Video game movies and shows are famously looked down upon. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for them to be good! So with both A Minecraft Movie and the new season of The Last of Us coming out, we got together and discussed some video games that could be successfully adapted into movies or TV shows. Let us know what you think @SiftPop!
If you are a fan of Twin Peaks, Shutter Island, or the first season of True Detective, you should absolutely give Alan Wake a shot. (I can only speak for the first game, since I haven’t played the sequel yet.) Set in the small island of Bright Falls, Alan Wake is a crime writer seeking a getaway to cure his writer’s block with his wife Alice, who mysteriously and suddenly is abducted. Instantly transported a week later, Alan awakes from a car accident not remembering anything since his wife’s abduction. He finds pages of a new novel he wrote scattered, and they start to come to life attacking Alan. It is up to him to recover the pages, fight the enemies primarily using light, and unravel a labyrinth of a mystery to try to recover his wife. I struggled to include this one because so much of the magic of this game is in the gameplay, so it couldn’t be a one-to-one adaption, but there is enough intriguing about this game that it simply must be attempted to be brought to the big screen (or more ideally a high-budget series). (Aaron Schweitzer)
Let’s begin by addressing the elephant in the room: There already was an adaptation of the Assassin’s Creed franchise released in 2016, and it was awful. However, I don’t think that film is an indicator that an Assassin’s Creed adaptation could never work, but rather a guide of what not to do. Instead of focusing so heavily on the modern day story and the animus, a machine which allows people to experience the lives of their ancestors, instead center the historical escapades of the actual assassins. Better yet, completely disregard the animus and just adapt the story of Ezio Auditore, the franchise’s most interesting and charismatic protagonist. A young Florentine nobleman in Renaissance Italy, Ezio is set on a path of revenge after his family is murdered by members of the mysterious Templar Order, the mortal enemies of the assassins. Imagine an HBO miniseries following Ezio’s story from Assassin’s Creed II, traveling across Italy with help from the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolò Machiavelli as he hunts down members of the templar order, culminating in his final duel against the corrupt Pope Alexander VI. Visualize the sweeping vistas of the Italian countryside and stunning recreations of Florence and Venice and see the incredible parkour and action scenes as Ezio tracks and eliminates his foes. Ezio’s story is perfectly suited to a cinematic expansion, and heck, if it’s successful, you’ve got two sequels ready to go in Rome and Constantinople with Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Revelations. (Jake Hjort)
It’s 1960. You’re flying over the North Atlantic when suddenly the plane barrels downward and slams into the freezing water. By some miracle you survive, though everyone around you is dead. Stranded. And already fighting off hypothermia, you begin to accept the inevitability of death. But you turn, locking eyes on an uncharted island, with a lighthouse vigilantly standing guard atop the rocks. You swim over, climb out of the cold water, and walk into the lighthouse to find an elevator. Only it doesn’t go up. It goes down… to the surface of the ocean floor where a gleaming metropolis slumbers, completely unknown to, and isolated from, the world above. A video plays in the elevator, preaching utopian prosperity, and telling you about the brave people who left the surface in the late ‘40s to free themselves of restrictive governments, and the moral righteousness of the church, to pursue unbridled artistic, scientific, and economic growth. Your pulse races with excitement at the possibilities, but when the elevator doors slide open, you find nothing but death. Rotting corpses and psychotic murderers imbued with the power to light people on fire with the snap of their fingers. What once was promising is now horrifying. Your pulse races still, but now it’s due to unmitigated fear as you fight tooth and nail for your survival. And that’s just the opening 15 minutes of the film… There is no video game that needs to be adapted into a feature film more than 2007’s BioShock. It redefined how narrative games would be made from that point forward. If made right, BioShock could not only be the greatest gaming adaptation of all time, it could easily be an Oscar contender due to its rich characters, innovative story, deep themes, explosive violence, eerie horror, and jaw-dropping world building. (Heath Lynch)
Never heard of Darkest of Days? I’m not surprised at all! The 2009 release only dropped on Xbox 360 and PC, and from a smaller studio with a smaller budget, it was not marketed all that well. Another reason you may have not heard of the game is that it just isn’t very good. Crippled by lofty ambitions on a small budget, the frame rate is incredibly laggy, the voice work feels like it was from a past generation of consoles, and the story makes turns that are either annoying or forgettable. But here is why this game should be adapted: the concept. You play as Alexander Morris, a soldier who fought with General Custer at Custer’s Last Stand. Morris was killed, but logged as M.I.A., since his body was never recovered, and a group from the 22nd century rescued Morris and recruited him for their cause. Morris is then costumed to the time, and is sent back to make sure that V.I.P.s survive a battle they did not, whether for a purpose they have yet to fulfill or to secure their bloodline. As Morris, you fight in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and even Pompeii! I’m not saying this movie would be high-brow entertainment, but it would be right there with the best of Michael Bay’s work. (Aaron Schweitzer)
