11 Video Games That Deserve Movie Or TV Adaptations

Now that "The Last of Us" is finally airing on HBO, it's a great time to think about some other video games that would make fantastic screen adaptations. Although "Resident Evil" movies (based on the video game series of the same name) have been coming to theaters since 2002, very few other video games have received their own film or TV adaptations. However, video games have become a modern pillar in the pantheon of storytelling mediums, and with this year's "The Last of Us" adaptation from HBO, a new pipeline from video game studios to Hollywood production companies has popped up.

There have been recent film adaptations of popular games "Uncharted" and "Mortal Kombat" (released in 2022 and 2021 respectively). Netflix's "The Witcher" TV series, while technically based on the books that inspired the game and not the game itself, makes many nods to CD Projekt Red's flagship series. "The Last of Us" is airing to critical acclaim and audience anticipation, so it won't be a surprise to find some of the best-written video games of the past two decades working their way to a less interactive storytelling format in the near future. Some of the options we list below are wholly untapped, while others are optioned, or actually in varying stages of development. 

The "Mass Effect" series is one of two major IPs that headline the RPG (role-playing game) video game developer Bioware. Players design their own main character, Commander Shepard (who can be male or female), who then leads a crew of interesting characters across the Milky Way in hopes of stopping the invasion of a race of sentient machines known as the Reapers. In this sci-fi universe, Earth explorers have made archaeological discoveries on Mars that have advanced humanity's scientific development by hundreds of years.

"Mass Effect" would be an exceptional television show for a number of reasons. Bioware is famous for imbuing its games with beloved, well-rounded characters with strong backstories (Dual Shockers). From Wrex, a hulking Krogan dealing with the slow death of his race, to Tali, a young Quarian engineer away from her home for the first time, every companion character is lovingly written with a clear arc of growth. The main story itself weaves an interesting philosophical debate about the dissonance between organic and inorganic life into a plot filled with cool spaceships and dramatic firefights. 

While a film adaption of the beloved game series was announced back in 2010, the project lost steam a few years later and there hasn't been an official update on a potential adaptation since then. But Henry Cavill posted a viral shot to his Instagram in 2021; it showed Cavill in the "The Witcher" make-up trailer surrounded by blurry papers. Eagle-eyed fans spotted words like Tali'zorah and Reaper on one of the pages (IGN), so perhaps we won't have to wait much longer.

"The Outer Worlds" is an action-adventure role-playing game that was released by Obsidian in 2019. While it never garnered the kind of cultural hype amassed by games like "Skyrim" and "The Last of Us," "The Outer Worlds" received positive reviews and added to Obsidian's great reputation for thought-provoking stories and detailed game mechanics (IGN). 

"The Outer Worlds" takes place in an alternate reality where Theodore Roosevelt never became president and thus didn't execute his work in antitrust legislation (Theodore Roosevelt Center). As a result, global culture grew even more influenced by business trusts than it has in the real world, leading to the domination of mega-corporations in humanity's colonization and exploration of outer space. 

Thanks to the game's clever commentary on capitalist values, it's never been more relevant. Aside from that, the game has a very space-Western feel, and it often feels like a spiritual successor to the popular (but short-lived) Fox TV series, "Firefly." 

As of now, there are no plans for or rumors of an "Outer Worlds" film or television adaptation, but sci-fi is definitely growing in popularity as a genre right alongside fantasy (NBC News).  

"Life Is Strange" is quite unlike the other game franchises on this list. While the developers of most popular video games tend to focus on mechanics and playability just as much (if not way more) than the story, Don't Nod Entertainment, the developers behind "Life Is Strange," put story before everything in their episodic graphic adventure series. The gameplay mainly consists of exploration, environmental editing, dialogue trees, and puzzle-solving, providing interactive mechanics to keep the player engrossed while also enhancing the narrative's value. 

Each game in the "Life Is Strange" series is released in parts known as episodes, and each one follows a unique main character with a special ability specific to only the game. In the first one, the main character, Max, has the ability to rewind time, which she uses to save a friend and attempt to find a missing girl from their high school. Each "Life Is Strange" story is very different and features interesting characters, from a young boy dealing with grief to a pair of brothers looking for a new home.

A "Life Is Strange" television show was announced in 2021 from Legendary Television and dj2 Entertainment. As of 2022, the show is still in development, and it looks like it might be coming to Amazon Prime (GGRECON).

A Game Awards Game of the Year award-winner, "Dragon Age" has basically everything someone might look for in a successful fantasy IP. Set in a fictional world known as Thedas, the franchise, which has produced three separate games so far, follows different heroes and their companions as they fight forces of evil. 

Dragon Age is a really fun set of games with magic, dragons (duh), and too many factions, races, and competing interests to count. The first game in the series, "Dragon Age: Origins" is a turn-based RPG that follows a custom player character who seeks to stop the rise of another blight. The blight is a wave of illness and darkspawn that threatens to overwhelm the world, and mysteriously enhanced warriors known as Grey Wardens are the only people who can stop it.

There are dozens of origins to choose from when making your character. You can be an apostate elf forever seeking to avoid capture by the templars, a dwarf prince framed for the death of his brother, a young noblewoman forced to join the Wardens after the massacre of her family... and more. And these are all just the different prologues you can choose from before the main story even gets started.

While a cartoon series set in the Dragon Age universe was released this past year by Netflix, the streaming service is also heavily rumored to be developing a live-action adaptation based on the series as well (Giant Freakin Robot). 

As technology has continued to advance, the fears around a surveillance state a la "1984" have come into clearer focus for many people. The "Watch Dogs" series of video games aims to modernize a vigilante approach to dealing with technological authoritarianism. There are several games in the popular Ubisoft series — the first was released in 2014 — but the most recent installment, "Watch Dogs: Legion," has a particularly compelling premise.

In a near-future London, a series of large terrorist attacks have been blamed on a vigilante hacker organization known as DedSec. As a result of the attacks, the U.K. has initiated a police state in the city, contracting the brutal, private security firm known as Albion. The game has no central protagonist; instead, players can recruit anyone they see walking down the street. Every potential recruit has different talents, with available Londoners ranging from hit-men to fanatic football fans.

It doesn't necessarily have the most interesting storyline (it's a little difficult to focus on narrative when there is no designated player character), but the premise is ripe with aesthetic value and would attract viewers both interested in action-thrillers and opportunities for ideological discourse. 

Even though Ubisoft announced plans to adapt the "Watch Dogs" series alongside its other properties, "Assassin's Creed" and "Far Cry," in 2013, they have only most recently confirmed that the movie is still in development in 2016. There hasn't been an update since (Engadget).