What more can we ask for when we get to experience the same character in the thrilling, action-packed voyage through an animated series? We all enjoy living an adventurous life virtually through gaming. Netflix has recently released a number of animated programs based on video games including “Resident Evil,” “Dragon’s Dogma,” “Castlevania,” and most likely “Splinter Cell.”
These shows are popular because of their distinctive approach to the game’s plot. These programmes’ creators and Netflix have taken the liberty of making them uniquely their own. The world of animation is full of interesting characters and compelling tales, and it has a distinctive aesthetic that works well in animated form. They assumed properly that no one wants a show that merely tries to follow the plot of a game precisely and that it is not necessary to accurately capture the pleasure of playing the game.
I believe it is time for Netflix to start considering other well-known video game titles for potential series ideas now that it has all these shows under its belt. Many video games have had poor cinematic adaptations, but that does not imply they might not benefit from a more thorough, in-depth narrative strategy.
Let us take a look at 10 video games that, if given the Netflix treatment, may result in an engaging television series.
Contra
We’re looking at a 1987 science fiction/guerilla-themed run & gun action game developed and published by Konami on February 20, 1987. This game was one of the best action games available during its time. “Contra” is set in the distant future of the year 2633 A.D., when the evil Red Falcon Organization have set a base on the fictional Galuga archipelago near New Zealand in a plot to wipe out humanity. Two armed Elite Marine Commandos “Contra”, named Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are sent to the island to destroy the enemy forces and uncover the true nature of the alien entity controlling them.
Back in the 80s, two men usually came to mind when you thought of a muscle-bound hero on the big screen. It’s no coincidence then, that the two characters in “Contra” were based on them. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were the models for these characters. A series based on this game with a bit of a different approach towards the story might actually provide us with a great series of epic proportion.
The characters and the story are practically built with spare parts from 1980s’ action flicks. Making an animated series of the same will bring back the adventure in a new way. Watching the two heroes kicking the crap out of the Alien race with a variety of weapons throughout the island would bring nothing but sheer joy. If the eight stages of the game are portrayed in an action-packed animated series, by the time we reach “Alien’s Lair” from “Jungle”, I think we will be dwelling in our childhood memories of the game.
Just like the game, if an animated series is released with a great story and perfect handling of details, it will receive positive reception undoubtedly. Though there are no such rumors yet about a series on “Contra”, I’m sure a lot of Contra lovers like me are waiting for an announcement of an animated series of this action-packed game.
Silent Hill 2
A survival horror video game developed by Team Silent, this was published by Konami in 2001. “Silent Hill 2” centers on James Sunderland, a widower who journeys to the town of Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife informing him that she is waiting there for him. Even after so many years of its release, everything in this dream-like tale of obsession, guilt and desperate redemption feels perfectly placed. It all starts with James pondering upon his reflection in a filthy bathroom mirror, forcing the player to acknowledge who they are taking control of.
The player instantly becomes a part of James’s nightmare and from there, the more you get into the game the more you slip deeper into James’s nightmare. Travelling through the foggy town while hearing creatures shuffling around in the haze will only make the player imagine what abomination might come shuffling out. The eerie feel along with the suspicious surroundings are the most notable features of this game.
An animated series based on this game will not only provide us with a great series based on a great horror story, but will also maintain the legacy of the name “Silent Hill” for many a years to come. The experiences of James in the game which we have experienced while playing, will be a spine chilling sensation to watch. If directors like James Wan or Guillermo Del Toro take up a project like “Silent Hill 2” and with the Netflix treatment of the recent series that have been released, I strongly believe we will be in for a thrilling experience of a new genre of horror.
The ending of the game has different outcomes depending on the choices players make. This will also provide a great opportunity for the maker of the series to create something new for the viewers who are already familiar with the endings of the game. Though there are movies already made on the game, the film universe is separate from the game universe and is set in separate canon continuity. Even an animated series based on the exact storyline of the “Silent Hill 2” game only, will make it a great series to watch.
Mortal Kombat 11
Developed by NetherRealm Studios, this game was published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Mortal Kombat 11 was announced at The Game Awards 2018 followed by its release in 2019. “Mortal Kombat” is always more known for its gore and violence than its game play. The game is mostly known for its “fight and rip people’s head off” feature. “Mortal Kombat 11” is arguably not only the best Mortal Kombat but also NetherRealm Studio’s top development till now. One of the best parts of this game is its storyline.
