There has always been a close relationship between literature and video games. And it should not surprise us. Many books make for excellent video games. Something that is demonstrated by the port we will have this month of I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison. But for every work that is explicit and obviously a literary adaptation, there are several that are not. And today we want to talk to you about that. About five video games that, despite being quite well-known, you might not have realized are based on novels. And in fact, all of them are quite famous novels.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
We start by cheating a little because it is true that this is the most well-known case. Although it is not in the name, it is evident that the inspiration for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. saga is Roadside Picnic by the brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This does not mean that many people are not caught by surprise: some believe that its main source of inspiration is only Stalker, the excellent film by Andrei Tarkovsky. Which also shamelessly draws from Roadside Picnic.
But what do video games and books have in common? Essentially, everything. In both, there is an exclusion zone where strange phenomena exist, men and women enter to obtain treasures and strange mutations between fantasy and science fiction that those who venture into it must deal with. Even in the existence of a mysterious object that will grant a wish to whoever manages to reach it. Because, in the Slavic countries, Roadside Picnic is a novel that had an impact that we can only begin to sense beyond its borders.
Empire of the Ants
If it were its version from the 2000s, it probably wouldn’t ring a bell. Since it received a new version on November 7, 2024, you may have at least heard of Empire of the Ants. A real-time strategy game from Microïds, with small elements of adventure and platforming, where we must lead a community of red ants. Only this time, we will personify a particular ant. Ant #103,683.
This peculiarity is due to the fact that it is an adaptation of a science fiction novel of the same name by the writer Bernard Werber. Translated into Spanish as The Ants, it was originally published in 1991 and would expand into a whole trilogy where two stories occur in parallel: a man moves into his entomologist uncle’s house and a colony of ants lives its life in an ant-city. Until both stories intersect in a way that is only possible in a science fiction story.
Maid of Sker
Among the most interesting horror games of recent years is Maid of Sker. A survival horror heavily inspired by Outlast and Silent Hill that had a very intriguing setting: a cursed hotel from the late 19th century. But what’s interesting is that Wales Interactive, the studio, didn’t have to make anything up. Because Sker House exists in reality. And it inspired a famous three-volume novel.
The Maid of Sker is a novel written by R. D. Blackmore in 1872 that, if you have played Maid of Sker, you already know broadly what the novel is about. Because the study closely followed what Blackmore narrated, bringing it to the present and demonstrating that sometimes, all you need to make a great horror game is a 19th-century novel.
The Chaos Engine
Pocos nombres inspiran tanta admiración como The Bitmap Brothers. Creando algunos de los mejores juegos de Amiga de la historia, son considerados los mayores visionarios en la historia de los videojuegos europeos. Si no a nivel mundial. Entre sus juegos más celebrados se encuentra The Chaos Engine, un excelente run-and-gun que sigue siendo un deleite jugar hoy en día, especialmente en su versión original de Amiga, que aprovechamos para destacar.
But the interesting thing is that although it is not an explicit adaptation, it is indeed very inspired by a novel. Its entire story and aesthetic are based on the novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, an absolutely wonderful novel that is considered the foundation upon which the bases of steampunk would be established. Although it would not be an explicit adaptation, it would serve as such a strong inspiration that it is hard not to see the relationship. And how could The Chaos Engine exist without it.
Parasite Eve
In light of the success of Resident Evil and Final Fantasy, Square decided to create something that could combine both universes. The result was an excellent game that combined survival horror, turn-based combat, and a very elaborate narrative with Parasite Eve. A game that would go on to have two sequels and that to this day is one of the franchises that, apparently, will never have a third sequel. Not because of how Square Enix focuses on other kinds of projects.
What many people don’t know is that it’s not even an adaptation of a novel. It’s a sequel to a novel. With exactly the same name. Tremendously confusing as this is, it doesn’t make the game any less playable on its own, but it does make it more interesting if you’ve read the novel. Which you won’t be able to do in Spanish, as it has only been translated into English. But to be fair, Parasite Eve also never came out in Europe, so it’s not surprising.