Forget Movies, These 5 Video Games Need Their Own Comics

Video games have some amazing stories and deep lore, most of which can be told, or retold, in other forms of entertainment. Just look at the Warcraft and Assassin’s Creed movies from last year or the Uncharted movie in the works. While many games certainly have the potential to become good movies (and some cringe-worthy ones too), other forms of storytelling media are often overlooked. Comic books, for instance, are an excellent way to visually tell a story without all the cameras, actors, and expenses.

Here’s a list of 5 games that don’t already have a comic about them or their lore, but seriously should!

SOMA

SOMA is from the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent. While not nearly as scary as Amnesia, Frictional Games gave SOMA a thoroughly in-depth story that made the player sit and ponder the question “What does it mean to be human?”. This plus the underseas location of PATHOS-II, and the mechanical horrors lurking within its confines would make for an amazingly dark and gruesome, sci-fi horror comic. A comic of the game could follow the story exactly or even expand further into the game’s lore, such as the events leading up to PATHOS-II’s demise, Catherine’s struggle in trying to save the small remnants of humanity, or digging deeper into the protagonist’s past.

Final Fantasy Franchise

The Final Fantasy franchise has a long history of fantasy based games–that never seems to be the final fantasy, oddly enough–with many rich stories, interesting characters, and breathtaking locations. This gives Square Enix more than sufficient material to create several great manga series. This includes squeals like X-2, Tactics, and the Dissidia games, but excludes Final Fantasy XII and Type-0 as both already have manga series of their own.

An excellent first candidate for a manga would Final Fantasy VII. It is by far the most popular of the series, with a number of prequels and sequels, as well as a remake in development. The main story would obviously make an excellent manga series, expanding on what we already know from the game. However, a perfect stand alone would be of Sephiroth’s past, seeing what made the games greatest villain who he is.

There’s also some outstanding potential for very silly manga, where characters like Biggs and Wedge get together for a hilarious side character convention.

Paladins

Paladins: Champions of the Realm is a team based FPS created by Hi-Rez Studios. While Paladins is a great game, there isn’t much of a story, leaving a few unanswered questions. What is this realm? Who are these champions? Why are they fighting? Unfortunately, a story is something which Hi-Rez stated is not a priority for them. However, if they did decide to switch gears and start expanding on lore for this vast, vibrant world and intriguing characters — they could easily do so through a series of comics.

Comics would be a great start for origin stories for characters such as Ying or Viktor. I know I’d like to find out more about Torvald. I mean, what is his…um ‘power glove’? It appears magical in nature, made of stone and carved with runes. My assumption is that he’s a scholarly explorer that stumbled upon an ancient magical weapon. Am I right? I don’t know, but this is something we can find out if there were more lore to the game.

Transistor

Praised for its visuals and soundtrack, this ARPG by Supergiant Games would serve as a fantastic comic series. Transistor has a phenomenal art style, color scheme, and enthralling story that would blend well with a comic format — creating a gorgeous visual novel. It would even do well as a motion comic, so more can enjoy the amazing and beautiful soundtrack that the game has to offer.

While I would like to see the main story show in this way, there’s also the potential of seeing the story from another point of view. Maybe Red’s dead lover, or the enemies that you face as Red.

Subnautica

Subnautica, the crafting survival game by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, is one of those games that pulls you in and leaves you wanting to know more. In the game, the lore and story are discovered through exploration and finding data pads. If comics were made, I think they would do well as prequels, such as following the survivors of the Degasi or seeing more of the expanded universe. They could even delve into the precursor aliens and their research into finding a cure for the life killing disease.

While it’s fun to watch a video game come to life on the big screen, they don’t always delve into the story or lore as much due to time, money, and real world limitations. Comics are a great alternative to this, and all the games listed have potential to become fantastic, unique series.

Do you agree with these picks? Did we miss a game that you think would make an excellent comic? Let us know in the comments below!