15 Best TV Shows Based on Video Games, Ranked

Image via HBO Updated Jul 21, 2026, 4:58 AM EDT Sign in to your Collider account Most of the time, video games are adapted into movies rather than television series. There seems to be a general rule that most video game-to-movie adaptations don't always score very well with critics or with fans. Sure, there are a few diamonds in the rough, but for the most part, they can come across as a quick cash grab. On occasion, though, video games are selected to be made into TV shows rather than movies. So far, of those that have been released, almost all of them have been at least average (except for Netflix's Resident Evil adaptation), with some even being downright amazing. Even if you've never touched a video game controller in your life, some of these shows are great binge-watching material and a fantastic way to broaden your horizons and have fun doing it. 15 'Sonic X' (2003–2005) Image via 4Kids Entertainment Sonic X is the Japanese anime responsible for the iconic "Gotta Go Fast" theme song that lives rent-free in the heads of many a 00s kid. The show is, obviously, based on the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game that was later adapted into a hit film series. