Key Takeaways
- Video game novelizations expand game lore and character depth beyond the original storytelling.
- Novel adaptations enhance player engagement by delving into the universe and backstory of popular video game franchises.
- Renowned authors like Karen Traviss and John Shirley bring depth and detail to video game tie-in novels, enhancing the gaming experience.
It could be argued that the medium of video games offers audiences a multimedia experience reaching beyond the bounds of other – more conventional modes of art. However, despite improving on many of the literary medium’s narrative cornerstones, video games often reinvest their stories back into the world through novelizations based on their worlds and characters.
From literary reimaginings of popular video game narratives to expansions of pre-existing lore and events, video game novelizations can provide players with more ways to interact with their favorite franchises. Beyond this, they can even learn more about the game universe than was presented to them in the original video game.
8 Crysis: Legion – Peter Watts
The Novelized Interpretation Of Crytek’s 2011 FPS Sequel
Retelling the urban combat narrative of Crysis 2’s campaign, Peter Watts’ hard science-fiction roots are showcased with this official novelization that was released parallel to the game itself.
Like the video game source material it takes inspiration from, Crysis: Legion details the wartime exploits of the game’s protagonist, Alcatraz, as combat reaches the continental United States. As such, the BSFA-nominated intricacies and detail of Watts’ writing are not wasted by one of gaming’s quintessential FPS franchises, but bolstered by its roots in the sci-fi genre. Beyond a paint-by-numbers retelling of the installment’s plot, Crysis: Legion expands the lore of the Crysis game universe and directly ties into to Crysis 3‘s narrative.
7 Halo: The Kilo-5 Trilogy – Karen Traviss
A Three-Part Expansion Of A Post-Halo 3 Universe
Karen Traviss’ literary exploits are renowned in the world of video game tie-in novelizations, as her musings have expanded on all manner of science-fiction properties, from Halo to Gears of War, and even LucasArts’ Star Wars: Republic Commando title.
Exploring the tenuous peace kept between humanity and the rest of the Halo universe’s species and factions, Traviss details the exploits of ONI Task Force Kilo-5 in her novels Halo: Glasslands, Halo: The Thursday War, and Halo: Mortal Dictata. Drawing parallels to subversive intelligence operations run by the FBI during the 1960s, the Kilo-5 Trilogy explores the splintering Sangheili culture and the morally gray lengths to which humanity will stoop to ensure its own survival.
While Traviss’ literary talent is non-negotiable, and on full display throughout the Kilo-5 Trilogy, her lack of adherence to established Halo lore does raise some concerns when reading her work as an expansion of the Halo universe. However, as works of video game novelization, her writings are among the best.
6 Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence – Rafel Kosik
A Multi-Protagonist Character Study In Night City
Given the renown and shared culture of both Rafal Kosik and CD Projekt Red, it’s no surprise that Cyberpunk 2077‘s only novelization was placed in his proven hands.
A winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award for science fiction literature, Kosik wrote Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence with the expectation that readers were already familiar with the world CD Projekt Red had created in 2020. As such, No Coincidence acts very much as an expansion of the pre-existing universe of Cyberpunk 2077 rather than a reiteration of the video game’s plot. Following multiple characters as they chase down a blackmailing employer in a heist-gone-wrong tale, the world and people of Night City are dissected and elaborated upon beyond the bounds of the original title.
5 Gears Of War: Coalition’s End – Karen Traviss
A Retrospective Literary Culmination Set Before Gears Of War 3
The literary culmination of Karen Traviss’ four-part Gears of War novel series, Gears of War: Coalition’s End sees the narrative of Gears of War 3 come to bear as the gruesome events of E-Day are seen through flashbacks.
Traviss’ science-fiction and video game credentials are clear, from her work with other Microsoft properties such as Halo to her contributions to the Batman: Arkham lore. Switching between multiple members of Delta Squad, Coalition’s End provides an introspective and especially human look at the Gears series’ war with the Locust and Lambent. Especially considering Traviss’ involvement as one of Gears of War 3‘s main writers, the themes and characters introduced in her tie-in works have become retroactively poignant for fans interested in fully immersing themselves in the franchise.
