With HBO's The Last of Us coming soon (January 15, 2023), it seems that almost any video game can be made into an alternative piece of media. While Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is one of the best games of all time, it is also one of the most narrative-based and well-told stories in video games. If that can be made into a show, why not others?
Not everyone plays games and, unfortunately for those people, there are a lot of unique stories and ways to tell them that are locked away in that platform. Often, they wouldn't work being told in another medium. They need to be felt and controlled by the player. For the most part, though, beloved games would make a great show. They just have to have the right person at the helm – like Netflix's The Witcher and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which captured the aspects that mattered from the games they were based on.
'Bioshock' (2007)
While its biggest fans might push back against this selection, as playing the game is enough, the world of Bioshock is just begging for a TV Series that dives into its lore. A creepy and dark, yet magical and confusing place, this retro-futuristic first-person shooter is one of the best games with the most fantastical settings ever made.
Despite its crisp gameplay and unique flavor, like the ability to hold magical powers in one hand and a gun in the other, it is the world, history and story behind Bioshock that stands out. No matter the location or time the show is set in, anything in the world of Bioshock done correctly would be great.
'Dead Space' (2008)
Everybody loves horror. Even those that don't like it love to sit there with their hands covering their eyes getting a thrill from the frightening content on-screen. There aren't too many video games that excel at horror better than 2008's Dead Space.
Set in the future in which humans have the ability to travel through space and colonize planets, one ship doesn't respond after reporting a strange discovery. Isaac Clarke, the main character, goes to repair the ship only to find the crew onboard dead and infected. Dark, tense and scary, if done right, a Dead Space show could sit at the top of the pile.
'Overwatch' (2016)
Any fan of the game who has watched the animated shorts wants more animated shorts. A show based on the world of Overwatch, in the exact same style as those shorts that Blizzard has released previously, would be incredible.
A world of Scientific Gorillas, feuding brothers, time travel and the never-ending battle between good and evil, Overwatch is the perfect subject for a fun and colorful television series. Even just the few voice lines the characters say before matches start are enough to make fans want more. Whether it focused on the Omnic Crisis in which Robots turned against humanity, the collapse of the heroic force that saved the world or the battles since, there is so much for a show to sink its teeth into.
'Hotline Miami' (2012)
Imagine this: all the wildness, color and violence of Hotline Miami, with some added style, character development and story akin to the masterpiece that is The Nice Guys, across a 6 to 10-episode series – say that doesn't sound awesome.
A 2012 top-down shooter developed by Dennaton Games and published by Devolver Digital, it follows an unnamed man who receives coded messages telling him to massacre local criminals. That by itself can't really be a show, but a few changes here and there to the story and its characters, while keeping the heart of the game (violence, color and humor) would be awesome.
'L.A. Noire' (2011)
Everybody loves a classic gripping whodunit. Rockstar Games' 2011 murder mystery L.A. Noire might have come a bit too early for its time, but a high-quality TV Show adaptation would be the perfect addition to the seemingly hundreds of series being made. L.A. Noire allowed gamers to become 1940s Los Angeles detective Cole Phelps, who solves crimes and rises through the ranks of the LAPD.
Despite the beautiful graphics, cool gameplay and intriguing story, it was the technology of consoles back in 2011 that let the game down. The game required players to read the facial expressions of witnesses and suspects, which proved almost impossible. No matter, a well-acted and produced miniseries that retained the game's style would be a must-watch.
'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell' Series (2002 - 2013)
It seems that fans won't get to see Sam Fisher in a game any time soon. So, why not turn the story of the Splinter Cell series into a Netflix drama? A high-trained black-ops agent, sneakily taking out baddies with night-vision goggles and silenced weapons in dark, eerie and suspense-building environments. What's not to like?
First released in 2002, there has been seven games total in the series, with the latest, Blacklist, coming in 2013. No matter which game was chosen as the basis of the show, as long as they got the character of Sam Fisher and his goggles right, all that matters is the badass stealth and secret-agent coolness. With a rumored remake on the horizon, now is the perfect time for an adaptation.
'Wolfenstein' (2009)
The simplicity of 'what if' has provided some of the best fiction stories ever. There's a reason that Marvel made an entire series about what would be the outcome if things went differently in the movies. It's interesting to look back and think about things playing out differently.
The 'what if' that Wolfenstein provides is 'what if the Nazis had unbelievably powerful weapons during World War II?'. The answer is fans need a Nazi-hunting protagonist to go in and find out how they did it, and then use that tech to win the war. Any fan would want to watch that.
'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' (2003)
Knights of Old Republic, or KOTOR as it's now known after almost two decades of praise, is everything that people love about the world of Star Wars, without anything that they hate. Meaning, it has nothing to do with the bad movies, whatever viewers deem them to be. Taking place thousands of years before George Lucas' A New Hope and its accompanying Galactic Empire, KOTOR follows a lone Jedi journeying through the galaxy as he attempts to find and defeat Darth Malek.
One problem with a potential Netflix show would be the game's reliance on player choice. There are two completely different endings, depending on which way the player decides to go. Though, with the right person at the helm, this could be a strength of the show, rather than a weakness. With some of the coolest characters and stories the world of Star Wars has seen, Knights of the Old Republic is begging for more attention.
'The Getaway' (2002)
Taking place during the space of one day, The Getaway follows Mark Hammond, a former bank robber and Frank Carter, a London detective. A show could go either way or even paint both perspectives.
It could go full Guy Richie and provide a comedy and brutality similar to The Gentleman or go a more serious route, providing a product more similar to something like season one of True Detective. Whichever the case, fast-paced police and crime dramas are always a fun watch.
'Duke Nukem' (1991)
"Damn, those alien bastards are going to pay for shooting up my ride" – one of many great and wild quotes from the Duke Nukem series is all audiences need to know about the game and why it would make for great viewing. It would probably be best as an animated show like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, to save viewers from poor acting and a budget that's too low.
In the near future, the world has been taken over by aliens. It's up to Duke Nukem, the brash 90s action hero to save the world by killing them. Fun, action-packed, and generally intense in a funny way, an animated Duke Nukem show could be amazing.