novel adaptations
Trying to avoid more indirect adaptations, i.e. ones based on a movie/tv adaptation rather than the book itself, ones based loosely around a famous character rather than a specific story, ones that are just a sequel to a previous video game adaptation (unless they're based on a particular sequel novel). I'll fudge those rules where I feel like it though.
198 Games
Brave Story (Miyuki Miyabe, 1999-2001)
Dear Faustina (Rhoda Broughton, 1897)
Dragonflight and sequels (Anne McCaffrey, 1968-1979)
The Stand (Stephen King, 1978)
Damiano trilogy (R.A. MacAvoy, 1983-1984)
Watt (Samuel Beckett, 1953)
Le Morte d'Arthur (Thomas Malory, 1485)
Murder off Miami (Dennis Wheatley, 1936)
Nine Princes in Amber (Roger Zelazny, 1970)
Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe, 1719)
The Robots of Dawn (Isaac Asimov, 1983)
Nansō Satomi Hakkenden [aka The Eight Dog Chronicles] (Kyokutei Bakin, 1814-1842)
Seas of Blood (Andrew Chapman, 1985)
Seasons of Heaven (Nicolas Augusto, 2016)
The Swiss Family Robinson (Johann David Wyss, 1812)
Tarzan the Untamed (Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1920)
Temple of Terror (Ian Livingstone, 1985)
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (Lewis Carroll, 1871)
The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett, 1983)
The Fourth Protocol (Frederick Forsyth, 1984)
The Rats (James Herbert, 1974)
The Scoop (The Detection Club, 1930)
The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas, 1844)
The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas, 1844)
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (Lewis Carroll, 1871)
Timeline (Michael Crichton, 1999)
Treasure Island [aka Sea Cook: A Story for Boys] (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883)
Treasure Island [aka Sea Cook: A Story for Boys] (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883)
Treasure Island [aka Sea Cook: A Story for Boys] (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883)
Ulysses (James Joyce, 1922)
We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury, 1989)
Journey to the West (Wu Cheng'en, 1592)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong, 1300s)
Rendezvous with Rama (Arthur C. Clarke, 1973)
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (Jules Verne, 1870)
Nansō Satomi Hakkenden [aka The Eight Dog Chronicles] (Kyokutei Bakin, 1814-1842)
Tai-Pan (James Clavell, 1966)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain, 1876)
Dragonworld (Byron Preiss & Michael Reaves, 1979)
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (Mary Shelley, 1818)
The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas, 1844)
A Song of Ice and Fire series (George R.R. Martin, 1996-2011)
TekWar series (William Shatner & Ron Goulart, 1989-1997)
The Hidden Staircase (Mildred Wirt Benson (as Carolyn Keene), 1930)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain, 1876)
Inferno (Dante Alighieri, ~1320)
Congo (Michael Crichton, 1980)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee, 1960)
The Pilgrimage (Paolo Coelho, 1987)
The Mist (Stephen King, 1980)
The Canterbury Tales, (Geoffrey Chaucer, ~1400)
The Saga of Erik the Viking (Terry Jones, 1983)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum, 1900) & The Marvelous Land of Oz (L. Frank Baum, 1904)
Politika (Jerome Preisler, Tom Clancy & Martin Greenberg, 1997)
Digital Devil Story trilogy (Aya Nishitani, 1986-1988)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong, 1300s)
The Broken Anchor (Sharon Wagner (as Carolyn Keene), 1983)
Moderato Cantabile (Marguerite Duras, 1958)
Animal Farm (George Orwell, 1945)
Storm Boy (Colin Thiele, 1964)
Children's and Household Tales [aka Grimm's Fairy Tales] (Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm, 1812)
The Witch Tree Symbol (Harriet Stratemeyer Adams (as Carolyn Keene), 1955)
Real Fake ("Carolyn Keene", 2007)
Bedlam (Christopher Brookmyre, 2013)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (Jules Verne, 1870)
Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe, 1719)
Falcon: The Renegade Lord (Mark Smith, 1985)
Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne, 1873)
Shōgun (James Clavell, 1975)
The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (Sue Townsend, 1984)
The Way of the Tiger series (Mark Smith & Jamie Thomson, 1985-1987)
Digital Devil Story trilogy (Aya Nishitani, 1986-1988)
The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown, 2003)
The Iliad (Homer, 850-630 BCE)
Demons Don't Dream (Piers Anthony, 1993)
Mystery on Maui (Elizabeth Nugent (as Carolyn Keene), 1998)
Ubik (Philip K. Dick, 1969)
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954-1955)
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937)
The Thirty-Nine Steps (John Buchan, 1915)
Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie, 1937)
How to Be a Complete Bastard (Adrian Edmondson, Mark Leigh & Mike Lepine, 1986)
The Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954)
The ABC Murders (Agatha Christie, 1936)
Water Margin (Shi Nai'an, late 1300s)
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1937)
Journey to the West (Wu Cheng'en, 1592)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Luo Guanzhong, 1300s)
The Mystery in Tornado Alley (George Edward Stanley (as Carolyn Keene), 2000)
Investiture of the Gods (Xu Zhonglin, late 1500s - early 1600s)
Secrets Can Kill ("Carolyn Keene", ed. Anne Greenberg, 1986)
Dracula (Bram Stoker, 1897)
The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum, 1900)
Murder on the Orient Express (Agatha Christie, 1934)
Chaos Legion (Tow Ubukata, 2003)
From the Earth to the Moon (Jules Verne, 1865), Around the Moon (Jules Verne, 1870) & The First Men in the Moon (H.G. Wells, 1901)
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone, 1982)
Peril at End House (Agatha Christie, 1932)
11 Comments
thanks! I think it came up when I was getting the list together but I was having a hard time figuring out which specific Kenji Miyazawa works it was pulling from and whether it might be better suited for my other list, for games based on short stories? I should look into it further
Hmm yeah possibly the short stories list would be a better fit – I haven’t found much info on the specific stories it’s adapting either, and am not familiar with Miyazawa’s work
I love your list! There are novels that I didn't even know had a game.
Definitely need "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" on here!
"I Have No Mouth" is based on a short story so it's on this list instead https://www.backloggd.com/u/jakobvongunten/list/games-based-on-poems-short-stories-and-songs-1/
You missed Shannara when it comes to Legend Entertainment book adaptions.
There's also the Discworld adventure game trilogy and the Infocom Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy interactive fiction game. Also Pilgrim: Faith as a Weapon and Return of the Phantom
Finally I think the Dune RTSes by Westwood would count, unlike the original Cryo adventure game which was clearly based off the Lynch film.
There's also the Discworld adventure game trilogy and the Infocom Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy interactive fiction game. Also Pilgrim: Faith as a Weapon and Return of the Phantom
Finally I think the Dune RTSes by Westwood would count, unlike the original Cryo adventure game which was clearly based off the Lynch film.
have added a few of those but Shannara, Discworld Noir, and the Westwood Dune games are all original plots within the setting of their respective series afaik. Not sure why Hitchhiker's wasn't here already, perhaps when i made the list I thought it was primarily based on the radio series?
The Atlus Megami Tensei isn't actually a direct adaption on the novel, it's a sequel the the first 2 novels (before the 3rd novel released and went in a different direction). I don't know too much about the Telenet one but I believe it's a side story rather then an adaption of the novels.
I am glad someone else already did the work of compiling these. Thanks For Making it. Recently this game called "To Hell With The Ugly" was released, which is a direct adaptation of the Boris Vian novel of the same name, if you wouldnt mind adding it.
thanks! (for both the appreciation & the tip)
TeN
3 years ago