Classical literature has already inspired numerous adaptations for cinema, television and theater. However, although this type of transposition is not so frequent in video games, consecrated literary works have also found space in this environment.
Based on this, we present below a list of eight games based on great literature classics.
8 games based on literature classics
The Great Gatsby for NES (2011)
Developed by Charlie Hoey and Pete Smith, “The Great Gatsby For Nes” is an online game released in 2011 in 8-bit style that refers to Nintendinho classics.
As the title suggests, the game is an adaptation of the novel The Great Gatsbyclassic of literature written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published in 1925.
Following the genre Action-Platform, the game recreates the scenarios of the book. You control Nick Carraway, who jumps and throws your hat against butlers and other enemies.
Far Cry 2 (2008)
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
The first -person shooting game “Far Cry 2 ″ has its narrative inspired not only on one, but in two classic works of literature: The Heart of Darknessby Joseph Conrad, and Red Harvestby Dashiell Hammett.
The game’s plot is set in a fictitious African country taken by a civil war.
The player controls a mercenary (between nine available) in charge of eliminating a gun dealer involved in the conflict, in a gameplay with a lot of action situated in an open world.
Dante’s Inferno (2010)
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable
Those who followed the time of the seventh generation of games have certainly played, or at least know, the praised game of action and adventure “Dante’s Hell”.
And the title of the game already denounces: it is inspired, albeit quite free, in Hellthe first part of Divine Comedyan Italian narrative poem written by Dante Alighieri, started around 1308 and completed around 1321.
With a third person perspective, the player controls Dante, portrayed as a Crusader Templar Knight, who faces fighting, platform sections and puzzles.
Call of Cthulhu: Prison of Ice (1995)
- Platforms: PC, Sega Saturn, PlayStation
This game is based on Cthulhu Mythosterm refers to the pantheon of fantastic monsters and beings that inhabit the tales of the influential author HP Lovecraft. However, much of the game’s inspiration is in the soap opera of Lovecraft At the Mountains of Madness (1931).
“Call of Cthulhu: Prison of Ice” consists of a point and click puzzle resolution game, where you can examine, take or interact with any present item.
The plot takes place during World War II, with an American agent discovering, on a mission in Antarctica, that the Nazis released ancestral creatures linked to Cthulhu Mythos.
Read more:
Lies of P (2023)
- Platforms: PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Freely inspired by the novel The adventures of Pinocchio (1883), by Carlo Collodi, “Lies of P” is an action RPG that received good reception from the public and critics.
With third -person gameplay, the player takes control of P, a doll that travels a city devastated by a petrification epidemic and a puppet revolt.
During the fighting, it is possible to use melee weapons and a equipped mechanical arm. Decisions made throughout the journey can influence the unfolding of history.
Frankenstein: The Monster Returns (1991)
- Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System
The classic Frankenstein (1818) by English author Mary Shelley has already inspired numerous works in various media. In video games, one of the most prominent adaptations is “Frankenstein: The Monster Returns”, published by Bandai to Nintendinho in 1991.
The game is a side scroll platform with UP Beat elements. His plot takes place shortly after the end of the original novel.
In the plot, Frankenstein’s monster returns from the dead, leading a supernatural army that devastates villages and kidnaps a maiden, with the intention of making it its bride. The player controls a young swordsman who should defeat him.
Captain Blood (2025)
- Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
With a pirate theme, the game of action and adventure “Captain Blood” is based on the homonymous novel of Rafael Sabatini, published in 1922.
Controlling Captain Blood on his Spanish Caribbean adventures in 1685, the game follows the Hack and Slash style. In addition, it has a missions -based structure and allows you to fight on both land and sea, with ship to ship battles and sword duels.
80 Days (2014)
- Platforms: PC, Mobile (Android, iOS), Nintendo Switch
With a plot based on The return to the world in 80 days (1872) by Jules Verne, “80 Days” is a game that uses branched narrative, allowing the player to make choices that impact the plot.
In the game, you follow the return to the world of Phileas Fogg in up to eighty days, making decisions through the narrator of the story, the servant passpartout. These decisions affect the route, events and the outcome of the journey.