being a fun game, but most games fall firmly into two categories: wanting to be a movie or actually a fun game. I’d like to see some less commercial stuff, maybe a weird artsy From Soft game adaptation or Shadow of the Colossus adapted as an animated movie in a style similar to Klaus.
First two which came to mind for me: Overwatch and Control.It both amazes and disappoints me that Blizzard created this expansive setting, filled it with good guys (Overwatch) and bad guys (Talon) …full of history and backstory… and didn’t end up doing much with it, outside of the occasional cinematic video, and the gradual trickle of PvE missions during one event a year (Archives).OW2 is supposed to have a separate (and presumably non-free) PvE mode coming “when it’s finished,” but it amazes me there has not been an adaptation of the source material for TV / streaming. (I assume the Warcraft movie is at least part of the reason why there won’t be a film anytime soon.)The article (and some of the comments) talked about Remedy games, and Control has that X-Files / Fringe feel to it, tethered to the discomforting aesthetic of brutalist architecture. Most of the story – making one’s way through the DoC building – takes place indoors, which would make set design relatively easy (though some rooms are a bit more expansive than others). My only concern as far as adaptation is that a lot of the enemies get bullet-sponge-y towards the latter portions of the game, which wouldn’t translate as well.
Overwatch is it. Could have been the greatest thing ever. Now I actually think they waited too long, and the window for that has passed.
In fairness, there are already plenty of Overwatch, uh, “movies” on the ’hub. Er, so I’ve heard.
If they could pull off even half the quality of the animated shorts they put out, Overwatch would have a hit on their hands.And I would love nothing more than a show based on Control. Complete with all those bits where you see the silhouette of a person talking.
I want Metal Gear to be adapted at Netflix because they have the best interactive content. There needs to be scenes where Psycho Mantis breaks the fourth wall and starts talking to the viewer about other shows they recently watched.
Either Bioshock would make a much better TV Series/Movie than Among Us.
I can see a way to make a good show out of Command and Conquer. You can explore the story aspects that the games could never cover with a focus on the rise of the Brotherhood of Nod, Kane, and Tiberium.
Broken Sword. Preferably full of bizarre conversations. And of course George should be constantly showing his jacket full of random clues to everybody.George Stobbart: [after showing dead worm to cat] The cat looked to me as if to say “Why have you brought a dead worm halfway around the world to me?” […] I honestly didn’t have an answer.
Saints Row, taking place in the original series continuity since the reboot didn’t go over too well, with a different actor playing the Boss in each episode. One week Donald Glover, the next John Cena, the next Christina Hendricks, the next Rachel Bloom, etc. Occasionally have them be a weird CGI creation.(I’d set it at the height of their fame with flashbacks to “the old days”, try to have a little something for everyone.)
Came here to see Half-Life on the list. Disappointed but not surprised. That’s a video game series that seems criminally under-adapted.
My thoughts were either “Stray” or “Sable.” Stray could make a fun anime. Cute cats and robots in a film noir environment. Sable would be sort of like the opening scenes of “The Force Awakens” set outside of the Star Wars universe, with the protagonist investigating wrecks and ruins in a desert environment.
It will never happen, but the Mother series would be excellent, if only to adapt the gut punch story of Mother 3.
Firewatch would be a better movie than TV show, and it should star beardy Chris Pine. Psychonauts is my fav game series of all time, but somehow I think it would be hard to transition to TV. Subnautica would make for a great premise and setting for a show, but it would cost $$$$$$. Maybe Assassin’s Creed could work as a show? (It sure didn’t as a movie). If they jumped around to different time periods, it could be fun. Or maybe I’m just saying that because I miss Legends of Tomorrow.
Assassin’s Creed could be Quantum Leap, but with hidden blades
The Red Dead Redemption games seem like obvious choices to me
Disco Elysium has great original world building that would do well in a TV series.
Two eternal words: “Desert Bus.”
These are some interesting pitches. Firewatch and Deus Ex are good ones. And I didn’t like Death Stranding, but it would probably be better to watch than to play. Hitman’s multiple approaches to one assassination, particularly intrigues me, but not for a whole season. It’s better all in one episode. Functionally, that’s time rewind, and that works better briskly than drawn out.On the Metal Gear front, I thought a movie was developing, but that’s gone quiet. Should anything happen, they’d have the chance to make the narrative more coherent, at least. I would take only the most important beats, and the backbone of the story, but I wouldn’t adapt the game plots wholesale. Viewers don’t need to suffer through the LaLiLuLeLo, or nanomachines being the excuse for everything.I’ll pitch an oldie but a goodie: a Street Fighter animated series. We got a couple back in the 90s, but there have been a lot of new characters since then, and I just want to see Juri kick some ass
Gimme a Contra movie!