4 Assassin’s Creed: Forsaken – Oliver Bowden (Anton Gill)
Assassin’s Creed 3’s Initial Protagonist Is Given A Literary Backstory
While Assassin’s Creed: Forsaken‘s author, Oliver Bowden, may be a pen name for both Andrew Homes and Anton Gill, it is to the latter that Forsaken‘s praise should be directed.
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A prominent Renaissance historian and winner of the H. H. Wingate Award for non-fiction, Gill has written multiple novelizations following Ubisoft’s historical stealth series over the years. Through his novel counterpart to Assassin’s Creed 3, titled Assassin’s Creed: Forsaken, Gill explores the past of the game protagonist’s father — who players can control in the opening section of the game. Unlike many other video game novelizations, Gill’s interpretation of the series is not a one-to-one replication of the game’s plot, but an expansion on a fan-favorite character who raised important and rarely-asked questions regarding the Templar and Assassin orders.
3 Ico: Castle In the Mist – Miyuki Miyabe
An Initially Episodic Interpretation Of The 2001 Puzzle-Platformer
While initially serialized in the Japanese magazine Shūkan Gendai in 2002, Ico: Castle in the Mist was finally bound together and republished in English on August 16, 2011.
Somewhat following the slow-paced platforming and unwinding mystery of Ico‘s 2001 adventure, Castle in the Mist is the result of literary efforts by author Miyuki Miyabe. A Naoki Sanjugo Prize winner, and writer of “watershed” titles in detective fiction, Miyabe’s literary accolades are more than fitting given that she was chosen to reproduce Ico‘s unique style over other available authors. Although Castle in the Mist could initially be construed as a simple replication of Team Ico’s eponymous first title, the author herself has admitted that her writing is a “variation on the world of Ico” rather than a one-to-one parallel.
2 Halo: The Fall Of Reach – Erik Nylund
The Curated Backstory Of The Master Chief That Predates Halo: Combat Evolved
While the original Xbox had not even been released, and Bungie was yet to release Halo: Combat Evolved to the gaming public, Erik Nylund was tasked with creating a novelized prequel about the game’s protagonist, the Master Chief. As a result, many of the more human aspects of Spartan John-117 introduced in Halo: The Fall of Reach have since gone on to become series staples.
Working internally at Xbox Game Studios developing game bibles to assist teams with the in-depth lore and knowledge required to cohesively tell a video game narrative, Erik Nylund funneled that intricate attention to detail and expansive knowledge into this first Halo novel. Predating Halo: Combat Evolved‘s story, and having been adapted into a comic-book series and animated anthology, The Fall of Reach is often regarded as the quintessential piece of Halo literature. In direct response to Nylund’s attempts to bestow humanity on the Master Chief, Bungie themselves “wanted to make him look less like a robot and more like а real guy in a suit”. Beyond that, this thematic throughline has gone on to be a central pursuit of 343 Industries’ Reclaimer Saga.
1 BioShock: Rapture – John Shirley
A Detailed Literary Account Of The Rise And Fall Of BioShock’s World
While the narrative of 2007’s BioShock is often touted as one of the gaming industry’s best, the expansive horror talents of John Shirley ensure that the prequel novel for the title, BioShock: Rapture, stands equally tall compared to Ken Levine’s original.
Written by revered cyberpunk genre writer John Shirley, BioShock: Rapture showcases the creation and intense collapse of Rapture and its society from the perspective of the city’s inhabitants.
While the underwater world of BioShock and the literary talents of John Shirley are similarly impressive, the British Fantasy Society detailed that being a fan of either one of these aspects ensures that readers will enjoy BioShock: Rapture. In their review, they detail how; “If you are a BioShock fan, then this book is essential, and if this is your introduction to the dark mind of John Shirley, then other treats await you”.
