Books and video games might seem like completely different beasts – one lets you sink into a comfy chair with a cuppa, flipping pages and letting your imagination paint pictures, while the the other has you dodging bullets, fighting monsters, or frantically bashing buttons and hoping for the best (no judgment here).

But let’s face it – games are stories too. And books? Well, their rich worlds, compelling characters, and juicy lore make the perfect foundation for a game.

Here are eight video games you might not know were inspired by books…

A sequel to Parasite Eve by Hideaki Sena

Imagine old-school Resident Evil, but with a side of biological horror, and you get Parasite Eve. Based on Hideaki Sena’s sci-fi horror novel of the same name, this JRPG game acts as a sequel to the book, following NYPD officer Aya Brea as she battles a rapidly evolving lifeform that wants to wipe out humanity. Charming. 

It’s creepy, has a cult following, and the soundtrack is quite a banger too.

Inspired by Harlan Ellison's short story of the same name

Love a choice-based point-and-click? I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream might be right up your street. Based on Harlan Ellison’s short story of the same name – and eerily ahead of its time – this game drops you into a post-apocalyptic nightmare where AM, a sadistic AI (voiced by Ellison himself!) has wiped out humanity. Except for five unlucky survivors, that is, that are kept alive purely for AM to torment and torture.

Be warned: the tales of each character visit some dark and potentially triggering themes, and the game forces you to navigate ethical dilemmas with no right answers, different potential outcomes, and pretty much no happy ending. But you can certainly aim for the least horrific ending, right? 

Inspired by World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

World War Z is a multiplayer zombie game inspired by – you guessed it – the World War Z novel. And the best part? The video game keeps the book’s core concept of fast-moving, aggressive zombies that can overwhelm human defenses and maybe eat your face off, if you’re really unlucky. The in-game horde mechanics make for some of the most fun – and sometimes intense – zombie encounters in gaming. In my humble zombie-loving opinion, anyway.

While this may be a touch more obvious than some of the others here, I had to include it because I think the game is criminally underrated.

Based on Andrzej Sapkowski's The Witcher series

Everyone’s favorite monster-slaying, brooding hero, Geralt of Rivia, actually started off in the pages of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series long before taking over the gaming world.

The games don’t just adapt the books – they expand on them, giving you the power to shape Geralt’s story through your choices. They’ve brought Sapkowski’s world to life in a way that made The Witcher a global phenomenon, even spawning a Netflix adaptation. If you haven’t read the novels yet, consider this your sign to pick them up.

Inspired by the biblical tale of Isaac

At first glance, The Binding of Isaac is a quirky, cartoony dungeon crawler, but its inspiration actually comes straight from the Old Testament – and not the fun, turn-water-into-wine parts.

The game’s story is loosely based on the biblical tale of Isaac, a boy whose father is ordered to sacrifice him as a test of faith. In the game, Isaac’s mother hears a voice telling her to do the very same, leading him to flee into the basement and giving us an oddly addictive rougelike game to play. Here, you take control of Isaac, fighting off nightmarish creatures using… your tears. 

Inspired by Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

You start as a seemingly ordinary soldier. You’ll end up questioning everything. On the surface, Spec Ops: The Line might look like a standard military shooter. But it doesn’t take long before the story – loosely adapted from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness – spirals into something much darker.

You’ll descend into madness right alongside the protagonist, questioning morality, war, and your own actions. It’s unsettling, it’s brutal, and it will mess with your head in the best (or is it worst?) way possible.

Inspired by Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

If you’ve played BioShock, you already know Rapture isn’t exactly big on charity. That’s because the game draws heavy inspiration from – and actually somewhat criticises – Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s novel about objectivism, unchecked capitalism, and a world where self-interest reigns supreme.

The result? A beautifully designed underwater city where everything has gone horribly wrong. Would you kindly accept that BioShock is one of the best video games inspired by books…?

So, now you know that video games based on books are pretty easy to come by. But what about the other way around? Believe it or not, there’s also an abundance of books that have been influenced by video games, from novelisations of much-loved story-driven games like Alan Wake and Death Stranding to original stories that take cues from the gaming worlds of Minecraft and Halo. 

But, let’s save that list for another day.