Following the decapitation of Shinnok at the hands of Dark Raiden, Shinnok’s mother Kronika: The keeper of time, rewrites history in order to erase Raiden’s interference. Two years later when a special forces strike team attacks and destroys NetherRealms’s castle, Kronika joins Liu Kang and Kitana, rulers of the NetherRealm. When Kotal Kahn, the current emperor of Outworld attempts to execute Shoa Kahn, he is interrupted by a time storm which brings younger versions of many essential characters of the game from alternate timelines. A battle erupts in Kotal’s Koliseum.
The number of dynamic characters that we have in the game and the storyline revolving around alternate timelines are bound to make a great animated series in the right hands. We have seen few attempts to make movies based on the game but to be honest none of them were able to provide satisfactory storylines or violent gore action. If Netflix comes up with an animated series of “Mortal Kombat 11”, the storyline of the game itself and the action sequences will be sufficient to make it a satisfying series. Then again, if a bit of modification in the story gives us something new and compelling by maintaining the essence of the game, we are good to go with it.
Assassin’s Creed II
Developed and published by Ubisoft in 2009, “Assassin’s Creed II” takes place in an open world environment with nonlinear game play, allowing the player to roam freely within several regions of late fifteenth-century Italy such as Venice, Florence, Monteriggioni, Forli, San Gimignano, and the Tuscany countryside. The combat system is more complex than that of its predecessor, with the ability to disarm opponents using counter-attacks while unarmed. If the player steals an enemy’s weapon, it is possible to follow up with an attack that instantly kills the enemy.
After the events of the first game, test subject Desmond Miles is rescued from Abstergo and is instructed to relive the memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Undercover Assassin Lucy Stillman along with historian and analyst Shaun Hasting and technician Rebecca Crane have constructed their own Animus, which they intend to use to train Desmond as an Assassin through the “bleeding effect”.
This allows the user to learn their ancestor’s skills at a rapid pace. You spend most of your time playing Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young Florentine nobleman with a penchant for getting in trouble. The everyman approach really helps the story, because before you’re asked to buy in to Assassin’s Creed II’s convoluted conspiracy theories and secret Knights Templar plots, you’re actually caring about this family.
Ezio, who witnesses the false framing and execution of his father & brothers, takes revenge by murdering the corrupt magistrate Uberto Alberti. Ezio flees Florence and in his ancestral home in Monteriggioni, under the supervision of his Uncle Mario he comes to know about their family’s role as members of the ancient Assassin Brotherhood, and trains to be an Assassin.
One is sure to get goosebumps when the promise of the Assassin’s Creed will be uttered by the animated character “You can’t see me. I’m there in the shadows, crouched down on the roof above you, dangling on the ledge below you. Maybe you know I’m nearby. Maybe you’re afraid for your life. You should be. Because by the time you realize where I am, you’ll be dead”.
We have already witnessed Michael Fassbender playing the Assassin’s character in the 2016 adaptation of Assassin’s Creed. But an animated series portraying the killing journey of Ezio through 15th Century Italy to unravel and destroy the Templar Order’s secrets will be something worth watching again & again.
The simultaneous fight for freedom of Desmond Miles and Ezio Auditore da Firenze can surely become a great animated series through its intriguing back story, involving characters such as the inventor Leonardo da Vinci, Templar grandmaster Rodrigo Borgia later positioned as Pope Alexander VI, and the secrets of The Apple of Eden.
Red Dead Redemption
“Red Dead Redemption” is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The story is set in 1899 in a fictionalized representation of the Western, Midwestern, and Southern United States and follows outlaw Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang. Red Dead Redemption 2’s unexploited land makes up the largest portion of the game world and features diverse landscapes with occasional travelers, bandits, and wildlife.
The player controls outlaw Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang, as he completes numerous missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. After a botched ferry heist in 1899, the Van der Linde gang are forced to leave their substantial money stash and flee Blackwater. Realizing that the progress of civilization is ending the time of outlaws, they decide to acquire enough money to escape the law and retire.
Dutch’s continuous promise that the next heist will be their last put the gang through numerous missions. However, due to the interventions of Pinkerton, the gang started losing members and the trust of gang members upon each other started reducing. The gang members’ criminal acts bring them into conflict with various opposing forces including the wealthy oil magnate Leviticus Cornwall, whose assets become a gang target.
In response, he recruits a team of agents from the Pinkerton Detective Agency, led by Andrew Milton and his subordinate Edgar Ross, to hunt down the gang. The gang also encounters the Saint Denis-based Italian crime lord Angelo Bronte, the controversial Guarman ruler Alberto Fussar, and Dutch’s nemesis Colm O’Driscoll, leader of the rival O’Driscoll gang.
