The gaming medium is renowned for its unique interactive and narrative experiences that have been adapted into series and films. Several gaming franchises have recently been adapted into faithful streaming shows and films celebrating a game’s source material. What makes a gaming adaptation successful, and what exactly makes a faithful game adaptation?
Continue reading to learn more.
Respect for Source Material
Game adaptations have limited time to explore an entire franchise, but respecting the source material can prove successful. Geoff Keighley, creator of The Game Awards, told PBS that “authenticity creates a rich and detailed gaming world for all to enjoy.” He notes that recent projects have hired original game creators to help write, direct, and create the visual gaming worlds. These projects do not have to reiterate a game, but they should preserve its style, worldbuilding, and identity.
Series such as HBO’s The Last of Us and Amazon’s Fallout respected the source material and found mainstream and fan success. Rolling Stone, a monthly magazine, praises The Last of Us for its “expansion of supporting characters and perspectives.” They add that the original game could not focus on these aspects, but the series could further develop supporting characters.
IGN, a video game and media website, applauds Fallout as “every space bursts with personality via the attention to detail in all recognizable iconography.” The respect for the source material helps create an authentic and enjoyable watching experience not only for newcomers but for fans as well. Besides recognizable material, adaptations should focus on an accessible yet compelling story.
Compelling Storylines
Adaptations often cannot recreate or condense famous stories into a time-limited series or film, but they can create a compelling new story. For example, Netflix’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a prequel to CD Projeckt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077. The series focuses on its own story set in the Cyberpunk universe rather than a retelling of the game. Adaptations should use a game’s source material to tell a new but familiar story that fits with the original games. New storylines can focus on new characters or plotlines that can only be done through the film medium.
Using Film Techniques
Film techniques such as animation, blocking, or editing can justify a project’s adaptation and be used to its advantage. For instance, The Last of Us features nine episodes in its first season, which explores the story in more depth than a film. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is animated, allowing one to visualize the cyberpunk world in a colorful yet noir style.
Projects can use sound bites or sound effects from their source material to make adaptations feel more authentic and lived-in. Film, or TV, is where adaptations become stories to watch rather than to interact with, and it can be done well.
To Conclude
A faithful game adaptation draws from its source material, respects what came before, and creates something new. Faithful adaptations use film techniques to their advantage to preserve the style and identity of the game. Likewise, it also introduces a story that could only work on film.
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