January 15, 2023, saw the release of HBO’s live action adaptation of Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game series “The Last of Us.” The show so far has been met with praise from both fans of the games, newcomers to the series, and critics and praise that I personally feel is deserved. From the set-production, videography, and acting “The Last of Us” has been a phenomenal show and remained consistent throughout its run so far. Pedro Pascal being the standout in my eyes, as he adds layers to Joel we haven’t seen in the game and brings a sense of vulnerability that was never shown. While the show has been mostly faithful in its adaptation of the game, there have been changes, ranging from small locations to whole new storylines being added. Episode three being the standout as the whole episode is dedicated to two minor characters from the game being Bill and Frank. A whole article could be written about episode three, but even though this isn’t a review I highly implore everyone to watch episode three, it’s in my eye’s perfect storytelling.
So, with all that said, even though I’m greatly enjoying “The Last of Us” and feel that the praise is deserved; there is one thing I’ve seen floating around when talking about the show. That one thing would be that the show is going to break the video adaptation curse and that it finally proves that video games can be adapted into film/television. But there isn’t a curse anymore, as there are various video game adaptations that have been made within the past ten years proving that adaptations can be done.
Let’s look at a few that have appeared within the past ten years, the first major one being “Castlevania: The Animated Series.” The adaptation produced by Netflix was acclaimed by fans and critics, as the show captured the story of the Belmont bloodline and expanded upon it heavily. Its beautiful animation and stellar art direction captures the gothic atmosphere presented in the games.
Sometimes the adaptation can be what the game tried to be as seen with “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.” “Edgerunners” captured the corrupt, brutal, and yet beautiful world presented in the original game by CD Projekt RED, but without the major bugs and lackluster story. Following nothing from the original game and instead following the story of David as he learns to navigate and survive in a world that doesn’t allow many to live. “Edgerunners” is what an adaptation should be, expanding on the original content and bringing more than what was originally presented. Both shows are sitting above 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Though the two I’ve mentioned have been animated adaptations; live action adaptations were still breaking the curse before “The Last of Us” was released. Both “Detective Pikachu” and both “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies were received well by critics and fans and grossed over 400 million. Both are sitting at ‘Fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a third Sonic movie is on the way.
While I am enjoying “The Last of Us” greatly, I just can’t agree with the notion that this show will be the first video-game adaptation to break the curse. There are good video-game adaptations out there, they just haven’t gotten the attention they deserve, and to ignore the ones that are out there is a discredit to the hard work put into making them.