Along its travels, the gang gets entangled with the Gray and Braithwaite families, two warring families who are rumored to be hoarding Civil War gold. The gang’s affiliation with the families primarily take place through Leigh Gray, the sheriff of Rhodes, and Catherine Braithwaite, the matriarch of the Braithwaite family. Later in the game, Arthur helps Rains Fall and his son Eagle Flies, both members of the Native American Wapiti tribe whose land is being targeted by the Army.
A gang of outlaws trying to survive the wave of the modern civilization while confronting each other is sure to deliver a great storyline with characters like Arthur Morgan, Dutch van der Linde, Angelo Bronte, and Hosea Matthews. With good direction and careful detailing, this video game can surely deliver us a great animated series. The journey of redemption for Arthur Morgan and the thoughtful portrayal of his internal conflicts makes the character possess humanity, often lacking in other Rockstar Games.
God of War (2018)
Developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, “God of War” was released worldwide on April 20, 2018. Many years after Kratos defeated the Olympian gods, he now lives with his son Atreus in ancient Scandinavia in the realm of Midgard. After cremating the body of his wife, Faye, and a short hunting/survival lesson with Atreus, Kratos is confronted by a mysterious stranger with godlike power and invulnerability.
The two battle and Kratos seemingly kills the stranger, after which Kratos and Atreus begin their journey to honor Faye’s last wish: to scatter her ashes at the highest peak in the nine realms. During this journey, Kratos and Atreus encounter monsters and gods of the Norse world. Kratos and Atreus fight Modi and Magni, sons of Thor. Kratos kills Magni and later Atreus murders a weakened Modi, who was beaten by his father Thor for leaving his brother Magni to die. At Midgard’s peak, Kratos and Atreus are ambushed by Baldur.
There they learn of Freya and Baldur’s familial relationship as well as the immortality spell that she cast on him. Baldur attacked them again. During the fight, Baldur is pierced by Atreus’s mistletoe arrow, breaking Freya’s spell. Baldur is finally defeated. Despite being given an opportunity to retreat, he attempts to strangle Freya and forces Kratos to kill him. In Jötunheim, they find a temple with a mural depicting their adventures, showing that the Giants had vaguely foretold the future.
In addition, they discover that Faye was a Giant who decided to stay behind at Midgard, meaning that Atreus is half Giant, one-quarter god, and one-quarter mortal. Their fight with Baldur is shown, revealing that he was after Faye the whole time but was unaware that she was dead. It is also revealed that Atreus was named Loki by his mother. Kratos and Atreus then fulfill their promise and spread her ashes at the peak, overlooking a valley of Giant corpse.
Afterward, Kratos reveals to Atreus that his given name was that of a compassionate Spartan comrade. Returning to Midgard, Mímir warns them that the three-year-long Fimbulwinter has begun, meaning Ragnarök is soon to follow – which was not supposed to occur for another one hundred years. In the game’s secret ending, Kratos, Atreus, and Mímir return home and slumber. Atreus has a vision that Thor will arrive at the end of Fimbulwinter to confront them.
I don’t think I even need to mention how eagerly God of War fans are waiting for an animated series of their beloved “god-killer” God. The journey of Kratos has always fascinated game lovers but an animated series of this particular game will take the character of Kratos to a new level.
This particular game portrayed an older and more seasoned Kratos, who must master the rage that has driven him for many years and embrace his newfound role as a father and a mentor. This new characteristic of Kratos along with his & Atreus’s journey to fulfill Faye’s last wish, crossing hurdles on their way, is nothing but worthy to be put on the screen for people to watch and awe.
Hotline Miami
Collectively known as “Dennaton Games”, Hotline Miami is a top-down shooter video game published by Devolver Digital and released on 23 October, 2012. Hotline Miami is a high-octane action game overflowing with raw brutality, hard-boiled gunplay and skull crushing close combat. Set in 1989 Miami, the game revolves primarily around an unnamed silent protagonist—dubbed “Jacket” by fans—who has been receiving coded messages on his answering machine instructing him to commit massacres against the local Russian mafia.
The game blends top-down perspective with stealth, extreme violence and surreal storytelling, along with a soundtrack and visuals inspired by 1980s culture. The game begins with the three ‘mask’eteers, Richard; Rooster Mask, Don Juan; Horse Mask and Rasmus; Owl mask.
Through a series of questions and their confusing answers with these masketeers, Jacket receives mysterious phone calls instructing him to take down Russian Mafia houses one by one. In a blood bathed journey, the player must kill enemies by using stealth, overwhelming force or a combination of both as Jacket will always be far outnumbered.
The amount of violence this game contains might seem a little much to some, but those who have played the game will know that the actual fun of this game is the violence that comes with the strange and mysterious nature of conversations. The story of this game and the brutality without a doubt makes it a prime contender to come out as an animated series. The mysterious character of Jacket is by far one of the most confused yet cool characters anyone might have seen in a game. The mystery behind the three masketeers and The Biker reaching the source of the calls in the end concludes a well-built story. No doubt if Netflix ever turns its eyes to this game for adaptation into an animated series, we are sure to have a must watch one.
Half Life 2
“Half-Life 2” is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. The protagonist Gordon Freeman is awoken from stasis by G-Man after twenty years of the incident at the Black Mesa Research Facility, in which scientists accidentally opened a portal to the hostile dimension Xen. The G-man reveals that the Black Mesa incident attracted the attention of a multidimensional empire called the Combine, which conquered Earth in seven hours.
The player will take the role of Gordon Freeman and through a journey full of fighting hideous aliens, he must confront Combine and stop them from annihilating the human race. Gravity gun, which can manipulate large objects, is one of the prime weapons to use in the game. Mossman, who played the part of an informant for Combine, later betrayed by Breen, helps Gordon in taking Breen down. After taking Breen down, G-man saves Gordon from the Teleporter reactor explosion by freezing time. He then puts him back in stasis.
A brilliant sci-fi animated series is what this game can provide us with. With a little bit of modification to the storyline, Netflix can definitely look into this sci-fi game as one of their animated projects. The game already has a good storyline with sci-fi content and some interesting characters. All the materials for a great animated series are already there in the game, I really hope Netflix considers it.
Demon’s Soul
Released in November 2020, “Demon’s Soul” is an action role-playing game developed by Bluepoint Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. “Demon’s Souls” takes place in the kingdom of Boletaria. In ancient times, due to the misuse of magic known as the Soul Arts, Boletaria was attacked by a being called ‘the Old One’. The world was nearly consumed by the magical “Deep Fog” that the soul-eating demons created.
The Old One was eventually lulled to slumber, saving what remained of Boletaria, while some survivors became long-standing Monumentals to warn future generations. In the game’s present, Boletaria’s ruler King Allant restored the Soul Arts, awakening the Old One and its demon army. Boletaria is now consumed by demons, with humans without souls turning into insane monsters.
Players take the role of an adventurer entering the fog engulfing Boletaria. After being killed, the player wakes up in the Nexus and meets a benevolent demon called the ‘Maiden in Black’, as well as various other characters. Now bound to the Nexus until the Old One is returned to slumber, the player travels to five regions of Boletaria, killing the powerful demons controlling those areas and absorbing their souls to increase their power and face King Allant. However, the King Allant the player faces is revealed to be a demon imposter. After defeating the false King Allant, the Maiden in Black takes the player—now dubbed the “Slayer of Demons”—to the Old One.
The contemporary setup of the game and the ancient nature of the plot make it a hot & happening choice for an animated series. The kingdom of Boletaria, the lost ritual of Soul Arts, the powerful ancient being ‘Old One’ and his creations, ‘Deep Fog’ & soul-eating demons, sets up the perfect plot for Netflix for an interesting animated series. If Netflix ever decides to make an animated series on “Demon’s Soul”, it will top my to-watch list for sure.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami, “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” is an open world stealth game released on September 1, 2015. Set in 1984, nine years after the events of ‘Ground Zeroes’ and eleven years before the events of the original Metal Gear, the story follows mercenary leader Punished “Venom” Snake. He ventures into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan and the Angola–Zaire border region to exact revenge on the people who destroyed his forces and came close to killing him during the climax of Ground Zeroes. When a Cipher assassin named Quiet tries to kill him, he is rescued by a heavily bandaged man called Ishmael. Big Boss adopts the code name “Venom Snake” and begins searching for Cipher. During his search, Snake comes across a labyrinthine fictional world of spies, creation of parasitic bio-weapons and the process to make nuclear weapons desirable again by the use of the latest Metal Gear system, known as ST-84 “Sahelanthropus”.
This game has the potential material to be a long-animated series. The story, back story, weapons, plotting and changes of character make this game a perfect choice for an animated series of epic greatness. The number of plots and sub plots that are revealed throughout the game, if handled carefully, can make this game one of the best animated series Netflix will ever produce.
There are still a lot of games that might come to mind when we think of having an animated series based on them. Games like “Undying”, “Turok”, “Bullet Storm”, “Singularity”, “Gears of War” and so on and on and on. But let’s keep them for another discussion. Let us know what you think of these 10 games, if they get an animated series by Netflix.