41 Best Video Game Adaptations: Movies and TV Shows

Great video game movies and TV shows go well beyond The Last of Us and Arcane. There are adventures in the spirit of Indiana Jones, dark horror films, spectacular action movies, and animated features for the whole family. We've rounded up the movies and shows worth watching in 2026, from the original Mortal Kombat to stories set in the worlds of League of Legends and Cyberpunk 2077.

Some adaptations faithfully recreate familiar events, while others use the games as the starting point for an original story. Knowing the source material will help you catch the references, but you can enjoy many of these films and shows without having played the games.

Ancient artifacts, secret orders, and wars in magical realms—these adaptations rarely stick to a single genre. This section covers movies based on Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Prince of Persia, Assassin's Creed, and Warcraft, from treasure hunts to sprawling battles between humans and orcs.

Lara Croft is one of gaming's most recognizable heroines. A bold adventurer with twin pistols, ancient tombs to explore, and a knack for finding trouble, she seemed made for the big screen. The first two movies stayed true to that classic version of the character.

Angelina Jolie took the lead in 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. She captured Lara's confidence, resourcefulness, and dry wit while making the role her own. The movie retained the games' sense of adventure, and Jolie was so convincing that she remains the definitive screen Lara for many viewers.

The plot embraced the same wild ideas as the games, so mysterious tombs and fantastical artifacts felt right at home. A sequel followed, attempting to dig deeper into Lara's character and what made her tick.

Both films remain entertaining adaptations more than two decades after their release, still delivering the good time they set out to provide.

Fans were thrilled to see Jake Gyllenhaal wearing the familiar armor from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. Disney was hoping for its next Pirates of the Caribbean, and Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner was involved in the adaptation.

It seemed like a sure thing. Instead, despite its substantial budget, strong source material, and appealing fantasy setting, the movie received mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike. There wasn't actually that much to dislike about Prince of Persia. The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, released not long afterward, was worse in almost every respect.

The adaptation explored new sides of the Prince, giving him a name and a backstory. The Dagger of Time made the cut, too, and the effects used to rewind time still look fantastic. The leap from game to film felt entirely natural.

Fans still weren't happy, of course. The movie changed the story considerably, making it a loose adaptation rather than a direct retelling. As Resident Evil and Silent Hill had already shown, though, that wasn't necessarily a problem.

The ballooning budget was another matter. Reshoots made The Sands of Time an expensive proposition, and audiences weren't ready to embrace a brand-new franchise on that scale. The Mouse House lost around $100 million, and plans for a sequel went nowhere.

Its plot problems and Disney's usual sentimentality don't change the fact that this is a terrific fantasy adventure starring one of gaming's most famous characters. It may lack the edge some fans wanted, but it remains an engaging, exciting watch.

An Assassin's Creed movie had been a long time coming. After years in development hell, it emerged with a strong cast led by Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, and Jeremy Irons, along with a new Spanish Assassin who had never appeared in the games. Once again, critics panned the result, and plans for sequels were scrapped. A shame, given how much potential there was.

Using Desmond Miles' story as a template, the writers reworked the plot and escalated the modern conflict between the Assassins and Templars. Fans disliked how much time the movie spent in the present, with only brief trips into ancestral memories that offered little context. Yet the games had told us surprisingly little about how modern Assassins operated. After ten games, we still hadn't seen much of how these hooded operatives might storm an Abstergo skyscraper or how far their hidden blades had evolved. The movie promised to explore that side of the world.

Another smart idea was the redesigned Animus, the device used to access genetic memories. In the games, it had started as a reclining platform before becoming a VR headset. The movie introduced a new design that made it easier to believe an ordinary person could pick up an ancestor's abilities after just a few sessions. It's surprising the games haven't borrowed the idea.

The film had plenty of weaknesses, too. With several sequels planned from the outset, the first installment was weighed down by setup. Instead of getting to know the characters and their thoughts, feelings, and motivations, we sat through a crash course in the lore. The Spanish Assassin was also underdeveloped, reduced to little more than a blank avatar.

Its biggest problem was its narrow focus on existing fans. Assassin's Creed was made primarily for players, seemingly forgetting that general audiences—including critics—might know nothing about its mythology. One reviewer even complained that the Apple of Eden didn't have a bite taken out of it by Eve. That gives you some idea of their familiarity with the source material, and it was far from the only review to miss the point.

Despite the criticism, longtime fans of the games shouldn't skip Assassin's Creed. It's a polished film with real affection for the series, even if it doesn't get everything right. Netflix is also developing its own series, which began filming in Rome in 2026. Depending on how that turns out, the movie may yet look like a model adaptation by comparison.

