July 7, 2020
Top 5 Upcoming Animated Video Game Adaptations
On the first episode of CD Projekt Red’s Night City Wire series,...
Top 5 Upcoming Animated Video Game Adaptations
Top 5 Upcoming Animated Video Game Adaptations
On the first episode of CD Projekt Red’s Night City Wire series, it was unexpectedly announced that Netflix and Studio Trigger would partner together to produce Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
This project was green-lit due to the success of Netflix’s Castlevania adaptation. The show achieved widespread critical praise for its animation and faithful adaptation of the games. This success hasn’t gone unnoticed by other publishers who are hoping to follow Konami’s lead. So here are the Top 5 Animated Video Game Adaptations currently in the works.
1.The Cuphead Show!
Cuphead received widespread praise for its animation, which paid homage to early Fleischer studios cartoons, like Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor. The studios meticulous attention to top quality animation led to universal praise upon release. The animation was so prominent, Netflix decided to produce and distribute a TV series at StudioMDHR.
While there are no confirmed story details, the recent Inside Peek trailer has shown familiar characters; Cuphead, Mugman, King Dice and The Devil will all be featured. Expect to see the brothers get into some classic 1930’s hijinks, with The Devil himself trying to take their souls.
The series is being worked on by a small, relatively inexperienced team. After seeing their beautiful animation in the hands of players, I’m eager to see what they are capable of when creating a show. The Cuphead Show is slated to hit the small screen on January 1st, 2021.
2.Devil May Cry
With the well received release of Devil May Cry 5, the franchise has been back in good standings. Easily one of Capcom’s most beloved originals, Devil May Cry’s flourish filled, combo-based fighting system is tailor-made for an anime adaptation.
Devil May Cry: The Animated Series released in 2007, serving as an in-between for the events of Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 2. It received mostly positive reviews, but has started to show its age when compared to modern action anime. The new series will be developed by Adi Shankar (this name’s going to come up a lot), the showrunner for Castlevania, who was able to create stunningly violent scenes with only an NES game for reference.
There is no release date set, but an easter egg in Castlevania season 3 implies that an announcement is sooner than later.
3.Hyper Light Drifter
Hyper Light Drifter is one of the rare cases where a Kickstarter project manages to exceed backers’ expectations. The game has a striking art style, with a 16-bit, SNES graphical design. The style works remarkably well in a cinematic fashion; a detail the game flaunts in it’s opening cutscene. These scenes inspired Adi Shankar (I told you), to begin working with Alex Preston, Lead Developer from Heart Machine studios, on an animated mini-series adaptation of the game. It will be interesting to see how they handle the lack of voiced dialogue as hiring voice actors may take away from the SNES atmosphere the game had originally built.
4.Assassin’s Creed
The Assassin’s Creed franchise has struggled to find success in film and television adaptations. The film was an absolute disaster both critically and financially but I’m still excited to see this project come to fruition.
The film didn’t rekindle my love for the franchise, but I respect that the series takes advantage of its premise to tell stories with new protagonists in every entry. The film is considered canon, despite its poor reception. The Netflix produced TV series is likely to tell an original story in an unexplored time period. World War II or feudal Japan, anyone?
Under the direction of Adi Shankar (It’s the last time… I swear), we hopefully get to see a story set in the AC universe that isn’t plagued with the tedious down time that so many of the games have suffered from.
5.Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Vibe
Far Cry: Blood Dragon is one of the best Far Cry games ever made, featuring an over the top, 80’s action movie aesthetic. It took everything that made Far Cry 3 fun to play and stripped away the more serious story elements, replacing them with a world that feels like Robocop meets Escape From New York.
The ridiculous setting, katana wielding zombies, and giant laser-breathing Komodo dragons work perfectly for a hyper-violent, animated Netflix show. Who better to lead the project, than Adi Shankar? (I lied).
An animated series in this world could be special if it takes advantage of the precious 80s nostalgia, and embraces the violence that movies of the time were not able to do convincingly.
There is no tentative release date, but considering the many other projects Adi Shankar has on the go (and the growing controversies surrounding Ubisoft), it’s probably going to be a few years before it hits Netflix.
Most of these shows are going to be quite a way off but they each have so much potential and I can’t wait to see how they turn out. How about you? Which show are you most excited for? What other games would you like to see get an animated TV series? Let us know in the comments below.