Arkane Studios’ action-stealth opus Dishonored has absolutely everything a blockbuster picture needs. It’s set in the grimy streets of Dunwall, a fictional city loosely inspired by industrial-era London. Protagonist Corvo Attano, right hand to the queen, is framed for the assassination of his liege and condemned to prison. Instead of praying that the dastardly conspiracy is unraveled by authorities, Corvo opts to break out and avenge the monarch. The player must tap into Corvo’s stealth expertise and mystical power set to clear his name, evade authorities, and uncover the fate of the queen’s young daughter. All while enduring the horrors of an overpopulated city failing to keep the grotesque plague at bay. The narrative is focused enough to pack into a feature film, with a bevy of twists and turns to keep the audience invested. The production could even tap into the series’ star-studded voice cast, including Lena Headey, Pedro Pascal, Rosario Dawson, and Michael Madsen — just to name a few. A high-caliber special effects team would have a field day with Corvo’s stylized, distinct move set, guaranteeing visuals that will draw eyes in a crowded genre. Especially if they were able to snag a stunt savant to direct like Gareth Evans or the up-and-coming Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah duo, who could masterfully evoke the claustrophobic, pestilence-stricken streets of Dunwall. (Jack Grimme)
Ghostwire: Tokyo would be admittedly expensive to adapt, but it should absolutely have the effort put into it. After a strange disappearance of most of Tokyo’s population, the streets are roamed by enemies that clearly have a supernatural quality to them. After being equipped with your own supernatural abilities to counter them, your task is to discover what happened, while helping trapped souls find the resolution they need to move on to the next world. The game has an emotional and cathartic ending that I was not expecting, making me forgive all of its faults beforehand. The world is insanely beautiful and full of meaningful side quests, but its biggest fault is that the gameplay gets repetitive very early on. I wouldn’t blame you if you started it and stopped a few hours in, but I thought the thrills, horror, and ending are well worth fighting the repetitive gameplay. A film or series adaptation could cure this game of its biggest fault, making it an overall much better experience. (Aaron Schweitzer)
The Kingdom Hearts franchise has gone off the deep end in terms of convoluted confusing insanity. But that doesn’t mean that the first two games weren’t legitimately fun and full of fantasy elements worthy of adapting. I think a shrinking of the story would allow this series to get back to its roots and conclude a now-neverending series in a way that would be much more satisfying for fans. Plus, with Disney characters involved, you have a built-in audience that will result in big box office dollars. It’s a simple adventure of a Sora trying to find his friends, with the help of Donald and Goofy, by visiting different worlds and stoping the evil from spreading. You could make a trilogy out of just the first game, or you could streamline it to be one incredibly solid standalone movie. A movie adaptation would also allow the writers to ignore the power scaling and memory erasure that’s needed from game to game, and allow these characters to grow and be fleshed out to a greater degree. Kingdom Hearts at its core is about love, friendship, and selfless heroism in the face of literal and metaphorical darkness, and that is what make movies worth seeing! (Nick Ferro)
Have you ever wanted to see a Lion King 1 ½ version of The Lord of the Rings? Taking Tolkien’s classic and epic tale and following some characters on the periphery who battle, explore, and fight parallel with the Fellowship is such a cool idea. This made for one of the best Middle-earth games, and it would make for an even cooler film. Get Peter Jackson back. Make sure there are plenty of practical effects and locales. Recapture the glory of the original trilogy, but with a whole new team of excellent characters. The story of The Third Age has a roaming RPG feel, while delivering a narrative with some serious twists and turns. The characters experience plenty of emotional trauma, and that could make for such moving elements as well. You have the world of Middle-earth well-represented and each character stands out with personality, as well as look and fighting style. These would be interesting characters for some talented actors to sink their teeth into. A film (or series of films) would allow the audience to really connect with them, and see The Lord of the Rings from a whole new perspective. (Shane Conto)
Mass Effect arguably has one of the most expansive established universes when it comes to the science fiction genre. When we first get a chance to see the galaxy of Commander Shepard, we’re greeted with a vast codex to explain the history leading up to the events of the first game. This codex lays a foundation, but in this foundation, and the knowledge from it that humanity’s first steps into galactic society was started by a war, is where I sense opportunity. Telling the story of the First Contact War from the Mass Effect series is a movie that would give people who love the series a story based on something they have heard of, while also giving people who have never played the games an action-packed adventure to see a depiction of humanity’s first interaction with the galactic community. From an initial misconception on both sides to the brink of an interplanetary fight, there’s a fertile field for storytelling that can be cultivated and show the beginnings of one of the most popular science fiction games in recent history, without having to constantly worry over what choices from the game should be done for the big screen. (Joseph Davis)