Warcraft is gaming's answer to The Lord of the Rings. Its enormous body of lore spans centuries and a vast cast of heroes and villains, and it continues to grow. Adapting even a small part of it is a daunting task. A movie or show has to appeal to fans while also working for viewers who have never heard of Thrall, Arthas, or Medivh.

Director Duncan Jones pulled it off. He made a coherent, accessible film that doesn't leave newcomers struggling to follow events. Its one real drawback is that it feels like a prologue to a much bigger story. The distinctive visuals stood out, and the idea that both sides had a legitimate cause still felt fresh in a fantasy blockbuster.

Unfortunately, a sequel now looks unlikely. The enormous budget left the movie unable to turn a profit. Once again, fans and critics with little understanding of Warcraft helped sink its prospects.

Some complained about character designs that were actually quite faithful to the games. Others seemed disappointed that the movie couldn't squeeze thousands of years of lore into its running time. Those complaints were hardly convincing. The "cartoony" orcs certainly looked different from their counterparts in The Lord of the Rings, but they could convey a full range of emotions, which was crucial to the film's central idea. James Cameron's Avatar also relied on digital characters, yet the artificial appearance of its blue Na'vi somehow didn't seem to bother anyone.

Critics dismissed Warcraft as a waste of time. Given how many terrible adaptations have appeared since—Netflix's The Witcher springs to mind—that verdict seems even more absurd now. The filmmakers delivered high fantasy with moral complexity and extraordinary visual effects, only for critics to write it off as too naive and too much of a fairy tale.

Warcraft remains one of the best video game adaptations, opening the door to Azeroth's extraordinary world of magic and war. Meticulously recreated locations from World of Warcraft, familiar characters, and countless Easter eggs make it a standout in this list. It's a shame that so much unfair criticism helped close the door on a sequel.

The Tomb Raider game reboot, which pitted a less experienced Lara against an island full of armed enemies, quickly caught Hollywood's attention. The story seemed ready for the screen, but the filmmakers had other ideas. They reworked it yet again, keeping only parts of the game's plot. Still, the adaptation turned out well, and Alicia Vikander proved a strong choice for the lead.

Some fans weren't sold on the casting, which was hardly surprising. Watching Lara gradually become the tomb raider we know was a compelling journey. It's a shame we won't get to see a sequel.

Uncharted made quite a splash when it arrived in 2022. Tom Holland played treasure hunter Nathan Drake, allowing the filmmakers to focus on the character's younger years and tell an origin story of their own that differed from the games.

Predictably, the fan backlash was fierce. Everything came under fire, from Holland's Drake to the lack of a mustache on his partner Sully. It sometimes feels as though the biggest enemies of game adaptations are the fans who wanted them most.

The cast's star power and a solid script inspired by the games helped Uncharted weather the storm. The movie turned a profit and convinced Sony to commit to a sequel.

We don't get many treasure-hunting adventures in the spirit of Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, so we hope this series has a bright future on the big screen. It doesn't need to follow the games exactly to be a good time for fans and newcomers alike.

Seeing familiar characters, weapons, and signature moves on screen is a big part of the appeal of action adaptations. This section covers films and shows based on fighting games, stealth action games, and arcade classics, from Mortal Kombat tournaments to Sam Fisher's covert missions and Rampage's giant monsters.

Mortal Kombat deserves its reputation as a benchmark for both '90s action movies and video game adaptations. At the time, its memorable characters, great fights, and well-judged fan service helped redefine what the genre could deliver. The sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, failed to repeat that success and received dismal reviews from critics and audiences alike.

For all its cult status, though, the 1995 movie really shows its age. Nostalgia is now its biggest draw, and the thin plot is unlikely to keep you hooked. Modern Mortal Kombat games tell far more ambitious stories and call for very different adaptations.

It had been a long time since Mortal Kombat delivered anything exciting on screen, even though a new movie was long overdue. The buzz around the first two films had faded, while the games' conflicts had grown to a scale comparable to Avengers: Endgame.

The announcement didn't generate much excitement. The lead character was created specifically for the movie, and the promised roster of fighters looked limited. Thankfully, the result was much more entertaining than that premise suggested. The fights are well choreographed, with characters regularly pulling off signature moves and dropping references to the games. Familiar fighters look the part, and the story remains engaging even as it serves as a prologue to the main event. There were still plenty of flaws, but they didn't stop the movie from succeeding.

