Video Game Adaptations- The Good, the Bad and the Fallout

Dear reader, I want you to think about video game adaptations. What was the first thing that came to mind? A wince? Some general feeling of disappointment? If not, I am very happy that you could think about the few positive examples that will be discussed here, but you must admit:

Most video game adaptations are…. kind of bad.

This, frankly, never made sense to me. How can you miss the mark when adapting games so easily? Unlike literature, there is already both a visual and audio element most of the time, alongside a preexisting setting. How hard could it possibly be to translate that into a 90-minute film? Apparently very, if we ask any of the Street Fighter 1994s and Assassin’s Creed 2016s of the world.

Despite all the historic fails, there has been a very welcome trend of actually, really damn good adaptations the last few years. The Last Of Us was critically acclaimed, both by fans of the game and many, MANY people who had no prior knowledge of the series. An even most recent example would be Arcane, with its final season coming out just a few months ago. Both of these shows managed to not only satisfy the expectations of their core fans, but also the general audience somehow.

Alongside these two examples and the winner of Best Adaptation at this years Game Awards, was Fallout. An excellent transmutation of the iconic RPGs into one of the best TV series of 2024. Admittedly, I am not an expert in all things Fallout. I have only playing the 4^th installment (and the frankly quite good mobile game Fallout Shelter) but I like to keep myself updated on the bigger universe surrounding the setting. Still, watching the show gave me such an incredible sense of glee. It was special, being able to recognize callbacks to the games or getting chills hearing the iconic Fallout 4 main theme played in the background.

The premise of Fallout, the show, is simple enough to follow. Post nuclear war, shelters full of seemingly thriving people, girls father gets kidnapped by raiders, girl goes out in the “real” world for the first time in her life in search of her lost family. To the point, effective and the perfect formula to introduce the world. As both the protagonist and the viewers are on the same level information-wise, having characters put basic concepts on paper does not feel like you are being spoon-fed lore. It is like sneaking vegetables in a dish. Sneaky but delicious, nonetheless.

While the show did not follow any pre-existing narratives from the games themselves, offering us a new story and a new protagonist in Lucy, it very much exists in the same world as the games. This might seem obvious, but a lot of adaptations tend to bend the source material into their own “retellings” which can sometimes work (see: the Sonic movies) or miss the mark completely (see: pretty much everything else). Having such an established universe, with games already taking place in various parts of the world, it feels natural to treat the show as something that is new but cohabiting the same space. This helps retain the essence of it while still introducing elements that are new to both veterans and newbies to the series. Something that a lot of adaptations suffer from is over-exposition. New fans get overwhelmed with the amount of information being thrown at them and old ones grow tired of having the very basic concepts of the show explained to them for the umpteenth time.

So, what does the Last Of Us, Arcane and Fallout have in common? What makes them succeed amongst a sea of, frankly, mediocre attempts?

The soul.

Really, that is it.

They all keep that same feeling from their core material. Whether that might be a more direct retelling (TLoU), a showcase of the world that is not present in the gameplay (Arcane), or an addition to the series’ mythos (Fallout), these shows feel both comfortably familiar and refreshingly new. Hopefully, this trend continues, allowing more excellent settings and narratives to reach new audiences and introduce them to the source material in tandem.  Onwards, to many more moments of pointing at our screens, grinning like maniacs while spotting the tiniest detail from our favourite games.

Basic information:

Release date: April 2024

Creators: Graham Wagner, Geneva Robertson-Dworet

Distributor: Amazon Prime Video

Image Credits:

Banner/Lucy: IMDb promotional material  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12637874/?ref_=tt_mv_close

TLoU: IMDb promotional material  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3581920/

 

You might also like

---

More from Game-related media

---