Video games provide fertile ground for filmmakers looking to adapt stories for the big screen. Designed to be immersive and extended experiences for the player, video games have only gotten better at weaving together fascinating stories with rich worlds and inventive game mechanics and player experiences.
It’s no surprise that survival horror films like Werewolves Within, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and Resident Evil were all adaptations of wildly successful and innovative video games. Thankfully for filmmakers, there are so many more survival games in the horror genre that are just begging for adaptations.
10 ‘Lethal Company’ (2023)
Initially released in early access in late 2023, Lethal Company is a cooperative survival horror video game set in a retro future. In the game, up to four players form a team and explore a map set on a foreign moon. The aim is for the team to collect scrap, which can be sold for profit. Unfortunately, the scrap that players are looking for is scattered around dangerous structures brimming with traps and murderous alien creatures. Players who don’t get back to the ship in time will be left behind, if they haven’t already been murdered.
“The game’s intimate vibe would easily translate to a tidy thriller with a small cast ready to get picked off one by one.”
Lethal Company combines horror and sci-fi elements with the thrill and terrifying excitement of a survival based co-op. All of these elements would make for excellent plot points and set pieces in a sci-fi horror film, particularly due to its unique settings and small cast of characters. The game’s intimate vibe would easily translate to a tidy thriller with a small cast ready to get picked off one by one.
9 ‘Inscryption’
Developer: Daniel Mullins Games
Despite not being a shoot ’em up RPG or an open world survival challenge, Inscryption is definitely one of the most compelling horror games of the last few years. The rogue-like deck builder traps the player in a cabin with a mysterious otherworldly figure named Leshy. While sitting across from Leshy at his table, the player needs to build a library of cards and best him in one-to-one combat.
“Inscryption
feels as though it was designed for the sole purpose of being adapted into a taut and terrifying two-hander.”
Inscryption is not as outright terrifying or survival based as other games in the category, but its story is fascinating, its aesthetic is intoxicating, and its mood is unmatched.Inscryption feels as though it was designed for the sole purpose of being adapted into a taut and terrifying two-hander.
8 ‘Phasmophobia’ (2020)
Developer: Kinetic Games
Phasmophobia is proof that being a ghostbuster is probably not as fun as it seems. The game, which was released in 2020, is a cooperative horror game which sees four players taking on the role of horror investigators from a first-person perspective.
As a team, players must access a haunted location and investigate the ghost or demon that lives there. The game’s use of short-distance walkie-talkies between players adds an immersive element that would translate incredibly well to a big screen adaptation.
7 ‘Fran Bow’ (2015)
Developer: Killmonday Games
Despite being less of a survival game and more of a puzzle game, playing Fran Bow certainly makes you feel like you are playing for your life. Set in the 40s, the grim and dark game tells the story of young Fran Bow who has been committed to an asylum after witnessing the murder of her parents. The player steps into Fran’s shoes and solves puzzles to escape the asylum and solve the mystery of what happened to her parents. Despite the simplicity of the gameplay, Fran Bow is anything but simple. The story is impossibly dark and heart-wrenching and contrasts wildly with the unique beauty and styling of the characters and environments portrayed in the game.
“The story is impossibly dark and heart-wrenching…”
Fran Bow invites players into a dark and surreal environment. Evoking the work of filmmakers like Panos Cosmatos and Tim Burton, Fran Bow‘s dark and beautiful storytelling is reminiscent of Pan’s Labyrinth.
6 ‘Dredge’ (2023)
Developer: Black Salt Games
Playing as a small and charming fishing boat, Dredge allows the player to catch fish, upgrade equipment, and explore the high seas. What may sound like a charming game for a Sunday afternoon is in fact much more sinister.
“What may sound like a charming game for a Sunday afternoon is in fact much more sinister.”
While exploring the world of Dredge, players slowly begin to unravel the secrets of the seas and encounter dangerous creatures. Dredge isn’t a typical survival game per se, but the more ambitious the player gets, the more survival becomes a priority.
5 ‘Little Nightmares’ (2017)
Developer: Tarsier Studios
Little Nightmares is a puzzle platformer that casts players as a little girl named Six. Wrapped up in a yellow raincoat, Six must explore the dark and enormous world she is trapped within. Six solves puzzles and overcomes obstacles as she moves through her terrifying environment.
Little Nightmares feels like the experience Sucker Punch tried so hard to be. Focused around an escape from a prison that the protagonist can barely understand, Little Nightmares is rich with compelling story details and hauntingly gorgeous set pieces that would make for a heart-wrenching yet terrifying horror movie.
4 ‘Escape the Backrooms’
Developer: Fancy Games
Escape the Backrooms is a co-op exploration game that invites players to try and escape the mysterious back rooms. The environment is filled with liminal spaces and impossible areas, like infinite hallways and labyrinthine office buildings.
”
While Escape the Backrooms is quite light in plot, its visual language and style are fertile ground for a terrifying and cinematic story.”
The game’s ability to turn mundane, everyday environments into torturous and infinite prisons is visually striking and unsettling. While Escape the Backrooms is quite light in plot, its visual language and style are fertile ground for a terrifying and cinematic story.
3 ‘Inside’
Developer: Playdead
Inside is a puzzle platformer which casts the player as an anonymous boy who is trapped in a fraught and hostile monochromatic world. The game’s sparing use of color evokes an oppressive darkness throughout the play experience.
“The
character’s desire to find their way through the chaos, despite being completely alone, is as poignant as it is horrifying.”
Despite the anonymity of the game’s protagonist, Inside is filled with subtle nods and details that point to a larger and more dystopian backstory. Playing Inside feels very much like playing as one of the extras in War of the Worlds. The character’s desire to find their way through the chaos, despite being completely alone, is as poignant as it is horrifying.
2 ‘Outlast’ (2013)
Developer: Red Barrels
Outlast sees players take on the role of Miles Upshur, an investigative journalist exploring a run-down psychiatric hospital in Colorado. Unfortunately for Miles, the hospital is inhabited by dangerous and homicidal patients. The player takes on a first-person perspective as they make their way through the environment, trying to survive while also gathering vital information.
“While other survival horror games are based around offense, Outlast is entirely defensive.”
While other survival horror games are based around offense, Outlast is entirely defensive. Rather than being able to attack and fight, the player must instead hide and go undetected to complete challenges and make it through. Outlast is reminiscent of small scale and tense horror films like Don’t Breathe.
1 ‘Resident Evil 4’ (2023)
Developer: Capcom
Resident Evil has already been adapted into a wildly successful action horror franchise. And while the films have kept coming, so have the games. Many of which have stories all of their own that differ entirely from anything covered in the films. Resident Evil 4 is one of those games. The player steps into the shoes of federal US agent Leon Kennedy, who must rescue the daughter of the president from a mysterious cult.
“…there is plenty of room for more films in the
Resident Evil
universe
, especially a worthy adaptation of the classic fourth entry.”
A remake of one of the most influential and acclaimed video games ever made, the newest Resident Evil game takes the original world of RE and continues to expand it using the backdrop and the 1998 zombie plague as a jumping off point to tell an entirely new story. In a media landscape dominated by sequels and spin-offs, there is plenty of room for more films in the Resident Evil universe, especially a worthy adaptation of the classic fourth entry.
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