The 2021 movie spent most of its running time setting up a tournament that never happened. The sequel finally delivers the Mortal Kombat tournament. Earthrealm's champions face Shao Kahn's fighters, joined by Johnny Cage—a movie star who has to prove he can fight when the cameras aren't rolling.

Karl Urban's Cage gives the movie a welcome shot of energy. His swagger and wisecracks fit a world where humanity's fate is settled with a punch and a particularly inventive Fatality. The fights are more exciting, too, giving the characters more room to show off their signature moves and remind us why fans loved them in the first place.

The script is still mostly an excuse to get everyone into the arena, so don't expect much dramatic depth. As a bloody action movie for Mortal Kombat fans, though, the sequel is a more confident effort than its predecessor. We go into more detail in our Mortal Kombat II review.

Unlike Mortal Kombat, Tekken hasn't had much luck with screen adaptations. The anime improved matters, exploring Jin Kazama's early life, his relationship with his famous grandfather, and how he found his way into the iconic tournament.

Bloodline is a must-watch for fans who want to learn more about their favorite characters. Newcomers may find the series disjointed and the storytelling rushed. Many fights happen off screen, and the show assumes viewers already understand relationships it hasn't properly introduced.

Arcade games can be an excellent starting point for movie adaptations. With so little established lore or characterization, filmmakers have room to take the story almost anywhere. That's exactly what happened with Rampage.

The original game was about as simple as it gets. Three giant creatures—a gorilla resembling King Kong, a wolf, and a lizard—tear through a city, destroying everything in sight. The backstory explained that they had once been humans before experiments turned them into monsters, but that had little bearing on how you played.

The movie changes the premise and adds a human cast. Here, ordinary animals grow to enormous sizes and develop new abilities as a result of laboratory experiments. The wolf, for instance, can glide like a flying squirrel.

Dwayne Johnson leads the human cast, playing his usual capable big guy with a heart of gold. The other characters are so bland there's little else to say about them.

There's always an audience for giant monsters. Godzilla, after all, remains popular around the world. The filmmakers wisely kept things as grounded as a movie about giant animals can be, with no magic, Hollow Earth, or sea gods to complicate matters. Given how little the original game offered to work with, they did a pretty good job.

Sam Fisher gets his own animated series for adults. The veteran operative is already a legend in espionage, but staying out of trouble isn't an option. When wounded agent Zinnia McKenna comes to him for help, Fisher is drawn into another dangerous mission and an international conspiracy.

With John Wick creator Derek Kolstad involved in the writing, the emphasis on brutal, carefully staged action makes sense. Nobody wastes time explaining their plans to an enemy, and any mistake can have ugly consequences. Fisher may be older, but he still has the composure of someone who assesses a situation before making his move.

The intricate spy story sometimes gives way to chases and shootouts. Fans of methodical stealth should keep that in mind, as we discussed in our Splinter Cell: Deathwatch review. As a lean action series about an old pro forced to clean up other people's messes, though, Deathwatch is entertaining. You can follow it without knowing the details of Sam's earlier missions.

Movies based on racing games can explore professional motorsport or street racing. Need for Speed and Gran Turismo focus on speed, cars, and rivalry. Twisted Metal takes a different route, combining armed vehicles, dark humor, and a road trip across post-apocalyptic America.

Adapting racing games is a challenge. Building a compelling story around cars and racetracks isn't easy. Gran Turismo finally reached theaters in 2023, while the Fast & Furious movies have been raking in millions for years. The reason is simple: cars are no longer the main attraction in Dominic Toretto's adventures.

With little competition for Dom and his family, the movies get more ridiculous while the racing gets less interesting. How many races can you actually remember from the last three films? It wasn't always this way. In 2014, Electronic Arts and DreamWorks SKG set out to deliver some proper car porn with an adaptation of one of gaming's best-known racing franchises, Need for Speed.

The movie never became the hit it deserved to be. It's surprisingly solid and keeps its focus where it belongs: on the racing. The supercars may not leap between skyscrapers, but the stunts and chases feel convincingly real. The filmmakers favored practical stunts and location shoots over CGI, giving the action a welcome edge over its rivals.

The lead character feels grounded, too. There are no outlandish heists, criminal empires, or abilities bordering on superpowers. Tobey Marshall is a talented mechanic who loves his work, played by Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad and Westworld.

Critics faulted the movie for its simple plot, seemingly forgetting that The Fast and the Furious began as a straightforward story about an undercover cop. Gran Turismo also took a more grounded approach in 2023, making Need for Speed's failure sting all the more. If you're tired of Vin Diesel defying the laws of physics and want to watch some gorgeous supercars in action, give this one a shot. Even now, its practical effects look great.

