Our Ten Best: Literature-Inspired Video Games

While comic books and movies get a hearty helping of video game creations nowadays, novels and other works of literature often get made into video games as well.

However, just like those other mediums, many of these games pale in comparison to the source material.

With that being said, here’s our list, chronicling the 10 best video games inspired by novels.

Note: Some games were left off the list, mainly because it was the movies, which were based on the books, which inspired the creation of the game- and not the written work itself.

10: The Hobbitt: Based on the Tolkien classic, this game, which was released on the Xbox and PS2 is a decent adventure game that is a little too happy for its own good, but is still a decent platformer in its own right.

9: Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: When the film came out, Vivendi Universal snagged the rights to the first book and game, which in spite of its weird puzzles and confusing gameplay at times, is a solid tribute to the written work. While it didn’t sell nearly as many copies as the EA-themed games based on the movies, it has Tom Bombadil in it. Enough said.

8: Romance of the Three Kingdoms: This NES classic is based on the events of the Three Kingdoms era in China and on Luo Guanzhong’s famous novel Sanguo Yanyi and strategy/rpg spawned a myriad of sequels with its intricate story and deep gameplay.

7: Terry Prachett’s Discworld: One of the true sleeper hits on the Sony Playstation, this game, a side-scrolling adventure, was hilarious and fun, thanks to the inspiration of Prachett’s writing.

6: Dante’s Inferno: Based on Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century epic poem, this third-person hack and slash adventure is a marvelous tribute to the work.

5: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth: Based on the H.P. Lovecraft mythos, in addition to his short story “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” this FPS has a dark, scary feel that totally does the writing it’s based on justice. A true sleeper hit on the X-Box.

4:Metro 2033: The story of Metro 2033 is based on the Russian book of the same name by author Dmitry Gulkovsky and is a fantastic game on the 360. Full of action, with an intense story, Metro 2033 is a must own FPS.

3: Parasite Eve: Based on the novel Parasite Eve, written by Hideaki Sena, this Squaresoft RPG is a gem on the Playstation, due to a great story and cool fighting system.

2: Suikoden: Based on “Shui Hu Zhuan,” by Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong, this title is one of the best detailed and time-consuming RPG’s ever released.

1: American McGee’s Alice: American McGee is a video game designing prodigy and basing this game on Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass,” he creates an amazing adventure that puts a beautifully dark twist on an already amazing story, forging a new one that is just as stellar.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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