10 Most Faithful Video Game Adaptations, Ranked

Video game to movie and television adaptions have gained a terrible reputation over the years. For the most part, the early days of video game adaptions were not accurate and also, simply not written well. This caused the idea of the “video game movie curse” to be spread across the film industry. People believed that it wasn’t possible to make an accurate and good video game adaption.

However, in recent years, Hollywood has gotten miles better at making good, faithful video game movies and TV. Being accurate doesn’t always mean that the project will be good, but the fact that studios are genuinely trying to stay closer to the source material is a good sign and, more often than not, still results in quality product.

10

‘Assassin’s Creed’ (2016)

Directed by Justin Kurzel

If there’s a video game adaption in the last decade that was received terribly, while still staying accurate, it’s Assassin’s Creed. It was ripped apart by both critics and audiences alike, but fans of the games, while admitting it was bad, still appreciated the fact that the story and world on display were actually quite accurate to the game’s universe, keeping its thrilling tone.

The movie brings the world of Assassin’s Creed to life in a spectacular fashion. While the story is an original one, it still manages to be incredibly accurate to the concepts and worldbuilding from the source material. Given the fact that the game publishers were helping develop the project, it was a given that it would be represented correctly.

9

‘Silent Hill’ (2006)

Directed by Christophe Gans

While critics didn’t respond well to 2006’s Silent Hill, fans actually did. This can be seen by its very contrasting critic and audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. While it’s not a perfect film, it manages to almost perfectly adapt the feeling of the original game, which is one of the most important parts of the franchise’s reputation.

But, the story never needed to be perfect, in the end. What was going to be most important was the ambiance, which they captured in a wonderful manner. Whether it be through the sound design or visuals, director Chrisophe Gans put a ton of effort into making sure the vibe of the original game was brought to life in an accurate way.

8

‘Castlevania’ (2017)

Created by Warren Ellis

Most of the time, fans don’t respond well to video game adaptions that are live-action, due to the inherently fantastical elements that most video games bring forth. So, when it was announced that Castlevania would be brought to life as both a series and in animated form, people were very pleased. This ended up being the perfect medium for the franchise, garnering a mass of positive reviews.

Being a dark and mystical world, Castlevania was always going to thrive in the animated space. Animation studios Mua Film and Tiger Animation made the series one of the most well-animated of its entire tenure on Netflix. But, not only was it visually adapted well, it was written exceptionally, too. People were invested and fell in love with the Castlevania universe, and it even brought new audiences to the game franchise.

7

‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ (2024)

Directed by Jeff Fowler

Being a faithful adaption doesn’t mean it has to be a one-to-one copy of the story from the source material. Sometimes, taking the original story and changing it to enhance it makes for a plethora of faithfulness, because it shows that the audience understood the story and cares enough to do it justice within the restraints of the film medium.

When it was revealed that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 would be adapting the iconic story from Sonic Adventure 2, fans were excited to see how it would be adapted. It’s one of the most beloved stories in the Sonic the Hedgehog game franchise, but has issues with being convoluted at times. So, when director Jeff Fowler took the original story and reformatted it to streamline the experience, it made for both a faithful adaption while still being something new and interesting to this Sonic the Hedgehog (Ben Schwartz) version’s fans.

6

‘Pokémon Detective Pikachu’ (2019)

Directed by Rob Letterman

Video gamers all over the planet have been asking for a live-action Pokémon project for over a decade. There is so much content and potential within the franchise that Nintendo could genuinely make an entire cinematic universe with the Pokémon IP alone. Fans, however, were surprised when the company unveiled that the first ever live-action film in this universe would be based on their Detective Pikachu franchise. So, not only were people worried that the studio couldn’t bring the fantastical creatures to life in a faithful manner, but they were unsure whether the source material they picked was the right choice.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu surprised pretty much everyone. The world of Pokémon was made real in a borderline perfect way. All the Pokémon that come on screen look amazing and faithful to their original designs. But the story was faithful to both the original Detective Pikachu story and Mewtwo’s (Rina Hoshino & Kotaro Watanabe) origins established in Pokémon: The First Movie. There’s a reason that Pokémon Detective Pikachu is one of the highest-grossing video game films of all time.

5

‘Warcraft’ (2016)

Directed by Duncan Jones

Warcraft is another interesting case of critics destroying a movie and general audiences and fans enjoying it. Whether the movie is genuinely of quality or not isn’t important. It’s the fact that director Duncan Jones went through a plethora of hard work, blood, sweat and tears to ensure that the beloved universe of World of Warcraft was brought to film accurately.

It was done so well that fans couldn’t help but love the adaption of one of the world’s biggest video games. Whether it be through the designs, visual effects, performances or the score, Warcraft knew exactly what it had to be and became that. Regardless of if one thinks the story wasn’t the best it could have been, it can’t be denied that this film so perfectly brought this incredibly famous world to the big-screen accurately.

4

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ (2023)

Directed by Aaron Horvath

People all over the planet were horrified at the premise of casting Chris Pratt as the world’s most famous plumber, as he is quite the opposite of what he sounds like in the games. But, people had hope, given the fact that it was a fully animated film, meaning they were going all-in on bringing accurate game designs and set-pieces into viewers’ eyes. It’s a surefire future classic.

But, it ended up working out in the end. Pratt gave a surprisingly good performance that fit this iteration of Mario and the rest of the cast was very fitting, as well. The story was somehow astoundingly accurate to the original game’s story and the other movie and television adaptions of the character. Every design looks as if it was ripped straight out of the 3D games and that led to people feeling like they were right at home with this new world, because it was so familiar.

3

‘Mortal Kombat’ (2021)

Directed by Simon McQuoid

One of the biggest complaints about Mortal Kombat, aside from a bit of a rushed story, is the fact that general audiences felt as if it was made more for people who were already fans of the source material prior to the movie’s release. However, this means that fans of the video game series were very pleased with the product before them, because the studio decided to have a ton of fun with the lore.

They not only adapted a faithful story, but went as far as bringing full recreations of the iconic finishers from the game. So, while the film isn’t the best of the best, it did pretty much everything it needed to in the eyes of fans. So much so that the film is receiving a sequel soon and everyone is pretty dang excited about it. Plus, it’s a lot better than the mediocre one from the 90s.

2

‘Arcane: League of Legends’ (2021)

Created by Christian Linke & Alex Yee

If there’s a television series as of late that has taken the world and put it in a chokehold, it’s Arcane: League of Legends. Taking the world by storm in 2021 and once again in 2024 with its second and final season, the show became one of the greatest TV runs of all time. They somehow managed to balance the plots of multiple characters and weave them together into one coherent, overall story. It’s one of the best adult animation series ever.

Creators Christian Linke & Alex Yee brought the world of League of Legends to life in an incredibly compelling way that didn’t require audiences to have absolutely any knowledge of the franchise beforehand. Some people didn’t even know about League of Legends until the series dropped. It’s genuine art and has the entire planet waiting for what the creators are going to do next.

1

‘The Last of Us’ (2023)

Created by Neil Druckmann

When The Last of Us dropped in 2023, it became not only the most accurate video game adaption but arguably the best, as well. There are a plethora of scenes in the series that are word-for-word and almost shot-for-shot recreations of the cinematic scenes from the video game. However, it only does this for really iconic and important moments, and still finds a way to take its creative liberties in both visuals and story to set itself apart.

Performances from both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are astonishing and perfect adaptions of the performances from the source material. It’s beautifully shot, performed (as stated), written, directed and overall executed. The series is borderline perfect and served as a huge win for the studios.

NEXT: Every Sonic the Hedgehog Movie, Ranked