A Gran Turismo adaptation had been in the works for years, but plans kept falling apart. The movie finally escaped development hell in 2023, and the result wasn't quite what many people expected. Instead of a serious sports drama, it offered a classic underdog story about learning to believe in yourself and succeeding against the odds. It's a familiar formula, but a reliable one. Critics were generally receptive, and audiences were, too. A predictable plot certainly beats the kind of loose adaptation Uwe Boll tends to make.

Jann is a dedicated gamer who spends hours playing Gran Turismo with a racing wheel. He's convinced his skills can rival those of professional drivers, though his family doesn't share his faith. Everything changes when he hears about a competition whose winner will get to race for real. Knowing it's based on real events makes the story all the more satisfying.

It may not be groundbreaking, but Gran Turismo is a well-made film that treats its source material with respect. Orlando Bloom and David Harbour bring some welcome star power.

Few people expected much from Twisted Metal. The car combat series was once hugely popular, but those days are long gone. Younger gamers may not even recognize Sweet Tooth's clown mask and flaming head. The show turned out to be excellent. It tells an original story—a sensible choice given how little plot the games had to begin with. Easter eggs and references are woven into the narrative, helping its post-apocalyptic setting stand out.

Strong characters, sharp humor, and a plot that keeps you hooked all make Twisted Metal worth watching. Season 2 arrived in 2025, and the series has since been renewed for a third. We take a closer look in our Twisted Metal Season 2 review.

Secret labs, a town lost in fog, animatronics that come to life, and a world devastated by a pandemic—video game horror has plenty to offer filmmakers. This section features Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Five Nights at Freddy's, and The Last of Us, ranging from zombie action and supernatural scares to survival drama.

The Resident Evil movies starring Milla Jovovich are widely disliked among fans of the games, and there are plenty of reasons why: a disregard for canon, a story stretched far too thin, increasingly ridiculous plots—and not in a good way—and awkwardly shoehorned cameos by familiar characters.

It didn't start that way, though. Paul W. S. Anderson's first film came close to capturing the games' atmosphere. At the time, seeing those zombies on the big screen was still a novelty, and they were frightening enough to build real tension. Jovovich's Alice also worked well in the setting. Considering where the games have gone since, she seems more plausible than characters like Ethan and Lady Dimitrescu.

The story follows a team of operatives sent into a secret laboratory to investigate a biological weapons leak. The familiar horror setup becomes more interesting when it turns out that the virus can give some infected people superhuman abilities rather than killing them.

The first Resident Evil remains a solid zombie action movie, still worth revisiting more than two decades after its release.

Resident Evil gets another reboot, this time from Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger. He builds his story around a new protagonist, medical courier Bryan. A routine delivery becomes a nightmare when Bryan is caught in an outbreak and has to escape a city where nothing makes sense anymore.

The film's greatest strength is how vulnerable its hero feels. Bryan has little idea what's happening and has to survive with whatever he can find, just like the games' protagonists. Every new obstacle demands another solution, and a brief respite can quickly become a fresh disaster. That rhythm captures a feeling fans will recognize: make it to the next room, catch your breath, and head back into danger.

Cregger balances tension, gore, and dark humor, while Austin Abrams convincingly plays someone every bit as frightened as the audience. It's a standalone story with its own characters, so you won't need encyclopedic knowledge of Umbrella to follow along. For fans, the biggest draw is how closely the film recreates the feeling of fighting for survival in the games. We explore how Cregger brings survival horror to the screen in our Resident Evil (2026) review.

Neil Druckmann, the lead writer of The Last of Us, directed some episodes of its TV adaptation himself. In the early 2000s, game adaptations were often handled by filmmakers who barely knew the source material. That makes Silent Hill an unusual case. Christophe Gans spent months trying to persuade the games' creators to let him make the movie. He professed his love for the series in almost every interview, though that didn't stop him from taking considerable liberties with its canon.

The 2006 film follows a mother struggling to save her daughter in a fogbound nightmare of a town. Many familiar elements are painstakingly recreated, but it's a separate story that lacks the games' philosophical depth and much of their subtext. Even so, it works as a standalone movie for players and newcomers alike.

Despite its plot holes, the story was gripping, and the ending left room for a sequel. That sequel arrived in 2012 and was a complete flop. It strayed even further from the games and alienated just about everyone, so it won't be making this list.

