There’s no question that video games have made their impact on the entertainment industry. The Last of Us, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Fallout finally made their way into the movie and TV sectors and were met with praise from both gamers and critics alike. Now we’re seeing Tomb Raider on its third adaptation with Game of Thrones alum, Sophie Turner, taking over as Lara Croft.
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With in mind, we have a list of games that should TV or movie adaptations – specifically looking at games that had some kind of movement within the industry, but have either been stalled or cancelled before becoming bigger IPs. Maybe they’ll do better as hit TV shows or films?
RELATED: Tomb Raider TV Series Casts Sophie Turner as Lara Croft
Heavy Rain
Nothing screams suspense (or Jason) quite like the action-adventure title Heavy Rain. The game follows four different characters (Ethan, Norman, Madison, Scott) whose lives are at the hands of the player’s decision. While that choice wouldn’t be in your hands as a TV show or film, it would be interesting to see how someone else pulls the strings to solving the mystery of the Origami Killer. Seeing how MAX has been taking on darker crime shows, a Heavy Rain miniseries would be an interesting way of exploring this world.
Killzone
Guerrilla Games’s Killzone is all but ready to be a TV franchise. Set in 2357, two human factions, the Vektans and the Helghast, are at war against each other – one protecting the land of Vekta and the other attempting to reclaim the land that once was theirs. The series would follow a higher ranking officer named Jan Templar and his team being sent to Vekta in the attempt to locate an individual with the knowledge of how to take down the Helghanian authoritarianist society. Think Band of Brothers in space, splashed with political drama.
Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell has been begging for adaptation since it launched. Sam Fisher, a highly trained black-ops agent within the “Third Echelon,” must move amongst the shadows to take down his enemies, who are some of the worst scum on Earth. It may be too soon to mention this, considering the movie adaptation starring Tom Hardy is officially dead, but Splinter Cell would could easily make its name known within the espionage thriller genre. Think along the lines of Zero Dark Thirty but matched with a gritty undertone; plus, the lighting elements that are essential to the game could make for an distinctly different kind of visual display.
Ico
Movies like A Quiet Place have brought a unique level of immersion into theaters, and Ico could make for similar approach, given its minimalist design. The story follows a horned outcast named Ico, who comes across a captive girl that he plans to help escape from a castly, and the grasp of an evil Queen. Given the lack of dialogue, it could offer a unique challenge to learn more about the characters through their actions. Plus, the mountain and castle landscapes would be visually stunning. It would be franchise world-building at its best.
Infamous
With its present-day setting, a younger protagonist, and moral dilemmas about the use of power, the ways of telling stories in the Infamous universe are interesting to consider. The first title follows Cole MacGrath, who gained electricity-based powers after being caught in the center of an explosion in Empire City. How Cole goes about using his powers, whether for good or evil, is in his hands. The later entries deal with the same moral dilemmas but incorporate different powers and abilities – that sets the stage for an anthology-style superhero TV series that could makes the use of power its core theme.
Metro
Post-apocalyptic shows are becoming popular nowadays, so the Metro franchise would make itself feel right at home (wherever that home might be). This Russian series based on Dmitry Glukhovsky’s novel Metro 2033, imagines a nuclear war that devastates the Earth, while those who survive manage to hide in the Metro system, having to scavenge for whatever hasn’t been mutated by radiation. After being attacked by mutated creatures named the Dark Ones, Artyom must track those who attacked his station and traverse the city of Moscow to defeat them. It’s the kind of horror-based dystopian drama that HBO would love.
Metroid Prime
The Alien franchise has highlighted the fear of the unknown within space, but have you been able to fight those fears while wearing a suit of armor? Metroid Prime follows Samus Aran, a bounty hunter, as she battles space pirates and their biological experiments on the plant of Tallon IV. The game features a lot of exploration, as well as a ton of different fearsome alien enemies to face off against. And since Samus is rolling solo (in first-person POV) it would be a great showcase performance for an actress. With Marvel having mastered in-helmet face-capture performance with Iron Man, Metroid Prime could be one-part space exploration thriller, and one-part claustrophobia thriller, as we watch Samus’ iconic armor go through hell.
Shadow of the Colossus
If you thought Ico was interesting, look out for its spiritual successor, Shadow of the Colossus. Its holds the similar boy-meets-girl structure, with the addition of gigantic titan-like creatures that must be taken down through challenging battles. The game follows Wander as he seeks the power to revive a girl named Mono, which can only be done by destroying sixteen colossal monsters across an isolated and abandoned region. Gamers have wanted this adapted for the screen ever since it was released – and it’s the perfect kind of world for a studios like Amazon to turn into the next Fallout.
Jak and Daxter
Naughty Dog has the potential of bringing another one of its franchises to the big screen. The game deals with a mute teenager trying to help his friend Daxter transform back to human form. The Jak and Daxter series has a dystopian fantasy future setting that could play well with audiences young and old if adapted for the screen. The dynamic between Jak and Daxter would be fun to tackle and explore over time in a series, and we already know that Tom Holland is interested in being cast in the role of Jak, with rumblings that a movie could be on the horizon.
Portal
If the cake wasn’t a lie, we would all be eating this one up. Portal would be a great addition to the psychological horror genre and could either end up being made by an indie company or industry giant. The game follows Chell as they take on multiple puzzles within the Aperature Scienced Enrichment Center by using a portal gun. The fight between AI and humans within the game is an eerie one, given the amount of trust one must have with something that has a mind of its own.
Those are our picks for classic 2000s games that need TV or movie adaptation – any other suggestions?
