Being an avid gamer myself, I have played a plethora of stories over the years. As I’ve grown up, I’ve found myself moving away from multiplayer shooters and more towards narrative-focused and impactful games that have a real story to tell. Recently, since the success of shows like Arcane or The Last of Us or Movies like Sonic the Hedgehog, there’s been a big boom in video game adaptations. So, I wanted to put forward my pitches for games to look at in your search! Hollywood executives, if you see any of these and do them, I want full credit for the idea! (Or just let me work on it, either or really).
So, just to cover my bearings, the following games I will not cover because they are already in development/filming:
God of War
The Legend of Zelda
Baldur’s Gate 3
Death Stranding
Elden Ring
Now, we can get started!
Now, anyone who has played this game understands why it’s just begging to be adapted for the screen. It’s a deep, rich and emotionally complex story about a man’s place in the world whilst the world moves on without him. Filled with honour and in the position of a scoundrel, Arthur Morgan goes on what could be the most impactful story in gaming, with his character arc being one that will supply audiences with generations worth of emotional storytelling. I’d wager that RDR2 is one of, if not, THE most beloved game in gaming, even nearly a decade on from release, so both creatively and financially, this one seems like a no-brainer to adapt. (Though Rockstar may be averse to that idea).
The thing that people get wrong though, in my opinion, is the format it should be adapted into. I see so many people say it should be a movie, and whilst I can see it being a movie, it just makes more sense for it to be a premiere TV series on HBO or something equivalent. Red Dead Redemption 2 requires hours worth of character development and build up for it to even have the slightest impact on the audience, ranging from small character conversations or big elaborate heists or even just the action of mercy. The amount of story needed to properly convey the emotional nuances is just not possible in a feature film, a series of films maybe but it just makes more sense for it to be an ongoing series. Maybe 4 or 5 seasons to build up the rivalry between Arthur and Micah or the downfall of Dutch, you need to be able to sit with them, and that’s something a film cannot do.
You may be wondering - “What the hell is Last Day of June?”. I’m glad you asked because it’s an indie game that has stuck with me for years since I first played it. It basically follows this man who was crippled in an accident, the same accident that made him lose his wife. He gets the chance to go back and relive the day it happened, trying again and again to undo the accident. I won’t spoil how the story unfolds but it’s absolutely incredible, made me cry multiple times!
Anyways, the fact that it's a fairly short game makes it perfect to adapt into a two hour film! You have so many opportunities for some really cool non-linear storytelling, complete with beautiful natural imagery and some intense emotional turmoil. It could be something along the lines of Hamnet or maybe Gifted, something that takes the human connection and combines it with beautiful landscapes and touching intimacy. It definitely requires an Indie filmmakers touch, as I feel it may get too lost in corporate appeal if it was made amongst the big studios.
With the rise of animated adaptations like Arcane or Cyberpunk Edgerunners, I’m honestly surprised that no studio has even thought about touching Little Nightmares? It’s rife with horror, suspense, unique imagery and camera angles, and it has a terrific story to follow across multiple seasons! There’s been a big gap in adaptations during this big boom, no one seems to want to adapt the scary games. Things like Last of Us have scary elements to them but never actually dedicate themselves to the horror, Little Nightmares could do that over multiple episodes, watching the horrors of this world unfold as Six tries to survive amongst the chaos!
Now the reason I’m specifying for it to be animated is because I just don’t see a world in which this looks good in live action. The scale alone would cost a studio millions to get right, as you’re a little guy running through a HUGE world of horrors. The only way that you can adapt this series and retain it’s unique sense of scale and horror is for it to be animated, I would go a step further and argue that stop-motion might suit this world really well! Especially given the smooth clay-like textures of the characters within this world. That way you can keep the terrifying character designs of the enemies that chase you.
Given that series like Severance have taken off into the mainstream, I think it’s about time for Remedy’s Control to be given the same treatment, especially if you want to capitalise on the momentum of intriguing, mind-bending, senseless storytelling that Severance popularised. Control is about a woman named Jesse who enters the “Federal Bureau of Control” in search of her brother. What she finds is a world of other-worldly powers that attempt to kill her at every turn whilst she uncovers the truth about what happened to her brother.
This film would have it all, high octane action (both hand-to-hand and with guns), magical powers for visual flair and really intriguing plot twists and concepts that keeps the audience guessing. Things like communing with the dead through an unplugged telephone or the truth of what happened to her brother. Combine that with a fairly straightforward production design with it being in an office building, you probably have a relatively cheap action adventure film to make here. The only drawback would be getting the script to make sense for a casual audience, though I maintain my opposition to this “second-screen” writing that Netflix popularised. Just make the movie, make sure you’ve got a scriptwriter who can write these complex stories but also respects the source material, combine him with a competent action director and you have a blockbuster hit on your hands!
The fact we haven’t gotten a proper straight adaptation of Resident Evil 2 just stuns me to no end. We’ve had plenty of attempts from people who don’t understand the source material or just want to make a quick penny from the IP, yet no one has really gotten the essence of Resident Evil down in a movie. Yes, we have that one coming up next month from Zach Cregger but that’s adjacent to the events of RE2, not an adaptation of it. For years I have longed to see Leon and Claire on the big screen fighting off zombies and Mr X, and yet no one has done it!!
Firstly, I can see this going either way in terms of format. A film could capture the scale of the outbreak and the more bombastic set-pieces like the Mr X fights or the sewer chases, but a show can dig deeper into the political side of the Umbrella Corporation and flesh out Leon and Claire in a way that allows us to relate to them more. It really comes down to whether you want spectacle and action or intrigue and character development, not that either medium couldn’t do what the other is doing, but their formats have certain advantages over the other. Personally, I’m leaning toward the Film side of it. Purely because I want to see Raccoon City brought to life on a massive scale, and the sets and action needed to adapt the game best require that big movie budget!
That’ll be it from me for now! Thank you for reading my rants and suggestions, I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know down below if there’s any I missed or if you just disagree with some of my suggestions! Don’t forget to like this post and subscribe if you want to see more! See you later!
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