With the recent announcements that Grand Theft Auto will be getting it’s own live action drama and that Netflix is developing a live action  Legend of Zelda series, it got us thinking: what other video games would be great on TV? Television has provided some of the best story telling in recent memory even more so than cinema. This change can be attributed to being able to evolve characters and let them grow through an ongoing series. With that in mind, there are plenty of great games that we can think of that could be adapted for the little screen successfully–here are four we want to see.

Dead Space

We start our list off with a bang, well, a scream. As of recently, horror has been proven to work well on television with shows like Bates Motel and American Horror Story being pretty successful. Bring in Isaac Clark, our good-looking hero dealing with dementia and a crazy ex. This series would actually work best if it stayed true to the games.

The real trick will be figuring out how to properly introduce necromorphs without looking too cartoony or silly. Get this wrong and it all goes to Ishimura–yes, we are coining that term. The show would have to start prior to the events that occurred in the first game but some of the build up would be to the massacre of the original Ishimura. Isaac is the poor engineer sap who gets dragged into the whole mess and the show would revolve around him.

There are plenty of conspiracies going on in the game that could drive any show. The reasons behind the search of the mysterious Marker that turns people into monsters named Necromorphs, what the Marker even is, and what does the Unitology religion want with the Marker.

As an aside you would have Isaac looking for his girlfriend and eventually dealing with his dementia. The Ishimura would also be a great setting since it is so claustrophobic and eerie that it acts as its own character. It would make for great television.

Bioshock— Rapture Falls 

There have been countless rumors for quite some time now that Bioshock was being adapted for the big screen and it sounds like a great idea for a darker toned thriller.  What would work better though? A television show of course. The great part about the Bioshock story is that it doesn’t even need to revolve around the series stars Big Daddy and the Little Sister. Sure, they can be done right with some practical effects but the Rapture holds some dark human stories that can easily drive a five season show.

The focus could instead be about a citizen of Rapture, someone that was there from the beginning. He or she would be there to witness the boom of the city under the sea and enjoy the glamorous celebrations and high class society. Think Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby film adaptation but with  a much darker twist. The series would span this inception all the way through the drug addiction to Plasmids and to the final fall of the once booming city. It would be a mixture of a rag to riches story and horror/thriller. Throw in the Big Daddy and Little Sisters as a myth that will eventually show up to some capacity and you have a winner.

Assassin’s Creed— Doctor Who meets Assassins 

Who doesn’t love an alternate history story? Trust us, there is a compelling story underneath all that convoluted mess in the video games. One group of people “Assassins” (not really) travel back in time to learn about ancestors so they can stop the other radical group “Templars” from taking the biblical piece of Eden to control the world. Simple enough, right?

However, some changes would be needed. For instance, instead of just witnessing the life of an ancestor the main protagonist could be part of the current time assassin group and would travel back in time to prevent catastrophic events from occurring. So it would be more about time travel in the Doctor Who sort of way. The assassin group would be thwarting the Templars from changing the past and taking control in current time. How exciting would it be to have set time pieces from the games?  Each season focusing on the time period that each game is set in.

The Assassins would be more like super-spies, ala James Bond. There would be espionage, time travel, history alteration, and some gruesome assassinations.  This series has been rumored to be getting a feature length film as well but the television format might be better suited.

There are plenty of interesting characters in the series as well that could act as large parts of the plot.

Fire Emblem— Love, Swords, and Magic

In our final slot, Fire Emblem. it may not seem like the most original idea and really it is not but if it works, then why not? The most recent television show that can be a good comparison is Game of Thrones which of course the new rumored Zelda show is trying to replicate in some manner.

You can take a young boy or girl and have them eventually grow into the heroes that will save the world. We know this type of show works, middle age times, large battles, government conspiracies, and plenty of love triangles. Taking the Fire Emblem: Awakening story and adapting it to television would work flawlessly. Add in one giant Dragon, time travel, and you have yourself a hit show.

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That is our list, some horror, drama, time travel, and plenty of swords. We did not include some of the larger titles like Uncharted or Halo because in Uncharted’s case it is more character-driven story and Halo has already sort of been done. Do you agree with these choices? What other games do you want to watch on your television? Let us know what you think in the comments section below, and make sure you check out Dan’s episode of The Dan Cave where he shares some of his picks!