7 games that should be adapted for TV

It wasn’t all that long ago that any video game adaptation was an abomination. The best we could hope for up through the mid-2010s was something somewhat decent — at the very least — but even those were few and far between. In the last half-decade or so, however, something miraculous happened. Video game adaptations are starting to get good. In some cases, like The Last of Us on HBO and Amazon’s Fallout, they are excellent, even.

Now that Fallout, The Last of Us, and even Twisted Metal have hit mainstream success, we’re on the cusp of a tidal wave of games being adapted for the small screen. We have God of War, Horizon, and Sonic just to name a few, and unless they all bomb somehow, they will only be the start. The shows currently in the works are fine games to adapt, but not necessarily the best they could have chosen in my opinion. These are the games I think would make TV shows even better than Fallout.

1 Mass Effect

Sci-fi crime drama

Mass Effect

The trilogy of Mass Effect games (I’m choosing to ignore Andromeda) introduced us to an entire galaxy of new possibilities. We have access to new science and technologies based on things theoretically possible, new alien races that don’t look too far out of the realm of possibility, a structured government, and all the political and cultural friction that comes with such a variety of races coexisting on a large scale. While the games focus on a threat to all life in the known galaxy, a TV series could take a very different approach.

Leave Shepard’s story alone as much as possible by setting the show before his time. Instead, make it a crime drama focusing on the C-Sec, the Citadel’s security force. They’re essentially the space police for the capital of the galaxy tasked with keeping the peace between all races. We could have an ensemble cast of various C-Sec officers from multiple races that get wrapped up in large criminal conspiracies and political powerplays. Of course, there can also be plenty of shootouts with futuristic guns and high-speed shipchases too.

2 Life Is Strange

Coming-of-age urban fantasy

Life Is Strange

The classic adventure game genre had all but died off around the 2000s. It was games like The Walking Dead and Life Is Strange that breathed new life into it, and of course, The Walking Dead was a show well before its game adaptation. Life Is Strange doesn’t have any zombies or monsters, but is focused on teenagers struggling to find themselves and their place in the world while unraveling a mystery. Yes, there are superpowers involved, but they are introduced and used in such a grounded way that they end up making the characters feel even more grounded.

Teen dramas are always popular when they’re honest. A Life Is Strange show could take elements from the best examples, such as a high school setting with kids from various backgrounds and upbringings struggling to get along, mix in a darker mystery such as a murder or missing person, and give it a slight magical twist with a simple power like being able to rewind small periods of time. This one all depends on the writing, but the game proved the concept is worth attempting.

3 Sly Cooper

A cartoon caper

Sly Cooper

One massive missed opportunity I see in all the current and upcoming TV adaptations is a lack of kid-friendly content. Besides the Knuckles show, where are all the shows that the entire family can enjoy? There are plenty of fantastic options, but I don’t think any have quite the same appeal as Sly Cooper and his gang.

Sly’s cell shaded art style already lends itself to an animated show, so the transition would be seamless. It also has that slight edge that can appeal to slightly older adults as well as younger kids. The main cast are all anthropomorphic animals and exist in a world where the most dangerous weapon is a shock pistol, but also has a darker side in the gang’s past as orphans and in their complicated relationships with each other. This could easily be another Samurai Jack-type show that appeals to everyone without the need for excessive violence or gore.

Tactical espionage action

Metal Gear Solid

Yes, the jokes write themselves about MGS already being a movie thanks to its reliance on excessively long cutscenes and Hideo Kojima literally putting his name in the opening credits as “Directed by Hideo Kojima.” That doesn’t change the fact that it would still make an absolutely fantastic show, even if it would mean sacrificing the unique gameplay twists. Perhaps there could be some other meta elements involved, but it isn’t the linchpin to what makes the story shine.

I won’t deny that the story of MGS is a little… complicated. However, that’s only because we’re something like a dozen games deep on a story spanning multiple decades and characters. A TV series could take things back to square one and bring the audience up to speed at a better pace knowing everything in advance. It will grip people with its spy-action hero and political messaging, then start introducing the more sci-fi and outlandish elements like psychic soldiers, nanomachines, and clones.

5 Red Dead Redemption

A slow period piece

Red Dead Redemption

Who doesn’t love a good Western? For whatever reason, it seems like we get very few of them anymore, especially in long-running shows. Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption series would fit the mold perfectly for a multi-season epic focusing on outlaws in a vague area of the West during its dying years. As technology and civilization advance, the lifestyle of our characters will become outdated and untenable. It was the perfect time period for the games and would be just as interesting to watch as a series.

I’d stick with the general plot of the two games as a four or five-season run. We would start with Arthur and Dutch’s gang during its height, watch it unravel, and then create the dramatic shift to John taking over the lead role for the final seasons. Just like the games, this would be a slow-burn show with plenty of quiet and introspective moments of riding through nature and sharp dialogue between characters. Gunfights and heists would be rare, but more impactful for the restraint when they do hit the screen.

6 Like A Dragon

A crime family epic

Like A Dragon

There’s almost nothing that has to be done to the story of the Like A Dragon series to make it a fantastic show. Each game has such a well-crafted plot that both build off the previous games and make logical sense within the context of the time and place. The only difficulty in translating it to a series would be deciding what to cut. Exploring the criminal underworld has already proven to be a hit on TV, but the twist of focusing on the lesser-known workings of the Yakuza adds a new layer of mystery and potential of unexpected twists for Western viewers.

There are many ways to approach this adaptation, but I think a format of stand-alone seasons with a different protagonist in different ranks or clans in the Yakuza would work best. We could have the first following series’ original hero Kiryu, then introduce some new stars for their own seasons that all interconnect. It would be a massively ambitious project, but the games have shown that the life of a Yakuza is incredibly interesting to fans around the world.

7 Persona

Shonen anime with a message

I’m not going to pick a specific Persona game to adapt for this one, because I don’t think there’s a need to directly adapt any of the games. It would also be incredibly difficult to pull off well, so the best option would be to make a stand-alone series set in the Persona universe that follows the same conventions and rules but with a new cast and setting.

Let’s take this one and make it an anime since live-action would not only be a technical nightmare, but the style of the games already lends itself to that so well. I’d also like to use this chance to break away from the traditional high school setting that almost every game goes for. Let’s get either some college or fully adult main characters for a change. Sure, high school makes the most sense for the themes of facing your true self, but it would be nice to have a show acknowledging that it can take a long time to really understand and accept yourself. Pair that with a unique story that keeps that slightly magical angle on real societal issues, and this could be a real winner.