A game about inspecting the same hallway over and over might not seem like an obvious choice for a movie adaptation. That makes Genki Kawamura's take on it all the more interesting. The film follows a man trying to escape an underground passage, only to keep finding himself back in the same place. Getting out means following one simple rule: spot an anomaly and turn around immediately. If nothing looks unusual, keep walking.

Before long, you're playing along with him. You study the notices, watch the passerby, check the doors, and try to remember whether this stretch of hallway looked the same a minute ago. An ordinary space gradually becomes frightening precisely because you've already gotten to know it. The smallest detail can disrupt that familiar picture and make you question how closely you've been paying attention.

The filmmakers give the protagonist a personal story to flesh out the minimalist premise, though the endless passage remains the main attraction. The repetition occasionally slows things down, but it also sustains the uneasy feeling of being trapped. What makes Exit 8 particularly interesting is how it translates a game mechanic to the screen: even without a controller, you'll want to stop the character and make him take another look around.

Five Nights at Freddy's was one of 2023's most unusual success stories. It was a low-budget experiment, but that did nothing to deter fans of the games. Made for a modest sum by Hollywood standards, the film earned more than 14 times its production budget at the box office. It has its problems: a mediocre plot, little tension to speak of, and a willingness to play fast and loose with the source material. Still, audiences had their say, as the scores and box office returns make clear. It's worth a look for its phenomenal success and painstakingly recreated animatronics alone. You might find yourself enjoying it, too.

This hit series adapts one of the best games of the modern era. The first season arrived in 2023, followed by the second in 2025, and a third has been confirmed. The creators faced a difficult task: finding something new to say that would fit the established story while expanding it in interesting ways. Not everything works, but the result is a strong series that's easy to binge. Fans will appreciate the attention to detail and shot-for-shot recreations of key scenes, while viewers who don't play games can finally discover why everyone in this world is so afraid of mushrooms.

Just as in the games, Fallout's world is frightening, absurd, and strangely appealing all at once. The series tells an original story within that universe, so you don't need hundreds of hours in the Wasteland to follow along. Vault dweller Lucy ventures to the surface for the first time, crossing paths with Maximus, a young Brotherhood of Steel soldier, and a ruthless bounty hunter known as the Ghoul.

The three characters see the world very differently. Lucy tries to follow rules that stopped applying outside the vault long ago. Maximus dreams of finding his place in a powerful organization. The Ghoul knows all too well what pretty promises are worth. Their encounters reveal how this world works through actions and conflicts, with familiar locations and objects adding to the story.

It's especially satisfying to see the series preserve Fallout's satire. Ads promising a happy life, displays of corporate concern, and cheerful songs sit alongside horrific cruelty and the fallout from other people's experiments. Season 2 reaches New Vegas, giving fans even more places to recognize. Yet the characters remain compelling even if watching the show was your first encounter with Vault-Tec.

For more on when to expect Fallout Season 3 and where the characters' stories could go next, read our guide to the show's next season.

Deep space, cyberpunk cities, android warfare, and gothic vampire realms give video game adaptations plenty of room to explore. This section includes Halo, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a, Arcane, and Castlevania. They share imaginative worlds and stories in which personal conflicts become entangled with the fate of entire societies.

Halo brings Master Chief to live action, but both his story and his personality differ from the games. A few details and the broad outline of the war remain. Fans were furious, though I'd argue the changes actually benefit the character. Chief finally develops from a silent killing machine into an interesting person, and watching him grow is compelling.

Of course, the series doesn't get everything right. The storylines that don't involve the Spartans can be downright irritating. Even so, it's a solid sci-fi show that makes you want to see how its story ends. That counts for something.

If you need proof of anime's pulling power, look no further. After Cyberpunk: Edgerunners came out, sales of the game increased severalfold, even though CD Projekt RED's title had a less-than-stellar reputation at the time.

The formula for success turned out to be simpler than you might think: complex characters, a world that feels alive, and a tragic story. The game had all of those ingredients, but the series put them to better use.

You don't have to be an anime fan to enjoy it. The real draw is how well it captures the atmosphere of Night City. The first season also tells a complete story, with Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 introducing a new story and cast of characters.

It's hard to imagine Devil May Cry without flashy fights, enormous swords, and a hero who can crack a joke in the middle of a seemingly hopeless battle. Adi Shankar and Studio Mir's series sets out to preserve that side of the games. Dante makes a living hunting demons and gradually finds himself at the center of a conflict that could tear down the barrier between two worlds. One of his main enemies is the mysterious White Rabbit.

