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Would you read video game novelizations? If so, which ones?
- Thread starter PopQuiz
- Start date
Woah what?! When did this come out?
Vol.1 came out in 2014, while Vol. 2 was released last year.
in general, no- most video game would have a structure that i think would be kind of weird in book form- but i imagine there are some games it would work for. IMO books that take place in the video game universe is preferable - i remember reading some of the halo and warcraft books and really liking them.
I've read one of the Resident Evil ones, but can't really remember anything about. I have no desire to read any other ones either.
I can't thank you enough for bringing this to my attention!
When I was the kid, I loved the Crimson Skies novelization. I think I still have it laying around somewhere. I also used to read the Halo novelizations, despite not being a huge Halo player (I had an original Xbox, but after that it was Sony all the way for my childhood, with Nintendo handhelds on the side).
I've read the Blaster Master novelization, plus an SF2 story that wasn't exactly a novelization, but was released on the cover of a magazine and was half cheat book, half novella.
Similarly in the 8-bit and early 16-bit days I recall a few novellas that accompanied games: Starglider and Starglider 2 definitely had ones, and I think Driller did as well. Oh, and Eden Song from the Silicon Dreams text adventure trilogy, too. I suspect there are more that aren't springing to mind currently.
It doesn't really count, but I probably should highlight that I read Frederick Pohl's Gateway after playing through the Legend text adventure inspired by it. The same goes for Companions of Xanth, I read Demons Don't Dream after playing the game.
I own - but haven't read - the Planescape Torment novel, which I think is largely made up of dialogue ripped directly from the game - if any game could be a passable read, it's that.
There's also The Stele Chronicles from TIE Fighter. And on the subject of Star Wars, I do recall one which I don't remember the game it corresponded to, but I recall a moment where a character gave the order to "use the Forzluuk".
Similarly in the 8-bit and early 16-bit days I recall a few novellas that accompanied games: Starglider and Starglider 2 definitely had ones, and I think Driller did as well. Oh, and Eden Song from the Silicon Dreams text adventure trilogy, too. I suspect there are more that aren't springing to mind currently.
It doesn't really count, but I probably should highlight that I read Frederick Pohl's Gateway after playing through the Legend text adventure inspired by it. The same goes for Companions of Xanth, I read Demons Don't Dream after playing the game.
I own - but haven't read - the Planescape Torment novel, which I think is largely made up of dialogue ripped directly from the game - if any game could be a passable read, it's that.
There's also The Stele Chronicles from TIE Fighter. And on the subject of Star Wars, I do recall one which I don't remember the game it corresponded to, but I recall a moment where a character gave the order to "use the Forzluuk".
I'm currently reading the Resident Evil novels and they're far better than they have any right to be, SD Perry really did a fine job of fleshing out the characters in classic RE and stringing together all the scenes and games to form a coherent narrative. There are a few original stories set in her books as well which tell alternate adventures of the STARs and the one I've read so far, Caliban Cove, is possibly a better Rebecca Chambers story than the actual one Capcom gave us with Resident Evil Zero. I'd like to see the more modern RE games novelized, since we never got books for RE4 onwards.
I've read a few others - Blizzard tends to put out pretty decent novels, and from what I've seen their Warcraft books are basically the best way to get the main stories that are only hinted at in their games now. The Infinity Blade books, which someone else mentioned here, are a clear case of Brandon Sanderson phoning it in, but if you're gonna play the games then you might as well check 'em out since they're short and really help to fill the gap between Infinity Blade 1 and 2.
And if you're an old point 'n click adventure fan, the King's Quest novels are worth tracking down. They're not exactly well written but more adventures with King Graham and family are always welcome. The King's Quest Companion, one of the best strategy guide series ever written, actually novelized the plots of each game with lots of gusto and I used to sit down and just read the narratives like a book when I was a kid.
There's also a shit "novelization" of Ocarina of Time out there that I read when I was in fifth grade. It's pretty awful and basically a walkthrough with dialogue. I'd like a proper Zelda book someday, though I guess the Ocarina of Time manga is available and does a better job of telling this tale.
I've read a few others - Blizzard tends to put out pretty decent novels, and from what I've seen their Warcraft books are basically the best way to get the main stories that are only hinted at in their games now. The Infinity Blade books, which someone else mentioned here, are a clear case of Brandon Sanderson phoning it in, but if you're gonna play the games then you might as well check 'em out since they're short and really help to fill the gap between Infinity Blade 1 and 2.
And if you're an old point 'n click adventure fan, the King's Quest novels are worth tracking down. They're not exactly well written but more adventures with King Graham and family are always welcome. The King's Quest Companion, one of the best strategy guide series ever written, actually novelized the plots of each game with lots of gusto and I used to sit down and just read the narratives like a book when I was a kid.
There's also a shit "novelization" of Ocarina of Time out there that I read when I was in fifth grade. It's pretty awful and basically a walkthrough with dialogue. I'd like a proper Zelda book someday, though I guess the Ocarina of Time manga is available and does a better job of telling this tale.
Gave every pixel depth
I had that metal gear one, probably still lying around somewhere in the house.
I read LitRPG and GameLit, which is based on D&D and video games with stats and everything. Once my contemporary dark fantasy series is done, I plan to try my hand at writing it.
I remember reading a Bioshock novel a while back that was basically a prequel to the game. I remember it being pretty decent, actually.
Yeah this is a pretty solid novel. The translation being stellar helps a lot too. It was way more than I expected from an Ico novel, but I should have expected that when I read it was a reimagination by the author of Brave Story instead of an adaptation.Ico was pretty great:
