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Curated playlist

Video games adapted into novels

  • Assassin's CreedAssassin's Creed began as a Prince of Persia sequel with the prince cut out.
  • Metal GearMetal Gear became a stealth game because its computer could not handle a gunfight.
  • Hitman (franchise)Hitman is a stealth game franchise from the Danish studio IO Interactive, and it began as a deliberately modest idea. Designer Jacob Andersen described the plan like this: "We decided to do a quick game inspired by Hong Kong action…
  • Halo (franchise)Halo is a military science fiction franchise, and in 1997 its earliest form went by a codename its own programmer was too embarrassed to say aloud. Bungie's team first called the project "Monkey Nuts." Jason Jones could not bring himself…
  • UnchartedBy December 2017, the Uncharted series had sold 41.7 million units worldwide. Uncharted is an action-adventure franchise developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Amy Hennig created it. Its heroes are…
  • Far CryFar Cry, the first-person shooter franchise published by Ubisoft, began life as an island full of dinosaurs. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 1999, the German studio Crytek showed a technology demo called X-Isle: Dinosaur Island.…
  • Tomb RaiderTomb Raider is a video game franchise that began in 1994 at Core Design, a British studio, and had sold more than 100 million units worldwide by 2024. Its pull was felt almost at once. In late 1996 and early 1997 the band the Prodigy…
  • Five Nights at Freddy'sFive Nights at Freddy's, known to fans as FNaF, asks its players for one thing: stay alive from midnight until 6 a.m. in a pizza restaurant after closing time. Scott Cawthon created the series, and it has grown from video games into…
  • Fable (video game series)In the Fable games, your choices change the hero's face. Good and evil deeds show in the character's body.
  • Resident EvilResident Evil was almost named Biohazard, but the name was already taken. A DOS game and a punk band held it.
  • Silent HillSilent Hill got its name from translating a Japanese prefecture's name. The title was not crafted for marketing.
  • Mass EffectMass Effect began in 2003 as a pitch to build a universe on the scale of Star Wars. BioWare wanted to own it entirely.
  • Silent Hill (video game)When Silent Hill's composer played his music, the team thought it was a software bug.
  • OverwatchOverwatch was built from the pieces of a cancelled game called Titan.
  • Gears of WarGears of War begins its fiction with a death toll. The event is called Emergence Day. In only 26 hours, the Locust Horde, a race of subterranean creatures, kills 25% of the population of the planet Sera. From that catastrophe grows a…
  • The Elder ScrollsThe Elder Scrolls began as a gladiator game about arena tournaments. Side quests grew as the tournaments shrank.
  • WarcraftWarcraft got its name because it "sounded super cool." Blizzard's co-founder said the word had no particular meaning.
  • Devil May CryDevil May Cry began as a failed Resident Evil prototype. Capcom let it become its own game instead of scrapping it.
  • Diablo (series)The Diablo video game series is named after a California mountain. Creator David Brevik lived near Mount Diablo.
  • Alan WakeAlan Wake is a 2010 action-adventure game from the Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment, published by Microsoft Game Studios. Its hero is a bestselling crime novelist whose wife vanishes during a vacation in Bright Falls, a small fictional…
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic begins with a character waking aboard a doomed Republic capital ship, with no memory of who they are. The setting lies four thousand years before the Star Wars films. This one amnesiac premise…
  • Ultima (series)Ultima IV dropped the hero-versus-villain plot and made the player chase eight virtues instead.
  • DanganronpaDanganronpa is a Japanese video game franchise in which a robotic teddy bear named Monokuma forces apparent high-school students to kill one another. Kazutaka Kodaka created the series. Spike Chunsoft, formerly known as Spike, develops and…
  • Doom (franchise)Doom is an American media franchise created by five people: John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud, and Tom Hall. Its hero never receives a proper name. Players call him Doomguy, the Doom Marine, or, in later entries, the…

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