The adaptation is at its best when the action gets going. Characters switch weapons, throw enemies around, and stage fights that would only suffer from having to obey realistic physics. The music and overall presentation bring to mind early-2000s action movies and music videos. If style and spectacle were what drew you to the games, the series has plenty to offer.

The writers take liberties with the canon, giving familiar characters different backstories and personalities. Some of those changes are bound to divide longtime fans. Season 2 puts greater emphasis on Dante's rivalry with Vergil, allowing a family story to emerge behind the spectacular battles. It's best approached as an independent interpretation of Capcom's universe.

For our impressions of the first season, read our review of the Devil May Cry animated series.

Another anime series on our list, this one released all 24 episodes across 2023 and 2024, so you can now watch the whole story. It follows the game's plot closely, with a pair of androids fighting machines on an Earth abandoned by humanity.

There's an important distinction, though. Understanding the game's full story and endings requires multiple playthroughs, and not everyone has the time or inclination. The anime covers the main events and helps bring the scattered details together. If you enjoyed the game but don't feel like playing through it three to five times, this adaptation is worth a look.

Video game adaptations can make for unusual mysteries, too. Gnosia begins with a straightforward nightmare: creatures aboard a spaceship are posing as humans and killing the passengers. The crew debates who looks suspicious and sends its chosen suspect into cold sleep. The catch is that protagonist Yuri is stuck in a time loop, forced to work out who to trust again and again.

With each repetition, the story grows more complex than a simple game of Mafia. Familiar faces can find themselves in very different roles in a new loop, while information gathered earlier casts their behavior in a new light. You'll start following more than the search for the next impostor, paying attention to the characters themselves: what they hide, what they fear, and why they cling so stubbornly to their decisions.

The world's rules and recurring debates take some getting used to. In return, the series uses the game's looping structure to gradually unravel a larger mystery. It's a good choice if you're drawn to intrigue, worldbuilding, and character relationships in game adaptations and have had your fill of tournaments and demon wars.

Few people expected a series based on League of Legends to be a success, let alone an animated one. That made the result all the more surprising. Arcane is smart, visually striking fantasy that hooks you within minutes.

A story about two sisters on opposite sides of a conflict is hardly a new idea, but what matters is how their relationship unfolds. The characters' emotions and struggles feel believable. It also helps that no one is simply good or evil, leaving you rooting for people on both sides.

This is one of those rare adaptations that turns seemingly generic avatars, distinguished mainly by their attacks in an arena, into fully realized characters—and memorable ones at that. Watching the story develop and its many threads come together is a delight. The only drawback is that there aren't enough episodes. The story concluded with its second season in 2024.

This anime adapts a famous game—or rather, an entire series. The games follow the Belmont family's centuries-long struggle against Dracula and his vampire minions. Within minutes, the show makes it clear that its story will be more complicated than it first appears, with no entirely virtuous heroes in sight.

All four seasons are well worth watching. Bloody, brutal, and dark, Castlevania can surprise even longtime fans of the games, while its artwork will appeal to animation lovers.

After Trevor Belmont's story, the series moves to late-18th-century France. Against the backdrop of the revolution, young hunter Richter Belmont and his allies try to stop vampires who have their own plans for humanity's future. The atmosphere is unmistakably Castlevania: gothic settings, magic, brutal fights, and heroes forced to confront their past in the middle of yet another catastrophe.

Nocturne draws inspiration from the Richter games while telling its own version of events. Familiar characters and imagery find their place in a story where the conflict between humans and vampires becomes entangled with questions of power, faith, and freedom. The creators also remember that viewers came for monster hunting. Magical abilities and a variety of weapons give each major battle its own spectacular moments.

The first season spends plenty of time introducing the new cast. In the second, the story picks up, relationships grow more interesting, and the fight choreography gives you even more reasons to pause and admire individual frames. If you enjoyed the original Castlevania, this is a natural next step into its world.

Tim Miller, one of the creators of Love, Death & Robots, brings a similar format to video game worlds. Secret Level's first season consists of 15 standalone shorts. Each has its own story, characters, and mood, so a dark sci-fi action episode might give way to fantasy or a completely unexpected take on a familiar arcade game.

Warhammer 40,000, Armored Core, and Unreal Tournament provide some of the strongest settings. The short format lets an episode throw you straight into a fight, reveal character through action, and finish before its spectacular battles outstay their welcome. The anthology works particularly well with worlds that have room for stories beyond the adventures of a specific game protagonist.

Episode quality varies considerably, though. Some need only a few minutes to tell a complete story; others feel more like beautiful commercials that cut off just as things get interesting. Don't expect 15 miniature masterpieces. Still, some stories will make you want to revisit a familiar game or find out more about a world you've never explored.