The problem with many video game adaptations is that there simply is far too much story to successfully boil down into a single movie’s narrative, and adaptations that have been successful have been so on vibes, on setting, and on the distillation of the gameplay loop. In no video game does this seem as straightforward as Shadow of the Colossus. It follows Wander, a young man who takes the dead body of a girl named Mono to an old shrine in a forbidden land, where an entity known as Dormin, which has the ability to return the dead to life, is said to reside. It tasks Wander with slaying 16 giant creatures that roam the land in exchange for the girl’s life. Of course, a film adaptation could be able to get this done in two or three colossi, instead of the game’s 16, and focus instead on the dour tone of the story, but defeating the colossi in the game is no small task, and it becomes increasingly clear that it’s not something to be celebrated. Following Wander and his horse Agro as the only two living things in this vast waste while they journey between the shrine and each colossus is part of that increasingly questionable journey, and with very little dialogue to carry an adaptation, there’s plenty of room for big set pieces to take center stage. A director who knows how to focus on transferring the tone of the game could make something incredibly special with this story. (Chris Bakker)
At this point, there aren’t many games from my childhood that haven’t gotten some sort of adaptation. I’m honestly shocked Spyro the Dragon hasn’t. While there was a failed attempt at an adaptation withThe Legend of Spyro 3D, the fact that nothing has come to fruition as everybody’s scrambling for content with any hint of IP connection is shocking — particularly considering the success of its peers. Sure, it’s a platformer whose plot I couldn’t tell you much about, but a purple dragon going on an adventure to collect treasure and defeat the baddies is about as complicated as it needs to be. With the success of the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the time is right for this purple dragon to get an animated adventure of its own. (Jake Bourgeois)
The game Subnautica is designed so that you can bypass most of the things that relate to the story and instead become immersed in the game’s world and atmosphere. The main things players remember about the game are to do with the world, what you can do in it. So I think the best approach to adapting this game would be to write a new story and set it in the world of Subnautica, similar to Fallout. The writers have free reign to write whatever story they want, as long as the basic setup is about a lone driver stranded on a planet covered almost entirely by water, equipped with a device that enables them to build underwater bases and aquatic vehicles, though maybe not out of thin air like in the game. They may also want to include some of the creatures from the game, most notably the Leviathans, to make it clear this is the world of Subnautica and also for the novelty of seeing those creatures in live action form. The hardest part of adapting this would be finding an actor who can carry it alone since the main character would be alone for almost the whole runtime. This might be especially hard since the main character game was essentially you, which you cannot do in a movie. (John Tillyard)
Let’s face it, the Warcraft movie was disappointing outside the extreme WoW fan community. It tried to do too much, too fast, because there are two full story campaigns in that original game. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve redemption. Warcraft 3 and it’s expansion are equally packed with lore. However, there is an element that is fairly self contained: the rise and fall of Prince Arthas, a prince who sets out to save his kingdom from an undead horde, only to be corrupted by evil in the process. Just following his part of the campaign through the first movie would allow for a fun adventure with many relatable characters like Uther Lightbringer, Jaina Proudmoore, and Sylvanas Windrunner. The hero’s journey that results in Arthas breaking bad would sell to modern audiences in love with shows like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, and you could end the story with one movie without leaving the audience on a cliffhanger, but they would still be able to do at least two sequels as well. There aren’t enough A-list fantasy movies out there to compete with Lord of the Rings, but Warcraft is sitting there ripe for the taking! (Nick Ferro)
What better way to launch a family friendly adventure film series than by bringing a beloved computer game series to life from parents’ childhoods? I know I’d much rather sit through a movie with the pull of nostalgia to interest me than one that only appeals to my children with a few adult jokes slid in. Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? is the perfect game to develop into a live action series. Set in the late 1950’s, this iteration of Carmen would be an eclectic blend of international spy and art heist orchestrator. Think a mix of Danny Ocean and Charlie’s Angels, with all the cool tech gadgets of James Bond and the style, grace, and quirk of Audrey Hepburn in Charade. And who better to wear the ruby trench coat of the dynamic damsel of criminality than the fabulously fashionable Rachel Brosnahan? The premise for the first film would revolve around Carmen traveling the world apprenticing with former field agents of V.I.L.E to earn her status to take on theft jobs on her own. The mentoring masterminds would all be played by actors who have played thieves and heist conspirators (to add a little extra spice for the parents in the audience), like George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Pierce Brosnan, Cary Elwes. But every good criminal needs a foil to foul up their felonious aspirations. Carmen’s adventures will allow her to travel the globe, causing chaos for law enforcement across not only timelines but jurisdictions, allowing the opportunity for both brash and capable detectives to investigate her crimes, as well as fun bungling and inept ones. The storylines are truly endless, since Carmen can be partnered with mentors to steal fictitious art and jewels and the occasional real life artifact keeping the audience guessing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (Patrice Downing)