Manygames take inspiration from other media. Games based on movies and comic books are common, with franchises such asStar WarsandMarvelgetting tons of game adaptations.Games based on booksaren’t quite as common, but as the medium has matured, they’ve seen greater prominence over the years.
Related:Sci-Fi Games You Might Not Know Have Books
However, due to the vastly different presentations of video games and books, it’s not surprising that some of these adaptations leave something behind in translation. In some cases, dark themes or moral complexities have to be left out in favor of gameplay elements, making for a lighter experience.
6Parasite Eve
Square’s 1997 action RPGParasite Eveis based on Hideaki Sena’s 1995 novel of the same name. However, it isn’t a direct adaptation of the novel, it’s a sequel set in the same world with a new set of characters, moving the action from Japan to the US. The story of the game revolves arounda being born from highly evolved mitochondriausing its powers to take over New York while police officer Aya Brea uses her personal immunity to its effects to take it down.
While it’s still a dark story with plenty of horror, the game is ultimately about a heroic character taking on a threat and saving humanity. Meanwhile, the novel dwells a lot more on the evolutionary implications of the mitochondria, discussed in excruciating detail using complex scientific terms throughout. There’s a lot more body horror concerning organ transplants, parasitic lifeforms and even a scene of sexual assault that results in a horrific creature being born that threatens humanity. There’s also a general sense that, unlike the game, this new threat simply can’t be stopped.
5Metamorphosis
Franz Kafka’sThe Metamorphosisis a classic surrealistic novella about a man named Gregor Samsa who wakes one day to find that he’s transformed into a gruesome bug creature. The story depicts his gradual transition into his new life, with his family and friends rejecting him for his horrific appearance that many have interpreted as being a twisted allegory to mental health, societal pressure or even religion.
Related:Most Adorable Insects in Games
The 2020 indie gameMetamorphosistakes great inspiration from this novella, as noted on its own Steam page, but is a very different experience. In fact, the only real connection between the two is the title and a character named Gregor who turns into a bug creature. The game version of Gregor ventures into a whimsical fantasy worldmore akin toAlice in Wonderland, the transformation has an explanation, and it’s possible to return to human form. It’s a much more hopeful story than Kafka’s original work.
4Dune 2: The Building Of A Dynasty
Hugely influential sci-fi novelDuneis a dense novel of complex interplanetary politics, set in a far future that barely resembles the present world and where a drug known as spice is a significant factor in space travel. It’s been considered impossible to adapt into films, despite numerous attempts, two of which have been successful to varying degrees.
This “impossible to adapt” attitude is maybe why the most well-known video game adaptation of the novel barely resembles it. Instead,Dune IIis a strategy game that takes the novel’s central political conflict and turns it into a game ofRisk, simplifying its various factions and motivations. It worked though, asDune IIwould set the standard for the entire real-time strategy genre, with developers Westwood using it as the template forCommand & Conquernot long afterwards, and everyone else simply followed suit.
3World War Z
World War Zis a novel with some bizarre adaptation choices. The film was a story about Brad Pitt dodging zombies on a round-the-world trip while the video game adaptation is essentially justLeft 4 Deadin multiple global locations. The game also bears little resemblance to the movie, despite being more specifically based on that adaptation. Whilethe game has its fans as a fun co-op zombie shooter, it’s a far cry from the novel that it takes its name from.
Related:Most Iconic Bears in Games
World War Z, the original Max Brooks novel, is vastly different to these two adaptations. It’s a series of first-hand accounts from numerous witnesses to the Zombie War, where a zombie outbreak shattered the world. Unlike the movie and game’s more action-based approaches, the novel is ultimately a critique of world politics and the horrors that humankind can inflict on itself.
2The Golden Compass
His Dark Materialsis a hugely influential and beloved trilogy of books by Philip Pullman, focused on a girl named Lyra and a boy named Will hopping across parallel universes to evade the wrath of a fanatical religious organization. It took influence from Paradise Lost and is considered to be an atheist version of the Narnia books. It’s a story that heavily criticizes religion and features several scenes that could be considered possibly too dark for its younger target audience.
When a movie adaptation of the first book,The Golden Compass(akaNorthern Lights) emerged, many of these darker elements were toned down due to executive meddling, seemingly to create a newHarry Potterstyle franchise. Naturally, this lighter, more sanitized tone found its way intothe tie-in video game too, which also seemed to miss the point of many of the book’s themes. It also didn’t help that the game itself wasn’t very good, with its Metacritic scores barely passing 40%.
1Kid Dracula
Bram Stoker’sDraculais a classic horror novel, with many concepts going on to become defining elements of horror media to this day. Naturally, this means a lot of media has adaptedDraculainto something new and exciting over the years, and one of the strangest of these isKid Dracula.
Kid Draculais a spin-off of theCastlevaniafranchise, designed to be a kid-friendly equivalent ofKonami’s iconic vampire-hunting series. Instead of a bloodthirsty monster, this game’s Dracula is a cute cartoon character who the player leads on an adventure to stop demons in a colorful 2D platformer with jaunty music. While obviously not a direct adaptation of Stoker’s work, it’s about as far as you can get from the novel tonally while still claiming to be about the character of Dracula.
