Video games make up a very large portion of the media landscape. More often than not, you see video games routinely outsell the largest blockbuster franchises. Yet, there has never been a consistent formula to combine these two media types. There have been some cases that worked, but numerous other cases that failed dramatically. Some video game-to-movie adaptations are considered to be some of the worst films of all time, even if some of them have seen strong returns on investment.
That’s not to say that Hollywood still isn’t trying to get a piece of the pie. New projects are getting announced or updated all the time. Being in the golden age of television, more studios are starting to lean in this direction when it comes to video game adaptations. In no particular order, this list highlights some excellent choices for video games that would work great as a miniseries.
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Bioshock
2K Games
This is a project that has been hovering around Hollywood for a long time, and has fallen through every time. Originally tapped as a Gore Verbinksi movie, the original production fell apart before filming. Even now, there are talks of another shot at making a movie. It’s a dark and politically driven narrative about what can happen to a society run by corrupt and power hunger individuals. It’s a story that would resonate just as much now as it did when it first came out.
With all that being said - it’s worth noting that the format of a miniseries is still the right route for this story. Video games are a lot longer than movies, obviously, and with an average completion time of 12 hours - it does feel right for that format. It could even be treated like True Detective or Fargo - where each season tells a different story with similar settings and motifs. That may be stretching the logic of what defines a miniseries - but it’d be a great watch.
Life Is Strange
Square Enix
Episodic video games, by nature, are pretty easy to imagine as a miniseries. There are countless games like this, from Telltale’s The Walking Dead to the Half Life series. However, this particular story is absolutely perfect for the medium.
The first Life is Strange tells the story of Maxine “Max” Caulfield (voiced by Hannah Telle) who is a photography student living in the small town of Arcadia Bay. She discovers that she has the power to rewind time, and at the same moment sees a terrible vision of a natural disaster destroying the small town she calls home. At it’s core - Life is Strange is an emotionally driven story that uses this superpower as a way to drive home the real theme of the story - which is how far would you go to save someone you love? Max’s relationship with her childhood friend Chloe (voiced by Ashley Burch) is both tragic and fascinating.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Ninja Theory
Partially inspired by a conversation with filmmaker Alex Garland, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a dark and gritty story set in the era of Vikings and Norse religion. At its heart, it’s telling a story of a woman dealing with grief and her own mental health at a time when none of that was taken seriously. It’s an important story that is absolutely begging for a live action adaptation.
It has elements of horror as well as drama, and the set-pieces are absolutely fantastic. If you took out the gameplay - you’d still have something worth experiencing. This is what defines each of these entries. With the recent success of a movie like The Northman, this setting would gather a lot of interest. There’s a good chance that many of the people tuning in would have no idea that it was even based off of a game. The more people that explore this story, the better, because it’s an all-time great.
What Remains of Edith Finch
Giant Sparrow
There’s a trend that can be seen on this list of narrative-driven single player games. That’s not a coincidence. These types of games work best for adaptations like this because the groundwork for something special is already built. Producers and writers wouldn’t have to worry about how to turn a game into a show - they’d just have to worry about getting it right.
What Remains of Edith Finch is a simple story of Edith Finch returning to her childhood home after finding out she’s pregnant. Her family is seemingly cursed, with Edith being the only living member left. Each of the family members died before their time, and died tragically. The gameplay premise of the game is that each level is essentially a new type of game that showcases a particular family member’s life and how they died. It’s beautiful and tragic, and each of these levels work almost like a short film. The episodes of the miniseries could follow this same premise, with Edith exploring the house and focusing on one lost family member at the time. It’s a game more people need to play, and it’s a story that would work perfectly for television.
Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar Games
There are any number of Rockstar Games that could have been on this list, including Red Dead Redemption 2. The western story of Arthur Morgan could easily be made into a miniseries as well, since it’s ripe with narrative heft. However, if forced to pick just one of these games, Grand Theft Auto V may yet be the most deserving. The three protagonists are fascinating in their own right - but it’s seeing them interact and weave in and out of each others lives that makes it such a great story.
Name brand alone would most likely get audiences to tune in. Even those that know almost nothing about video games have heard of Grand Theft Auto. It seems like such an obvious choice that it’s surprising it hasn’t been done yet. Newer adaptations have proven that you don’t need to have played the game to enjoy the show, and this could be another on that list.
Alan Wake
Remedy Entertainment
Alan Wake was kind of an enigma. It was a mystery game inspired by the likes of Twin Peaks and Stephen King novels. It didn’t take the world by storm when it came out, but it would find an audience and earn a cult following. Likewise, it felt like a show or movie that would have come out in the 1990s, and the influence is pretty strong there. By nature, it’s a story-driven game. It has action, and it has a lot of ‘video game’ type things to it - but it wouldn’t be very hard to translate this story into a miniseries. The groundwork is already there, and the fan base is eager for more after hearing the news that the franchise and the character are getting brought back. Now would be the best time to capitalize on that excitement.
