Summary
Fallouthas proven itself to be a perfect collaboration betweenBethesda and Amazon.The reviews are good, and the general public seem to like it as well. There are two big questions on the minds of fans right now: When is season two coming, and will Bethesda partner with Amazon again foranother game adaptation?
A few stand out as obvious choices, likeThe Elder Scrolls,which has already been shot down. It would be too much likeThe Lords of the Ringsshow that’s already on Amazon.Ragewouldn’t make sense either, as that’s just another post-apocalypse universe akin toFallout.DOOMis a huge franchise, but it already has two film adaptations. What’s left? Well, let’s take a look at someother Bethesda games with TV series potential.
Dishonored,at its coreis an stealth assassination game starring a magic-wielding hero named Corvo. Players can approach situations any way they want, from stealthy takedowns to full-blown gun battles. The game definitely wants players to lean more toward stealth though. The first game followed Corvo on a mission to rescue a young girl in the royal family, Emily, who was taken by usurpers to the throne.
To get to her, Corvo had to systematically take down a legion of bosses. A show could be set up around a villain of the week type trope if it’s going to be based on the first game. The show could also create a new hero that the mysterious being known as The Outsider could bestow with magical powers, and explore a different era of Dunwall like theFalloutseries did with the American wasteland.
Amazon hasThe Rigright now, which is a psychological thriller set at sea on an oil rig. There’s nothing wrong with having two horror shows though, andThe Evil Withinwould be a perfect second helping of scares. It’s kind of likeResident EvilmeetsInception. The hero, Sebastian Castellanos, is a detective who jumps into a hospital after an incident, only to find that he is transported into another reality.
By the end of the first game, the entire city gets twisted, again, with imagery very reminiscent ofInception. Setting the show around the first game wouldn’t be a bad idea, since it is mostly grounded; aside from the monsters and reality warping, that is. It could also fill the cop show formula, although it would be more akin toTrue Detectivethan Amazon’sBosch.
Ghostwire: Tokyois set in a modern versionof Tokyo, except that the city was taken over by spirits. Citizens are trapped in a bubble, cut off from the world, and they can only be released once the head honcho is destroyed. A somewhat random nobody, Akito, is given powers to fight back against classic Japanese horrors that populate the streets.
A direct adaptation of this single game could be a blend of horror and action for Amazon, and it would fit the Japanese demographic. Seemingly every major network has an Americanized show set in Japan, such asTokyo Viceon Max andShogunon FX, which basically translates to a Hulu show. Alternatively, the show could be titledGhostwire: Blank, and focus on another city in Japan like Osaka or Kyoto. ThinkFrombut in a big city.
Hi-Fi Rushwas a surprise shadow dropin 2023 after one of Microsoft’s Xbox showcases. It was a blend of action games likeDevil May Cryand rhythm games likePaRappa the Rapper. If timed correctly, players could wrack up combos if they were on the beat of the background soundtrack, which was directly tied to the powers of the main character, Chai. It was exclusive to Xbox systems originally, but it has since transferred over to other platforms, which is nice to see as it helps strengthen the brand.
AHi-Fi Rushshow could also give the game a boost, and it could take on a similar aesthetic tone to theScott Pilgrim Takes OffNetflix series. That series was a collage of anime action, music, and nerdy pop culture, which aHi-Fi Rushshow could do too. If the director of theScott Pilgrimmovie, Edgar Wright, gets involved in Amazon’sHi-Fi Rushadaptation, it would be a match made in heaven.
Redfallwas another Xbox exclusivein 2023, although the reception was not as high from players or reviewers compared toHi-Fi Rush. In fact, one mightn say the general public despised it upon release, and even after several patches, the game seemed unsalvageable. That may be true for the game, although other Xbox exclusives have come back from the grave (likeSea of Thieves). Also, one of the best resurrections of all time wasFinal Fantasy 14,which had bomb on its debut in 2010 before it was rebooted in 2013.
A TV show ofRedfallcould help the game in a similar fashion, as there hasn’t been a good action vampire adaptation in a while. The setting is strong, as Redfall is the name of a small Massachusetts town that is plagued by vampires. It would be yet another horror show for Amazon, but the more horror the better, as it is one of the most consistently popular genres in the world.
Wolfenstein: The New Orderwas a reboot of the franchise in 2014 which asked a particular question: What if the Nazis won WW2? The series is set with this premise in mind, taking place in a 1960s version of America run by the Nazis. Now, avid Amazon fans will note this game has a similar premise to the streming service’s showThe Man in the High Castle, which was based on a Phillip K. Dick book.
However, the show ran from 2015 to 2019, so the network currently has a Nazi-sized hole in its roster that could use some filling. Of all the Bethesda properties mentioned,Wolfensteinseems the most fitting for an adaptation. It’s an absolute classic franchise that most know by name recognition alone, as it began in the 80s. The name itself could be enough to have people tuning in, and the otherworldly gimmick can hook them from there.
