Feature What game would make a great Netflix series?

[jspriggs]

Mass Effect
Jade Empire
Assassin's Creed
Bioshock
Half Life would be fantastic.

 

[LCarlson]

I'd love to see an Assassin's Creed series. Much like Doctor Who, the series could evolve through the various timelines, revealing a bit of mystery each season in both the set world and present day. Even with CGI, I am sure it would cost a fortune to produce.

 

[jspriggs]

I'm sure it would, but I'd think they could save some money during episodes that are more talkie and less stabby.
It and Half Life are the ones that stand out the most to me.

 

[spvtnik1]

If you get the right people . . . Oregon Trail.

Check out the Ballad of Buster Scruggs on Netflix. One of the short films does focus on life on a wagon train heading towards Oregon. I feel like you would need some reeeeally good writers to turn that in to a series, but I'd watch it! 🤠

 

[Krud]

I'm surprised that neither Warcraft nor Starcraft have had spinoff series. They've both got tons of lore and characters to work from, and Blizzard has a knack for quality animations. I really enjoyed the Warcraft III cutscenes, and while the live-action-ish movie didn't do well, I think a series that stuck to the Blizzard aesthetic would be potentially engaging, even if it would have to retread a lot of ground that players already know.

Beyond those, however, I'm skittish about games-as-noninteractive media. There's a reason I rarely watch Let's Plays on YouTube. Any game that sufficiently interests me is one I'd rather play than watch, and in a lot of cases the sense of player agency (whether real or illusory) is what elevates a game's storyline above the millions of passive ones already out there in traditional media.

Having said that, I would totally watch a "Fables"/"Wolf Among Us" series.

 

[Melancholy Bounty Hunter]

Check out the Ballad of Buster Scruggs on Netflix. One of the short films does focus on life on a wagon train heading towards Oregon. I feel like you would need some reeeeally good writers to turn that in to a series, but I'd watch it! 🤠

It'd be niche but historical nonfiction would be cool.

 

[Gamegeneral]

I'd love to see kind of a timeloop series about a roguelike of some kind. Elements of Edge of Tomorrow or something where the game keeps changing and beginning anew.

Failing that? Yakuza. Half serious crime drama, half wacky fun.

 

[Grimshaw]

Ghost Trick is something that seems "unfilmable" on the surface due to its protagonist being a ghost

Spoiler

and also a ghost of a cat tricked into thinking it's a ghost of a human being

, but if you could pull it off, it would be sublime. Ghost Trick is one of those stories that seeds its mysteries right from the start, but unlike a lot of contemporaries, the payoff is good. Really, really good.

Plus it has an incredible synergy of story themes and music. It's rare for a game to so perfectly capture the mood of the story as a whole in a single track.

 

[CaptainGadget]

Metro - already fully fleshed out story in the books albeit a bit grim. Even the games don't feel as dark as the books!

 

[mazz0]

None of them I think even the best story driven games (eg The Last of Us) would seem like a very shallow, basic story if converted to a non-interactive medium.

We care about characters in games a lot more than we would the same characters in other mediums because of that interactivity helping us form an emotional attachment to them.

We also expect less story in games than we would in a TV series (or film or book) because our mind is taken up with the more gamey aspects of the game.

That said, of those mentioned already I think X-COM and Deus Ex would be the best choices, if just for their settings.

 

[Trell!]

Detroit: Become Human, for obvious reasons, I think the narrative would play out well on the big (small?) screen.

Max Payne. As antihero movies and shows have done so well recently, why not Max? He's the perfect guy you love to hate but still root for - in 3 at least, one of my favourite ever games.

TF2 - there was a recent mock netflix poster made for this, and it's something I think could do very well, with the right casting, and its wealth of lore from the comic books.

 

[Resonate GCorner]

Dark Souls would be pretty sweet. Would also make a great anime.

 

[SWard]

Hey folks, posting to let you know that some of you are now famous: @Yourfacedotcom @DelirusRex @MacLeod @PioneerRaptor

 

[Yelssorc]

A series set in the Elder Scrolls universe would be great if done right, it'd have to be a new story though, not an adaptation of one of the game's stories

 

[Johnway]

i would say a lucas arts game. So day of the tentacle, grim fandango, monkey island etc etc.

For drama (similar to band of brothers) World in Conflict.

i would agree with a hitman series, it could be a bit like Golgo13 without the sex and more funny. probably.

 

[Hveðrungr]

Every Netflix series needs a bit of T&A to keep people interested. So the obvious answer is Hunie Pop.

 

[Hveðrungr]

A series set in the Elder Scrolls universe would be great if done right, it'd have to be a new story though, not an adaptation of one of the game's stories

They did that - a new story at a different time period - for the novels, and that worked well. I don't see why they couldn't do a TV series.

 

[Buck]

I'd like to see what they could do with a Silent Hill series, especially with some of the CGI they've managed to pull off in shows like Witcher.

 

[Pkcable]

How about Castlevania?

 

[NubeLife]

Overwatch

 

[denixius]

Hello!

There are a lot of games that I want to see the tv series, I can list them in importance order.

The Elder Scrolls
Warhammer
EverQuest
Deus Ex
Pillars of Eternity
Mass Effect
Baldur's Gate
Dragon Age

I think these are good.

Bests,

 

[Apollo]

Every week on PC Gamer we ask a question to the staff and open it up to the readers, too. And we'd love to include our new forums in the process as well!

Following the success of The Witcher series on Netflix, we're thinking about other games that would make a great Netflix series. (Though The Witcher show is based on the books, it's also obviously influenced by the games, too.)

So that's our question this week: What game or game series would make a great show on Netflix? Let us know!

We'll be publishing our answers on Wednesday morning (PacificTime) and we'd love to include some of your answers, too!

(If you haven't seen our Ask PCG column before, here's a whole mess of 'em.)

Saddle up, bois, because RDR1 and 2 need to be either movies or tv shows. Season One is RDR2 since it's a prequel, and Season 2 is RDR1.

 

[Jazz98]

I’d love to see borderlands made into a tv series

 

[wheatfat]

Life is Strange: This game was lovely, but much to my dismay, the choices aspect wasn't as impactful as I would have liked. I think it'd kill it as a Netflix series.

Yes! Just started LiS a little bit ago and so far I have to say I agree. It would be a great candidate for a Netflix show!

i would say a lucas arts game. So day of the tentacle, grim fandango, monkey island etc etc.

I was thinking the same, LucasArts made some great stuff back in the day. The Dig is one of my all-time favorite games and that would be my pick for a Netflix show. Archaeology on an abandoned alien world, it doesn't get much cooler than that. It would be great to see the lore expanded, and maybe they could draw some content from the novelization.

 

[Frindis]

Psychonauts.