As gamers, we love escaping to immersive worlds full of amazing stories, lore and characters, creating timeless franchises like Fallout, Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed.

Each tale features unique and often wide-open worlds, all with threads that unravel over hundreds of hours of gameplay, leaving us in awe of what we experienced as we tell as many friends as possible what went down.

Yet, this is limiting, as to have these conversations, you need people that own the game and have taken the time to play it. It’s not like catching up on the latest episode of Game of Thrones - but what if it could be?

We're so used to movie adaptations of our favourite franchises turning out to be bitter disappointments, so what about television? The worlds created in video games would translate brilliantly into seasons of serialised drama, all across multiple genres. Yet with the exception of Defiance and a few Halo and Final Fantasy television movies, this is a largely unexplored area.

If the Witcher series coming to Netflix later in 2019 is successful, TV and streaming creators may be looking to video games to inspire the next big blockbuster show, so let’s explore what should come next

https://whatculture.com/gaming/6-video-game-franchises-that-would-make-amazing-tv-shows?rf=homepage

#6: Deus Ex

The rise of Smart technologies over the course of the last decade shows no signs of slowing down, with people eagerly anticipating the next device from the likes of Apple or Google. And with these devices getting ever smaller and more powerful, how long is it before someone releases a device that augments the human body?

A more poignant question would be, is this a good idea? Is a world where humans use technology in such an intense way one we would really want to live in?

It is in asking these questions where a Deus Ex universe could really shine.

Deus Ex could be set in or around the time of Human Revolution or Mankind Divided, with a fresh set of characters involved in plots of political intrigue, corporate rivalry and the effects of how such augmentations would impact personal relationships between characters in a world seemingly gone mad.

The premise and the world laid out in the video games could form the basis for a Blade Runner-style show that provides interesting set pieces, characters with strong and interesting motivations, but also an interesting piece of social commentary on where the world is heading.

Not to mention, the overarching effects and moral implications of what a trans-humanist society would be like.

#5: Fallout

Post-apocalyptic dramas have been hit and miss over the years, where shows that have the most success are the ones that draw upon multiple threads of storytelling.

The world of Fallout has an interesting premise. Not only because of its depth of established lore, but also the mixed genre approach the games have offered over the last 22 years.

The show could focus on a group of characters seeking to unite the various factions that have sprouted up after the fall, traversing the wastelands of Washington to New Vegas and beyond, encountering various monsters and anomalous aftereffects of the war.

Set this against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic world, with each episode exploring various towns, settlements and vaults filled with endearing characters trying to make ends meet, and you have a pretty solid blueprint for a number of seasons.

4: Resident Evil

Yes, Resident Evil was adapted for the big screen with a fairly modest run of films, but those who played the first game in the mid 1990s would see it more akin to a traditional horror than the sprawling action adventure the series would eventually become, especially on the big screen.

Resident Evil works best in more intimate settings, where you're forever wondering what's around the next corner. Though Resident Evil 2 and 3 took place in the collapse of Racoon city, it still managed to maintain its style and pace perfectly.

So imagine a show set very early in the Resident Evil timeline. Following a set of STARS agents investigating strange outbreaks around Racoon City, taking on a similar type of storytelling to shows like the X Files, Supernatural or Fringe, a full outbreak wouldn't come until the end of the first season. Following that, characters would attempt to thwart the attempts of Umbrella's various organisations and experiments across America and beyond.

A more interesting take on the "Monster of the Week" template, RE history is filled with tons of memorable villains, set-pieces and scares in equal measure.

#3: Battlefield

In the last decade however, franchises focusing on real life conflicts such as Medal of Honour have fallen by the wayside, but there is one game in this generation which has resurrected these old tropes: Battlefield 1.

The short but intense campaign of Battlefield 1 brought the action you come to expect from this genre and put it against the backdrop of realistically framed stories from the 'war to end all wars' - not only providing some much needed context to all the chaos, but also some interesting and sometimes educational value.

Imagine a well-paced wartime show, exploring a different conflict each season, dramatising real events as they happened, with interviews with key people and sources adding real world context.

Part-action drama, part-documentary, if done correctly, a show in the style of these wartime games such as Battlefield 1 could prove an emotional, educational and hard-hitting opportunity to explore our history and relationship with warfare.

#2: Assassin Creed

A live action Assassin’s Creed would be a perfect blend of historical, fantasy and science fiction storytelling, depicting the war between the Templars and Assassins racing to find the pieces of Eden, with the ultimate fate of humanity hanging in the balance.

The plot could follow Desmond Miles as he is kidnapped by Abstergo and forced into the Animus to explore the memories of his genetic predecessors throughout various ages in history.

There is plenty of source material to follow, offering a mind-bending journey of historical fiction, set in amazing locations such as ancient Rome, juxtaposed by Miles' modern day struggle for escape, dealing with the effects of the invasive Animus device, and even the mystery of Patient 16.

The show would not have to follow the plot of the games exactly, but could be fleshed out with interesting characters in both modern and historical settings.

Are we going back to Ancient Rome, how will Desmond escape, what are the effects of the Animus device, who are the templars? The possibilities for engaging content that keeps viewers interested over time are tremendous.

* The Last of Us
* God of War
* Call of Duty(modern warfare trilogy)
* Uncharted
* Gears of War
* Metal Gear Solid

#1: Mass Effect

Well in order to satisfy the audience, those who played the games and those who would be introduced to the franchise for the first time, you would need something with an overarching story, but enough lore so we can also have standalone episodes.

What about a show that starts with the very foundation of the Mass Effect story itself? The discovery of the artefact on Mars that leads to the expansion of the human race, exploring the galaxy through the Mass Relay network?

The show could focus on a fictional crew exploring the galaxy with the goal of meeting new races, gathering resources and technology. We could see the First Contact War and the embryonic stages of such organisations as Terra Firma and Cerberus, humankind’s introduction to the Citadel, with nods to the game trilogy through the inclusion of characters who would later appear in the games events.

All of this asks the questions: How would mankind react if this actually happened? Would we have the capability to deal with the introduction of alien species into the human consciousness?

Like the games, a Mass Effect TV show would provide an interesting commentary on the differences that remain in our world today.
Lalasticlala Cao