Don’t you miss the days when a new action or fantasy or superhero movie was paired with their very own video game? Ok, maybe not.
We recognize that the video game industry has broken into it’s own great storytelling. We understand, the argument exists that these games no longer need a movie counterpart to make sales, but at the same time we feel there’s movies out there that deserve their own video game. Some characters are created and we just want to play as them or in their world.
Just to add a little extra, we also set aside a game they could be modeled after, in terms of graphics, character design, or gameplay.
Let’s begin.
Fully Immersive RPGs
Not every storyline is chalked up and ready for a fully immersive RPG, but there are a few lands out there that deserve to give fans the freedom of exploration. Here’s our list of Movies and TV Shows that deserve a fully immersive RPG game.
Game of Thrones
The premise writes itself, create your character and fight for the Iron Throne or defend the world against the Whitewalkers. Let’s set the player up in an open world setting, you could build alliances, travel to different lands, raise an army, take over kingdoms, and sit upon the Iron Throne. Or, if you’d prefer to be a savior of humanity, join the Night’s Watch and support them in their defense of the Wall. We’ll throw in the open world/fighting designs/graphics from Skyrim and The Witcher games.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Let’s dust off the boots on Avatar and bring a new spin on it. No your character will not become the Avatar, but in this new age of Avatar their powers are highly sought after by less than savory characters. Not necessarily new, but your character will be. You have been born into a line of benders that have been tasked with defending the Avatar from these foes. Create your character, travel to new lands, grow your bending, and maybe have some fun along the way. Perhaps this might be better served in the next category, but we’d love to see a fully immersive RPG in this world and turn the dials to the max.
We have some thoughts on how this story could go but hey nothing’s finalized.
As we’ve stated the main character has been born into this line of benders who protect the Avatar. You train with your brothers and sisters, you train with the Avatar, and finally when you’re ready to enter the ranks of the elite, you join the Avatar on missions. However, on your first mission your company gets attacked, the Avatar is captured, and you’re the only one left alive. Half the world thinks you tricked the Avatar “because you’re really a member of the clan who attacked”, the other half believe you were too young and not strong enough to protect the Avatar, but no matter what everyone blames you. You set off on your own to track the Avatar down, bring honor back to your name, and prove yourself. Along the way you struggle with your identity as you try to hide who you are. Despite all odds, you make friends along the way and uncover hidden truths about the world around you.
Let’s set this new game up with an non-cartoon Assassin’s Creed inspired design and fighting mechanics, but give the fans that open world immersive RPG.
Action/Button-Masher RPGs
We’re splitting RPGs into two categories here, there’s the casual button masher ones that have tons of action but aren’t to difficult to get through, then there’s the fully immersive RPGs that take a little more finesse. We’re looking at movies/tv shows that match up to a fun to play action adventure.
The Hobbit Franchise
We poured so many hours into The Lord of the Rings games growing up, whether that was The Two Towers or Return of the King, either one was our favorite game. It’s a little disheartening that The Hobbit movies never got their chance to create an action smash video game but tweaked to include some RPG elements for character design and progression. Even if the movies faltered too far from the books at times the story would’ve meshed well with a video game. Who wouldn’t want to run around Middle-earth as a young spry Bilbo Baggins?
We’re looking to take inspiration from the War in the North video game on level building, design, and character growth.
Thundercats
Have they ever made a Thundercats game? We’ve dabbled with a few on the old Cartoon Network website, but I don’t remember a game being made for an actual console. Needless to say, we think a game about of favorite feline heroes and heroines is certainly in order. We’re looking at the Dragon Age games for inspiration, this game does a decent job of putting a team together where each member has their own unique set of abilities. Thundercats just needs a few tweaks, perhaps a non-cartoon design, RPG character growth, and possibly gear customization. If we add in those elements and fighting/level design inspired by the Dragon Age Franchise, we feel like this would be a great game worth playing.
Action 3rd Person Shooter
You can’t go wrong with a solid 3rd Person Shooter, for us there’s just something about seeing your character boss through levels that makes it so much better than a 1st Person Shooter. What pains us is when 1st Person Shooters offer character customization, why? What’s the point if you can’t see your character? We digress, there’s great stories out their that will fit this video game mold.
Voltron: Legendary Defender
We’re very surprised no one has put this game into action yet considering how popular the TV Show was. Maybe it’s the flying lions or super huge mechs, but who wouldn’t want to play a game as a Paladin of Voltron flying through the galaxy fighting Galra and gaining new abilities along the way. The story is strong and meaningful, each character has their own set of challenges they must accomplish, and most importantly there’s action around every corner. There shouldn’t be much stopping a video game studio, they’ve made Zoids games and Gundam games. All you would need to do is put those two together with a Just Cause franchise fighting mechanics and vehicle management system and you got yourself a Voltron game. We know that’s an incredible undertaking, but in it’s simplest form we’re looking at a game that takes design, fighting mechanics, vehicle piloting, and character growth from the Just Cause series.
The Mandalorian
The Mandalorian has been a huge success for the Star Wars franchise and in response we should get a video game to pair with it. The different episodes are laid out well enough that each could function as its own video game level. Perhaps the game should throw in some extra “prequel” levels in the beginning to showcase more of Mando’s skill, but other than that a one to one re-imagining would still be a great game. Similar to Game of Thrones the premise writes itself, control Mando and protect the Child. We think you could take inspiration from the Red Dead Redemption franchise for design and gunslinger mechanics. Or, they could always dig up the Star Wars: 1313 files and set the game up that way.
Kid’s Game Action Adventure
We say kids action games but really we’re just talking about an animated action adventure story that implements puzzles. Games like this from huge franchises are universally loved, and we’re hoping we can add a few more games into this genre.
Moana
Moana burst onto the big screen with a bang and quickly became one of our favorite Disney movies. Unfortunately, no game was made and we never got the chance to sail the open seas, traveling from island to island, or make sure the dark forces of the world were kept at bay. For us, that sounds like an awesome game we’d like to play, throw in a few moments where we get to play as Maui and we’re sold. We’re going to opt to keep the cartoonized features of this game and grab gameplay, character growth, and design from the Legend of Zelda franchise.
Onward
The world of Onward is vast, unexplored by fans, and full of magic. This movie burst in to theaters early 2020 right before everything started shutting down. After we watched this film we couldn’t help but feel incredibly excited about what the future holds for Ian and Barley. With all the Dungeons & Dragons references throughout the movie it’s hard not to draw inspiration into this game. It’d be a great way to showcase the types of magic Ian could cast and the guardian abilities Barley would learn. This is one game we’d love to play.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this post, we know we got very long winded on a few of these. Let us know what movies or TV shows you’d like to see turned into a game! Maybe they already made a game but you’d like to see them redo it right! Let us know in the comments below.
Remember, the crownless again shall be king.
– The Wandering One
Of Blades and Kings 