Whether on the big screen or a giant streaming service, video game adaptations into Live-Action have seen tremendous success, gaining critical acclaim and cult followings. Given the vast amount of video game content, we can see why big Hollywood studios are chasing the rights to adapt some of gaming’s most popular titles yet to hit the big screen.
In recent years we have seen plenty of games being turned into live-action movies and series. Netflix adapted titles such as The Witcher, Castlevania, Cyberpunk Edgerunners, Arcane (League of Legends), Dota: Dragon’s Blood, and Tomb Raider their animated series which have all been successfully attributed to their continuing to release more content based on video games.
Amazon Prime adapted the wildly popular Fallout franchise into a live-action series “Fallout” and it was rated as one of the best shows released in 2024 while HBO gave Mortal Kombat and Borderlands their standalone movies and made The Last of Us into a multi-part series. Other popular video game franchises like Bioshock, Death Stranding, and Legend of Zelda are rumored to be in development — and if true we would wish for nothing but a good and honest live-action adaptation.
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There is an uncountable number of wonderful games out there but not all of them may get their chance to be represented on the big screen. These are some of the games I believe are worthy of an adaptation.
Red Dead Redemption
If you ask any avid gamer to list the top 5 games they ever played, Red Dead Redemption would be among the top 2 of every list you could survey. Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II are without a doubt two of the greatest games ever created in part due to the character development, storytelling, overall gameplay, and drama revolutionized how video games would approach their execution of how a video game would be created in a story-centered approach.
Given that the Red Dead Redemption franchise is of a Western-based American frontier theme, it would probably have the same level of success that Yellowstone and Westworld have in terms of popularity if adapted properly.
Dark Souls
Dark Souls should no doubt be a contender for a Live Action adaptation due to its rich lore alone. The dark fantasy world of Lordran could provide potential showrunners with endless possibilities on how to create a great show that would rival The Witcher in terms of a video game adaptation and other fantasy genre shows like Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc. An adaptation of Dark Souls would work extremely well since the game is as scary as it is intriguing and would be enjoyed by a lot of audiences.
Mass Effect
A Role Playing Game known for its multitude of characters, science fiction, and action, Mass Effect is one of the most popular video games ever made and has a cult-like following from the trilogy game series released. The game received plaudits due to its immersiveness and political nuance that allowed players to create and shape their storylines and it would be interesting to see how much would get into a Live-Action.
Dead Space
If the horror movie genre ever needed a video game to revive interest, it would need a live-action Dead Space movie. A pioneer in the survival horror video game genre, Dead Space excelled at creating a unique deep-space environment that players had to dig deep to survive in, making it worth showcasing on the big screen.
Grand Theft Auto
The Grand Theft Auto franchise is one of the most popular and biggest gaming franchises of all time. With five and soon-to-be six games under its belt, Grand Theft Auto has a multitude of compelling stories and characters to create a show from. The game has plenty of iconic moments that would translate to great content on the big screen and given its large player base it would no doubt have great streaming numbers in case it got turned into a show.
