Film adaptations of video game adaptations are hit or miss, and great ones are much harder to find that book adaptations. However, that’s changed in recent years, and some have been amazing. Here’s our list of the best video game adaptations.
Based on the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider, this film depicts Lara Croft searching for her father on the island of Yamatai. Tomb Raider was filled with action-packed scenes, but it diverged quite a bit from the game it was based on. Notably, it removes a few characters altogether, such as Lara’s friends Sam Nishimura and Jonah Maiava.
In the video game, Lara was on her first expedition to find the lost island of Yamatai. However, the film has her following in her father’s footsteps, tracking him to the same island. In the video game series, her father died when she was young, but in the film, he turned out to be alive. So, while the film does incorporate some moments ripped almost verbatim from the game, such as the scenes where Lara gets swept away in a river or lands on an aeroplane stuck at the top of a waterfall, the story takes some significant liberties with the source material.
The Uncharted film isn’t based on any of the mainline games, but instead depicts a young Nathan Drake on his first adventure. It does divert from the games, such as how Sam Drake (Nathan’s brother) left him alone, when in the game they started adventuring together. However, the film pays respect to the games with a fun cameo of Nolan North, the voice actor for Nathan Drake.
The original Uncharted theme plays while North asks Tom Holland’s Drake what happened to him. His reply: “Fell out of a car, then fell out of a plane.” North then replies that something like that happened to him once, referring to the scene from Uncharted 3 that the film took inspiration from. It may not be the best adaptation out there, but moments where the original theme plays, Nolan North’s cameo, and some scenes inspired by the games make it a decent adaptation.
The release of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix helped bring a new lease of life to Cyberpunk 2077. The anime was successful, even beyond fans who had played the game, which pushed sales of the game passed 20 million copies and gave a boost to player counts. In a way, the anime was part of what saved Cyberpunk 2077.
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While the anime doesn’t retell the game’s story, it shares the setting of Night City and features certain elements from the game, such as an augment that the protagonist David uses, which allows him to slow down time as he fights. The augment can also be used by the protagonist V in the game. Despite not following the game, Edgerunners is still a great anime.
Arcane is a very successful adaptation of League of Legends, which is based on the lore and backstory of the characters from the game. It’s the perfect series both for players of League of Legends and people who have never even heard of it.
From the characters that are true to their video game counterparts to the amazing cinematography and spectacular soundtrack, Arcane is certainly one of the best video game adaptations out there. As someone who had never played League of Legends, Arcane introduced me to the lore and the characters in a compelling way. It was certainly fascinating and heartbreaking to see how Jinx became who she was, yet it was also wholesome to see the relationship she had with her adopted father Silco.
While The Last of Us adaptation isn’t perfect, it’s still great and deserves its success. For the most part, the series stays true to the game, including story from the Left Behind DLC. However, some moments from the game were changed, although it could be argued that they were changed to appeal to a wider audience and enhance the story. One example is that Joel’s old friend Bill is alive and helps them in the game, but in the series, Joel and Ellie find him dead.
Other expansions on the contents of the game include how Ellie is immune to the virus and who her mother was. The actress who plays Ellie’s mother is none other than Ashley Johnson, the original voice actor for Ellie. And she’s not the only original cast member to appear. Joel’s actor, Troy Baker, plays a minor role, and Merle Dandridge reprises her role as Marlene from the game.
Fallout is quite possibly the best video game adaptation to date, and that potentially lies in the fact that the creators of the series could essentially do what they wanted. While the Fallout games have stories, their open nature means that that takes a side seat to the player’s adventure and makes the adaptation process much less rigid. The show’s wacky and, at times, morbid humour certainly brings to life the undertones of the Fallout franchise.
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What helps make the Fallout series so great is that its story shares the same timeline as the games, yet it doesn’t retcon any of the existing lore, unlike several other adaptations. If you’re a player that doesn’t read everything they find, then it would be hard to understand why the world ended in Fallout. Luckily, the series shows in quite a lot of detail about what happened before the bombs fell and why they did. All in all, the Fallout series is top-tier adaptation.