the devilish genius of video game adaptions

Anthony Mackie took the stage at the 2023 Game Awards a week ago to present the award for Best Video Game Adaptation. Ironic, isn’t it? Game adaptations to the ol' silver screen have routinely been a concept of ridicule and here we are - giving them awards. Do you remember the 2016 Michael Fassbender Assassin's Creed movie? Imagine that being up for an award. But hey, I’ll be fair. I really did like a lot of The Last of Us HBO series! Well, that is until the end where (oh, spoilers for a decade old game that everyone’s played) part of the magic is the feeling of inevitability while Joel holds up his pistol at the Firefly doctors. You feel the strain. Do I just…have to pull the trigger?

(I thought shooting the docs was tough, but this player is ready to burn them to the ground lol)

Of course, you don’t HAVE to. In fact, I have a PS3 still idling on that screen since I’m not quite sure what the right answer is. I don’t, but in the end the game does make you live with your decision, no matter how scripted it is. You, as Joel, took it upon yourself to murder once again to protect what is important to you. This also makes Joel’s choice to lie to Ellie and Ellie’s knowingly suspicious “okay” before the screen goes to black on the player in a way. We went through the motions, but also felt their impact. The show communicates the facts that this is what happens, but what it doesn’t communicate is that strain to make the decision. The show can’t do what is best about that moment - the loss of control while still technically being in control.

So in the end, does the Last of Us actually work as an adaption? To a point, absolutely. It is a very good TV show that lives by TV show rules. Clearly though, something will always be missing from any game adaptation to the screen or page. It's a no brainer what is missing, but is it really all that big of a deal?

This post is mostly prompted by 2 things I saw today - one confirmed and one speculative. The first being confirmation of A24 working with Kojima Productions on a Death Stranding film and the second being Netflix reportedly in talks to acquire the live action rights to Baldur’s Gate 3. I found myself taking in the news of an A24 Death Stranding movie a little like Kevin Malone not knowing if Angela’s double fudge brownies are worth enduring Angela and her Christmas party for.

Suffice it to say I am an A24 boy through and through and really didn't care for Death Stranding.

My instinct is always to say “oh just leave it alone!” Truthfully, what good can come from a Netflix adapted Baldur’s Gate story? The game that is special because of its choice-based narrative and role playing adapted to a medium that will have none of that. It frankly just doesn’t make sense…to ME. The game player.

However, to streaming services and production companies looking to fill their catalogs every season, it makes a ton of sense, doesn’t it? You bet that my dumb ass will be slammed down on my couch for a Baldur’s Gate show or the Death Stranding movie (again, a game I didn’t like one bit!) because I simply...must...know. I'd venture a guess that many other game players find themselves in this slightly shameful category themselves. Then there’s folks like my barely can hold a controller wife who has watched the Netflix Witcher series I cringed through at least 3 times who would very well eat up a Baldur’s Gate show because it’s fantasy, there’s fucking, and it IS, after all, a compelling overall narrative. Video games make for a sensible quarry of content to mine even if it isn’t very good. This has been proven to win out over time. What else can do that? Mackie getting on the stage of the Game Awards was wild to me because I was thinking…there’s just no way that Twisted Metal show did okay right? Lo and behold we’re getting a second season. Against all odds, a show about driving death mobiles based on a game from the 90's is...a success?

Video game adaptions may never fully please me. They can’t. In what world will the oft-teased live action Zelda adaption be better than Tears of the Kingdom? It simply isn’t on the radar of possibility for me. But will I watch and engage and even write a short essay about how I feel about it amounting to very little at all?

Super Mario Bros movie made the second most money worldwide this year so expect to see a LOT more of them going forward. That's not the only recent hit with both Sonic movies doing well, and some other moderate successes like Uncharted. Video games are mainstream now and with comic book movies starting to falter they are going to be the source of a lot more adaptations.

Some of them are okay, some are terrible, a few are good, but none take away from the original games so it's fine.

What I like about adaptations (games or not) is that it creates an opportunity for the artist (producers, directors, writers, actors, production designers, costumers, lighting riggers, etc) to reimagine their inspiration from the original source material and create a new piece of art. Note I didn't say "work of art," because some adaptations are wistfully poor productions. I enjoyed the Last of Us adaptation because I thought it was diligently faithful in many parts and also expanded the lore in others. The Witcher franchises have inspired so many people to create an adaptation that enriches the lore, in spite of poor acting, or writing, or directing. I think the worst example of adaptation is the Castlevania franchise. This has some of the worst writing and most experiences of turning off the console in resignation.

Humans have been remixing and retelling and adapting stories for as long as we've been telling stories. This is why I don't automatically hate remakes and adaptations. The thing that annoys me is when an adaptation/remake doesn't actually do anything new with the source material; the I Am Legend movie from 2007 is a meaningless use of that name, while the 2003 Battlestar Galactica remake reimagined that show for a new era.

The LEAST interesting scenes of The Last of Us TV show were the shot-for-shot recreations of scenes from the game.

Comics have been the source for some pretty amazing and terrible adaptations, I don't see why gaming can't either. The Last of Us, Arcane and Castlevania were fantastic even Twisted Metal got a second season, if that's a success then literally anything can work.