Have you ever played a video game that evoked some serious emotions in you?
Similar to that of how maybe a good movie would make you feel. Our prior editors have previously explored movies that should become video games, but we would like to reverse those roles and tell you some of our favorite games that we believe would make excellent movies. Â
Starting off with What Remains of Edith Finch, this is categorized as a narrative adventure game, a first-person exploration game, and a walking simulator. I first remember watching this game be played by a boyfriend I had a few years ago. I was so immersed in the story in the game itself and the vulnerability of the character that I didn’t want it to end. In the game you play as Edith Finch who is the main character. She is a 17-year-old girl who inherits her family’s house as she is the last survivor of her family. She returns to this house looking back at memories from her life and questioning why all her ancestors have died.
The visuals of the Finch home alone include a towering, crooked house built from generations of grief and eccentricity. It could honestly serve as a character in itself. Combined with a moving performance from a young actress portraying Edith, the film could explore the same themes of legacy, fate, and storytelling that made the game unforgettable. I would consider this game a deeply emotional and visually inventive narrative, more about understanding life through death than solving a mystery.
For an adaptation of this game, an experimental style film would match well with the disorienting story plot. It would require much production design that would be unique to this set and truly would make the film amazing, along with lighting and certain camera shots such as dutch angles, spy angles, dolly shots or tracking shots.
Detroit: Become Human is already halfway to being a blockbuster film. Set in a near-future Detroit where androids serve humans but begin developing free will, the game follows three android protagonists. Kara, Markus, and Connor whose intertwined stories explore themes of identity, oppression, and choice. With cinematic visuals and branching dialogue trees, Detroit is a game that feels like interactive cinema by design.
As a film, Detroit: Become Human could capture the sweeping, emotional intensity of science fiction classics. Its exploration of artificial consciousness and civil rights offers a rich foundation for both thrilling action and philosophical depth. A big-screen adaptation could condense the game’s branching storylines into a single, powerful narrative—perhaps centering on one character’s journey from servitude to self-awareness, while still hinting at the broader social revolution.
Casting would be key: imagine actors like Jodie Comer as Kara or John Boyega as Markus, bringing humanity to android characters struggling for freedom. The film’s moral dilemmas—what it means to be alive, to love, to fight for equality—would resonate just as strongly in today’s world as they do in the game’s digital Detroit. Done right, it could become not just another sci-fi film, but a cultural touchstone about empathy and technology’s role in shaping who we are.
The game would work best in an animated adaptation in the same style as Arcane. With emphasis on emotions, background design and body movement. Animated films or shows are made with a purpose, every shot is drawn to mean something, so hiding a easter egg within a poster, a window fog, the clouds, or even within the sound design- It would all work great with the plot within Detroit Become Human.
The Stanley Parable would be a surreal, self-aware comedy. The game follows Stanley, an office worker who realizes his entire life is narrated by an unseen voice that seems to know everything he’s about to do. The player can follow or defy the narrator’s directions, leading to wildly different—and often absurd—endings.
Translating The Stanley Parable into a film would be an opportunity to push storytelling boundaries. Imagine a film that constantly breaks the fourth wall, commenting on its own structure, on filmmaking itself, and even on audience expectations. Blending humor, absurdity, and existential dread into something both hilarious and profound.
The film could explore themes of free will versus determinism, not just for its protagonist but for the viewer, too. Would Stanley ever truly break free from the narrator’s control? Or would the film loop endlessly, suggesting that both player and viewer are just cogs in a larger narrative machine?
This is another one that would do well within an animated adaptation. The disorienting loops, the non-reliable narrator and odd world built world could leave audiences with the original intended purpose of questioning, confusion and wonder.
Red Dead Redemption 2, what a good story based game. An adaptation of this game would result in another iconic western film.
If you have not played this game, I do recommend- You play as Authur Morgan, an outlaw who is a part of the Van der Linde gang. With the tropes of loyalty, trust, betrayal and found family this game would make for a good western film.
Imagine a film like Clint Eastwood, with the hazy sunrise with a coyote howling in the background and at some point the Wilhelm scream is heard during the fight scenes. With a style like old westerns, the night scene being only light by moonlight with a slight blue tint, the foley sound design exaggerating all motions, the wardrobe and set design, it would look like old Hollywood.
Read this article below by Variety to see how our list compares to theirs!
https://variety.com/lists/best-video-games-without-movies-playstation-xbox-nintendo
See our previous editor’s picks for film that have already come out based on video games!