The lighter side of video game adaptations brings us comedies and adventures starring Mario, Sonic, Pikachu, and the Angry Birds. These films introduce their worlds without lengthy explanations and build their stories around conflicts anyone can follow. Meanwhile, The Cuphead Show! brings Cuphead's characters to the screen in short animated adventures.

The animated adaptation of Angry Birds turned out pretty much as expected. Light humor, a straightforward plot, and plenty of references made it a hit. Red, the familiar red bird, takes the lead.

Although the film is clearly aimed at children, there's plenty for adults to enjoy, too. It also reveals how the conflict began and why those colorful birds hate the green pigs so much. Unfortunately, the sequel was a step down in every way. The jokes became downright silly, the characters went nowhere, and the script felt like it was scraping the barrel for ideas.

The mobile game Pokémon Go once took the world by storm. Its premise was wonderfully simple: walk around in the real world and catch virtual creatures through your phone's camera. Anyone could pick it up. A movie or TV series seemed an obvious way to build on that success, and Hollywood delivered Pokémon Detective Pikachu, treating the Pokémon world with care and affection. A game of the same name already existed, too. The creatures retain their cartoon designs, with CGI giving them a more lifelike appearance, while the live-action cast brings just enough drama to ground the chaos.

The story follows Tim as he searches for his missing father. Helping him is his dad's former partner, Detective Pikachu, who turns out to be both clever and capable of talking.

It's an enjoyable mystery with a couple of twists, and the world's straightforward rules mean you won't need an encyclopedic knowledge of Pokémon lore. It also tells a complete story. The film performed well at the box office and deserves its place among the best video game adaptations.

Pokémon deserve a vacation, too. In this short series, they visit a tropical resort where new employee Haru learns to look after the guests while working through her own anxieties. Finding the right approach to each visitor isn't easy: everyone has different habits, fears, and ideas about what makes a good vacation.

The show's standout feature is its stop-motion animation. Textured characters and miniature sets make the resort feel like a real place. The Pokémon's movements and little reactions are particularly enjoyable to watch, giving familiar creatures expressive personalities even without human speech.

Director Iku Ogawa and dwarf studios have made a gentle story about caring for others, communicating, and giving yourself permission to slow down. There are no grand battles or missions to save the world, but there's plenty of good-natured humor and relatable everyday concerns. The eight short episodes released in 2023 and 2025 make for a welcoming family introduction to Pokémon, with no need to memorize hundreds of species or learn the rules of battling.

Sonic the Hedgehog shows how fans can have a positive influence on a movie's production. The blue hedgehog looked awful in the first trailer, prompting a flood of memes and jokes online. That design was even mocked in another movie, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

The filmmakers listened to the criticism and redesigned Sonic to look like his video game counterpart.

The first film follows a familiar origin story, introducing Dr. Robotnik and Sonic's human friends. The second is an ideal sequel, expanding on everything the original did well. Both films tell a new story rather than retreading the games, which works in their favor given how convoluted Sonic's lore can be.

Jim Carrey's inimitable turn as the villain is one of the films' biggest strengths. He also returned for the third installment in 2024, this time playing two roles.

By the third movie, Sonic's circle has grown enough for the series to move beyond introductions and tackle a bigger conflict. The new opponent is Shadow, another speedy hedgehog whose brooding exterior hides a tragic past. To take him on, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles must turn to some unexpected allies.

Director Jeff Fowler draws on key elements of Sonic Adventure 2 while fitting them into the established movie universe. Shadow gives the story some much-needed weight, while Jim Carrey keeps it from becoming too serious. Playing two Robotniks, he clearly enjoys himself. There's also room for large-scale battles that finally let the characters unleash their full abilities.

The humor still aims for a broad family audience, so some comic interludes can feel unnecessary. The central story, however, benefits considerably from an opponent whose motivations make sense. The third film shows how a game adaptation can gradually add complexity to its world while retaining the charm and familiar feel of the earlier movies.

Cuphead has earned its reputation as one of the toughest games around. Its biggest draw is its unusual bosses, each unleashing a wide range of attacks across multiple phases. The adventures of Cuphead and Mugman, however, offered little in the way of an overarching story.

The animated series set out to change that, exploring the backstories of the game's bosses while developing its leads into fully realized characters with their own desires, personalities, and convictions.

The humor won't work for everyone, though. Sometimes it feels aimed squarely at children; at other times, it veers surprisingly far into adult territory.

