Summary
The beauty of video games is that they can be based on a wide variety of media, but people rarely consider how books can be a great source of inspiration. Considering that video games, like books, can tell massive stories over long periods of time, video games might actually be the best place for book adaptations to thrive.
Whether it’s adapting the work of classics in new ways, or launching a relatively obscure novel to new heights of popularity, there are a lot of great book-based games that are worth checking out. Just a quick note, there are some graphic novels considered here too.
Honorable Mention - Spec Ops: The Line
While there is no book calledSpec Ops: The Line, the game is very clearly inspired byHeart of Darknessby Joseph Conrad, which similarly inspired great films likeApocalypse NowandAguirre, The Wrath of Godwhich had a clear influence on the game.
The novel is set during the late 19th Century and follows Charles Marlow as he journeys up the Congo River to find the brutal Kurtz who is enforcing slave labor everywhere Marlow looks. Similarly, inSpec Ops: The Line, gamers play as Captain Walker on the hunt for Colonel Konrad (a not-so-subtle reference) and the subsequent descent into madness. It’s a great entry point into the source novel’s themes and one of the most effective games ever made because itis still a massive influence to this day.
Skepticism was high in 2014 whenMiddle-Earth: Shadow of Mordorlaunched with many unsure of a game set in theLord of the Ringsuniverse. Yet,Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordorshattered all expectations, building upon Tolkien’s world, fleshing out a previously overlooked part of the saga, andbecoming a perfect blueprint for the franchise.
Players take control of Talion, a Gondorian Ranger who is murdered at the start of the game but bonds with Celebrimbor, one of the forgers of the One Ring, essentially becoming a wraith hell-bent on vengeance. It’s a fantastic action experience with a famous rivalry system that other games have yet to touch.
Some gamers remain surprised thatRainbox Sixis actually based on a series of Tom Clancy novels andRainbow Six: Siegeis no exception. Clancy has become something of a brand name more than stories, but Siege is all about the tactical action that made his novels famous.
While it’s true thatRainbow Six: Siegeisn’t based on one Tom Clancy novel in particular, it draws on many of Clancy’s novels as inspiration for its heroes, locales, and scenarios. While Siege’s characters may have gotten a little more whacky lately, the original Clancy novels are well worth reading for gamers looking for a more grounded take on a similar kind of premise.
The early 2010s were the absolute heyday of Telltale Games, andThe Wolf Among Usemerged shortly after the incredible adaptation ofThe Walking Deadand may even beat it as players get to interact and explore the incredible world ofFablescreated by Bill Willingham.
Players take control of Bigby Wolf (yep, the big bad wolf himself), a private investigator/sheriff in a clandestine community called Fabletown where all the characters from fairy tales and folklore live. It’s a chaotic world that’s filled with gritty and noir elements, making it an essential play for fans of the Telltale style of game, those looking for a new take on the noir genre, orgamers excited for the upcoming sequel.
Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Hideaki Sena,Parasite Eveis a cult classic from the PS1 days that is still growing in popularity on account of its unique setting, play style, and fusion of science-fiction and horror.
Players take control of Aya Break, an NYPD officer during Christmas who must fight the titular monster Eve, a being capable of exploding other humans at will, as they attempt to birth a so-called Ultimate Being to wipe out humanity. It’s a wild sci-fi romp that mixes the best of B-movie thrillers with genuinely great scares.
While most books that are turned into video games usually have a happy ending, that is not the case withI Have No Mouth, And I Must Screamwhich takes the original short story and expands the misery to new depths, giving a whole new sense of despair to the player.
Based on the short story of the same name by Harlan Ellison, the game portrays an apocalyptic world ruled by the supercomputer AM that keeps the final five humans alive to torture them in a myriad of horrifying ways. Players take control of each character as they explore their past in one of the more grim adventure games ever made, but it’s still worth playing for the thought-provoking ideas the game throws up.
The great thing about books as source material is that there are so many brilliant stories told in languages other than English. That’s exactly the case with theMetrogames, based on the novels of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
The novels, and games, portray the post-nuclear-apocalypse of Moscow where most human beings are forced into living in the underground metro alongside various irradiated monsters (and many more for the intrepid modder).Metro: Exodustakes a bold stab at continuing the narrative of the novels out into the big bad world, and it’s a great entry as both an adaptation of the original books, and as an innovation.
As if anything else could top this list. Originally written in 1993 by Polish author Andrzej Sapokowski,The Witchernovels are a fantastic entry point into the story of Geralt, and actually function as a prequel to the main trilogy of games.
The seeds of everything to come in the games were laid, including the wonderfully wry inner monologue of monster hunter Geralt (and his many powerful companions) as well as the prejudice he faces. They’re an essential read to grasp the full scale of the story that the games continue and conclude, resulting in one of the greatest trans-media stories ever told in the fantasy genre.