Bear with me here…Hades. Young man trying to get away from his overbearing father, and when he fails, he ends up right where he started. And when he succeeds, he ends up right where he started. Lots of entertaining characters, it’s gorgeous, and super-horny. In between fighting and dying, Zagreus deepens his relationships…and sometimes DEEPENS his RELATIONSHIPS…with the residents of the Underworld.Just spitballing here, I’m thinking Sean Bean as Hades, Rachel Weisz as Nyx, Timothee Chalamet as Thanatos, and Florence Pugh as Mageara. My wife suggested Austin Butler for Zagreus himself, which, sure.
Was gonna read through it until i saw Death Stranding. No Kojima stuff should ever be made into movies. They all follow the exact same lazy story beats.
Metroid, if Nintendo were ballsy enough to let it be more than PG13. Metroid has a very convoluted storyline, but cleaned up by decent writers, it would make for a fantastic TV series.
An absolute NO to Death Stranding. The outlandish symbolism would make the execs so nervous it would be totally dumbed down, losing all of its subtlety.
Legend of Zelda for sure…cant believe no one mentioned it. So much storytelling possibilities there!
Tell me you’ve never played Final Fantasy Tactics without telling me you’ve never played Final Fantasy Tactics.
Max Payne for sure
You’d obviously need heavy CGI for some of the characters, but Disney Star Wars and Marvel and showing that’s not as far out of reach as it used to be. But off the top of my head:
Shepard: Gwendoline Christie
Capt. Anderson: Andre Braugher
Saren Arterius: Mads Mikkelson
Garrus Vakarian: David Harbour
Ashley Williams: Jurnee SmollettKaiden Alenko: A cardboard cutout of a stock photoUrdnot Wrex: Rory McCannLiara T’soni: Jamie ChungTali Zora Vas’ Neema: Sadie SinkThe Illusive Man: Giancarlo Esposito
No one’s interested in my Zork screenplay?
Its 10 years too late , but a World of Warcraft series would have been a lot better than the movie (which failed as I think it was just trying to squeeze in a series worth of plot in two hours). Even if it was animated it would be great , especially the Lich King saga (I mean magic Darth Vader plus zombies , whats not to love!).
I’d love to see a legacy of Kain series , ala castlevania , but the plot of the games would probably need to be dumbed down a lot.Elder Scrolls would work too.Technically Ghostbusters counts as a game , so a series about a group of people starting up a franchise in a different city , and dealing with a ghost uprising would be fun.Three words: “GladOS talk show” (or Shodan Talk show if the Ellen McLain is busy).System Shock . thats is all.C64 game The Last Ninja II would be a good one (Ninja gets transported in time and space to 80s New York , and has to save the world from a magical menace)
I didn’t bother looking at the slideshow but they should adapt No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! into a prestige show.
At this point I think I’d rather see Beyond Good & Evil as a show than play whatever BG&E2 is.A ‘No One Lives Forever’ show in the vein of ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ (shame the IP rights are in lazy lawyer hell).Was mentioned by someone else, but animated ‘Dishonored’ in the style of Arcane (with less/no music video interludes).Arkane’s Prey could also be pretty great. It’s got a pretty big cast with a lot of stories happening in the background that could be explored.
I keep going back and forth on whether Thief (the originals) could work as a show or movie. The limited number of actual characters feels like it’d make it hard to tell a non-interactive story that people could get in to, but the world is cool as hell, and the heist gone wrong structure is pretty classic.
I think 1982’s Pac Man cartoon set the bar pretty high to a point where it became problematic and imposing for those trying to follow in its path. From the tension of The Great Pac-Quake (episode 2) to the existential crises of Frankenpac (episode 8) to the glorious whimsy of Rumpelpacskin (episode 10), it was a true masterpiece that may never be equaled.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned the latter day God of War games nor Horizon Zero Dawn. Both have interesting open world settings with a supporting cast of characters that would allow for multiple storylines/ season arcs.They’re also visually stunning so it’d take HBO money to do it proper but that said, Xena managed to do a lot of God Of War shenanigans on a tiny budget
MegaRace
Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead and A Wolf Among Us.