Best Books That Inspired Popular Video Games

Summary

• Video games take inspiration from literature to create captivating worlds and stories.

• Books like Metro 2033, Roadside Picnic and Heart of Darkness inspired popular games.

• The Harry Potter series inspired countless video games, including the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy.

With video games slowly evolving into a complex medium full of everything from rewarding gaming experiences to captivating stories, it's easy to see why some games take inspiration from real-life literature to be as immersive as possible. These books go a long way towards creating a diverse world full of unique things and events to keep in mind.

Gamers who love their fair share of video games will love some novels that have played a large role in shaping the greatest titles known to gamers. These books are fun to read through and do a great job of letting players imagine a world they are already familiar with in some capacity.

8

Subway 2033

Inspired by: The Metro Series

• Author: Dmitry Glukhovsky
• Year of publication: 2002

The Metro series of games contains some of the best experiences gamers can put themselves through, especially if they love nail-biting games focused on survival in a hostile environment. These games are inspired by a Russian novel that explores the lives of a group of survivors in the wake of a nuclear holocaust.

Exploring the claustrophobic underground subway and dealing with the many mutants that can damage a player's equipment is a harrowing experience every time. Most gamers who love the Metro series will be grateful for the novel that started it all.

7

Picnic by the road

Inspired by: The STALKER series

• Author: Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
• Year of publication: 1972

Picnic by the road is one of the most influential philosophical science fiction novels of all time, paving the way for a series that fans are quite familiar with. The anomalies and death-defying shootings of STALKER has turned it into a hard gem that owes its success to this popular book.

The stories take place in a world where aliens have visited Earth and caused several anomaly zones to appear all over the world. Roadside Picnic depicts the life of a scavenger who is willing to risk his life to enter these zones and acquire valuable artifacts.

6

Heart of Darkness

Inspired by: Spec Ops: The Line

• Author: Joseph Conrad
• Year of publication: 1899

A novel ahead of its time, Heart of Darkness is a story that explores twisted power dynamics and the lack of morality that can be witnessed in the elite class. Its social commentary makes it a powerful piece of fiction that has inspired several other creations, including one of the best story-driven third-person shooters of all time.

Spec Ops: The Line is a game that masquerades itself as a general military shooter, only to later throw a curveball and let players experience one of the best stories they can enjoy in a video game. This harrowing story is a critique of military violence and how this action turns into a source of entertainment in games, which is much deeper than anyone could have imagined the action would go when they started Spec Ops: The Line.

5

The Witcher

Inspired by: The Witcher series

• Author: Andrzej Sapkowski
• Year of publication: 1986 (first short story)

The Witcher began as a collection of short stories before eventually becoming a long-running series and one of Sapkowski's most notable works. However, it cannot be denied that these books became popular courtesy of a video game trilogy inspired by this dark fantasy series that became one of the biggest names in the video game industry.

Both The Witcher and its sequels enjoyed modest critical and commercial success, but all this was only a stepping stone for The Witcher 3 worming its way into the hearts of many as one of the greatest open-world action RPGs ever made. Gamers love Geralt of Rivia and his friends, making them some of the most beloved fictional characters of all time brought to life by Sapkowski's literary style.

4

Parasite Eve

Inspired by: The Parasite Eve Series

• Author: Hideaki Sena
• Year of publication: 1995

Parasite Eve is the rare example of a SquareSoft JRPG that tackled mature themes, didn't overstay its welcome, and essentially served as a sequel to the novel that inspired this game. Hideaki Sena's book documents the story of a perfect being who seeks out a suitable human host to help humanity evolve.

But her methods are too drastic and terrifying to justify, and her plan eventually fails after things don't line up with her grand vision. The seeds sown of this plot were made Parasite Eve an enticing video game adaptation that serves as a decent standalone entry and doesn't force players to have in-depth knowledge of the novel responsible for the game's existence.

3

Harry Potter

Inspired by: Countless Harry Potter games, including Hogwarts Legacy

• Author: JK Rowling
• Year of publication: 1997

JK Rowling may be one of the most controversial celebrities of modern times, but there's no denying that this literary genius shaped an entire generation of readers with her work on Harry Potter series. The magical setting of Hogwarts has inspired several popular video games that fans can't get enough of.

From some underrated direct adaptations of the story to one of the biggest open world RPGs of 2023, it's easy to see why Harry Potters influence on the world of video games is profound. The legacy of Hogwarts may be the best game in this universe, but it still has a long way to go before it truly evokes the charm of this series that turned Harry Potter to a famous name.

2

I have no mouth and I have to scream

Inspired by: A video game of the same name

• Author: Harlan Ellison
• Year of publication: 1967

One of the most disturbing stories readers can check out, I have no mouth and I have to scream is a harrowing story in which a supercomputer exterminates all of humanity, leaving only five survivors alive to torment for the rest of their days. Their stories deal with some harsh themes that some readers may not be able to stomach.

As a result, it's easy to see why the video game adaptation of this novel would be quite harrowing to play through. But the extended story of I have no mouth and I have to scream makes it a good game to check out for gamers who can handle their fair share of disturbing content, especially if they're fans of classic point-and-click games.

1

The Adventures of Pinocchio

Inspired by: Lies Of P

• Author: Carlo Collodi
• Year of publication: 1881

The Soulslike genre has gained momentum after the launch of Dark soulsand one of the best titles from a developer other than FromSoftware that gamers can check out is Lies by P. Aside from a focus on too many multi-phase boss fights, the Victorian world of Lies by P is dripping with atmosphere and a must to check out.

The fact that this game's world is inspired by the story of Pinocchio gives this game more staying power than most would assume. The story is enticing enough to do justice to Carlo Collodi's story and adds another engrossing layer to the game's enticing action combat.