Mario's animated movie was one of 2023's biggest surprises. Illumination's film earned more than $1.36 billion, becoming one of the highest-grossing video game adaptations. Fans loved the animation and faithfully recreated character designs. A sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, arrived in April 2026. Nintendo's movie lineup is also expanding beyond Mario, with a live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda scheduled to hit theaters next year, on April 30, 2027.

Minecraft has no single story that could simply be transferred to the screen. Instead, the filmmakers came up with a tale about four people who step through a portal into a world made of blocks. To get home, they must learn to craft, meet the locals, and find common ground with Steve, a seasoned jack-of-all-trades played by Jack Black.

The characters gather resources, craft items, ride minecarts, and flee creepers—all familiar activities for Minecraft players. As Steve, Jack Black eagerly explains how this world works to the newcomers, while Jason Momoa's character keeps landing in ridiculous situations.

A Minecraft Movie became one of 2025's biggest movie phenomena. Around $960 million at the worldwide box office and the viral cry of "Chicken jockey!" speak to the scale of its success. For some audiences, a trip to the movies became a communal event, with viewers shouting familiar lines as though they were at a huge gathering of Minecraft fans.

The plot is predictable, and the characters could use more depth. The main appeal lies in the familiar world, absurd humor, and the sense that a gaming session with friends has been turned into a big-budget adventure movie. For more on what works and where it stumbles, read our A Minecraft Movie review.

Our number one recommendation is Zach Cregger's Resident Evil (2026). With 96% positive reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, it has an exceptionally high score for a video game adaptation. It's a standalone story that captures the tension of survival horror without requiring any knowledge of the previous movies or games.

For adventure, try Lara Croft: Tomb Raider or Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Warcraft is a good choice for fantasy, while Mortal Kombat (1995) delivers martial arts action. For a racing movie based on a true story, go with Gran Turismo.

Fallout, Arcane, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners introduce their worlds and characters as they go. You don't need to play the games first. You might miss a few references, but the main events and conflicts will still make sense.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the Sonic films, and Pokémon Detective Pikachu are good choices for anyone who enjoys adventure, humor, and colorful characters. For something gentler, try Pokémon Concierge, which follows daily life at a resort and the care of its unusual guests rather than grand battles.

Silent Hill (2006) offers supernatural horror and an unsettling atmosphere, while Resident Evil (2026) delivers a tense fight for survival among the infected. Exit 8 builds its horror around a psychological trap and the need to spot anomalies. If sinister animatronics are more your thing, Five Nights at Freddy's is also on the list.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells a tragic story in Night City, Devil May Cry delivers spectacular demon battles, and NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a follows a war between androids and machines on an Earth abandoned by humanity. Mystery fans can try Gnosia, where a time loop complicates the search for impostors aboard a spaceship.

Arcane, the original Castlevania, and NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a. All three wrap up their main stories, so you can watch without waiting for another season. Castlevania: Nocturne is a separate series about a different generation of characters in the same universe.

No. Zach Cregger's Resident Evil is a standalone adaptation that doesn't continue Alice's story from the Milla Jovovich films. Its new protagonist is Brian, a medical courier, so no familiarity with the previous adaptations is required.

Do Warcraft and Assassin's Creed deserve a place among the best video game adaptations, or are we being too generous? Tell us in the comments which entries you'd cut and what you'd replace them with.

If you need more to watch, here are a few other video game movies released in 2025 and 2026. The quality is uneven, though, and some of these recent adaptations fell short of expectations.

Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach head into space as Nintendo's familiar universe expands to an entire galaxy. This colorful animated adventure is packed with game references, but it has far more spectacle and nostalgia than compelling storytelling.

Ryu and Ken return to fighting when Chun-Li invites them to a tournament that conceals a sinister conspiracy. Familiar fighters and a deliberately flamboyant style will appeal to fans of the games, but a muddled plot keeps it from joining the best adaptations.

A group of friends gets caught in a time loop: every death restarts the night, bringing a different threat. Little remains of the game's story, but fans of gory horror will find a variety of monsters and a few inventive set pieces.

Christophe Gans returns to the franchise with an adaptation of Silent Hill 2, in which James Sunderland receives a letter from Mary and sets off to find her in the fogbound town. The familiar monsters and imagery are there, but the film falls noticeably short of the game's emotional depth and unsettling atmosphere.

Abby tries to reunite with the animatronics, while Mike and Vanessa face a new threat and confront the pizzeria's past. The sequel leans on familiar characters and fan references, making it more appealing to those invested in the lore than to viewers simply looking for a scary movie.