Television and movie adaptations of video games have been on fire the last decade, and it’s only picking up speed. With the successes behind The Last of Us, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, A Minecraft Movie, and Sonic 1-3, it surprises no one that we have scores of more video game adaptations in the pipeline. Some days it almost feels…too much. In a world were many of us are addicted to screens, what about another form of adaptation–from video games to novels?
I’m personally not a huge reader, but after consuming the Resident Evil and Death Stranding games, I was hungry for more lore. Whether canon or not, I was happy to see, and willing to try, novelizations of these franchises. S.D. Perry secured the responsibility to write Resident Evil novels back in 1998, and she has written seven total (two of which are original ideas). Hitori Nojima novelized the first Death Stranding, broken into two volumes, sitting at 304 pages each. This is a faithful telling of the game, sticking to the plot and even dialogue.
With that said, there aren’t that many other novels based off video games. After a quick search, I also found a handful more (not an exhaustive list):
- BioShock: Rapture by John Shirley. This novel paints the picture of Rapture before the events of the first Bioshock. This allows us to see this society’s rise and fall.
- Halo (several). There are multiples series that expand on this first-person shooter such as the “original”, the Gray Team Series, the Forerunner Saga, the Ferrets series, and a series that focuses on none other than Master Chief.
- Gears of War (several). There are several Gears of War novels, most of which are written by Karen Traviss. Check out this Fandom wiki for quick summaries of each.
- Assassin’s Creed: Forsaken by Oliver Bowden. Bowden is an award winning non-fiction author and known Renaissance historian, so it only made sense that he wrote a book based off the Assassin’s Creed franchise. This novel focuses on the third game’s father of the protagonist.
- Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence by: Rafel Kosik. This is more of a “slice of life” novel that continues to flesh out the might that is Night City via the perspective of several protagonists.
I also don’t want to discount the number of graphic novel adaptations of franchises such as Life is Strange, Mega Man, Tomb Raider, Dishonored, The Evil Within, The Legend of Zelda, and even Dead Space. These are also creative ways to re-tell or expand upon some incredible video games; however, they aren’t as mainstream as the written novel.
Both the novel and graphic novel adaptation of video games run the same risk that cinema has, and that’s fidelity and quality to the source material. While adaptations are just that–they do not need to be one to one translation into the other medium–however, things can get lost in translation and rub fans the wrong way. Artists and authors are presented with a challenge of how much creative liberty to take. If you stick to a more faithful version, you run the risk of being too “boring” and uncreative. If you veer off from video game cannon, there is a high-risk high-reward balance when creating an original story or taking creative liberties in expanding exiting material. Regardless, these are not new challenges, and I would love to see more adaptations from video games. Some ones I’d like to see are:
- Astrobot: Would be great as a graphic novel or young adult book.
- Ghost of Tsushima: It would make for an epic novel or series, detailing Jin Sakai, Atsu (Ghost of Yotei), or even a whole new character that can embody the Ghost.
- Silent Hill: Like with the Resident Evil series, I can envision a number of books that explore each game and beyond.
- Clair Obscure: Expedition 33: While a novel may not be able to bottle the magic of this wildly popular RPG, the story is riveting and the characters are worth hanging around more.
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. This psychological thriller would make for an amazing read. Senua is a compelling character, and I would love to learn about her life before the events of the games.
What video games would make a wonderful read? Do you think a rise in video game movies and television will lead to a rise in novel adaptations as well? Please share your thoughts with us on our Boss Rush Facebook Group or our Boss Rush Discord.
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