More Fantasy Books That Need Video Games

In today’s world, It can sometimes be difficult to get a brand-new IP off the ground. Fortunately, literary fiction offers endless worlds and characters from which game developers can pull exciting concepts from. As a bonus, half the marketing has already been done by the original author of the work. Fans of the book give you a starting audience from which your game can grow. With that in mind, I’d like to recommend a few of my favorite fantasy books for some much-needed game adaptations. If you haven’t already seen my original article on this topic I encourage you to check it out here.

The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee

This series combines the best parts of Noir/Mafia movies and 80s Kung Fu movies into one incredible three-part series. The story is set on the mythical island of Kekon. The island is ruled by clans descended from ancient warriors who use the magical substance, Jade to grant themselves superhuman abilities. The series focuses primarily on the Kaul family and their various interpersonal as well as external conflicts. I have yet to read the final book of the series, but the first two are easily some of the most unique fantasy books I have read with fantastic characterization throughout.

I’m envisioning that an adaptation of this series would play similarly to the well-renowned Yakuza series. A story-based RPG with action beat-em-up style combat and a splash of third-person shooting. Though the tone would most certainly be darker. I could also see something akin to Grand Theft Auto, or perhaps more appropriately Sleeping Dogs, the latter providing an almost perfect model of this adaptation in terms of scale, worldbuilding, and combat style.

2. The Burning by Evan Winter

This series is an African-inspired military fantasy that as of now consists of two novels with a third due to release soon. The story follows a young commoner named Tau, who after suffering a tragedy vows to take vengeance on the nobility. The series contains an extremely interesting magic system that requires the characters to channel power through the physiologically damaging spirit world. However, the real meat of the story comes in the form of relentless fast-paced action and strong character relationships.

I would love to see this game be taken on by Ninja Theory, developer of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Hellblade is one of the most immersive experiences I’ve ever played. The psychologically distressing atmosphere mixed with the gory, violent third-person action would suit Winter’s story perfectly. Though not a mage himself, Tau does find himself connected to the spirit world throughout his quest and encounters many of the horrific monsters it contains.

The second book, Fires of Vengeance is certainly a lot more focused on group combat. This could provide a unique gameplay feature where you are placed in command of larger conflicts that reward tactical decision-making in addition to your own combat prowess. The forgotten Xbox launch title Ryse: Son of Rome played with this idea. Certain combat encounters allowed you to replicate Roman military tactics with NPCs. If fleshed out a bit more, I feel this could bring a unique element to the action genre and could help this adaptation stand out.

3. Discworld by Terry Pratchett

I’ve only read a singular book from this series thus far, but even with the limited knowledge I have, I certainly think this would make for a fun game series. Discworld consists of dozens of novels that all tell a variety of tales mostly inspired by subgenres within fantasy. All have a witty, comedic tone that leans heavily on absurdism and irony. The series is especially famous for subverting many of the established tropes within the fantasy genre in amusing ways.

I would love to see an adaptation of this series taken on by the folks at Obsidian Entertainment. They focus on developing in-depth RPGs and are responsible for dozens of successful titles such as The Outer Worlds or Pillars of Eternity. However, they also led development for South Park: The Stick of Truth, which translated the long-running comedy tv series into game form. While Discworld is less obscene in terms of graphic content it would fit perfectly into this design space.

I’m picturing a very similar game to Stick of Truth, with a classic turn-based combat system. Your party would of course be able to unleash a variety of absurd attacks and special moves that reference various books or events within the universe. Additionally, the story could take you across the entire Discworld itself visiting various imaginative locales. The ability to recruit many of the classic characters from the series like Rincewind the wizard, Death, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, and many more is also a must.

The expansive nature of this universe allows a huge breadth of content for developers to draw from. I could easily see constant DLC expansions complete with new quests, items, and characters to recruit.

Hopefully, this article provided some insight into the potential behind book to game adaptations. There are dozens of fantastic stories that can be explored further through the digital medium. As a devout fan of the genre, it’s a shame that most book-to-game adaptations merely focus on the most popular titles such as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, or Harry Potter. In the future, I’d like to see more studios take a chance on a more niche series and propel it to new heights just as was done with CD Projekt Red and The Witcher.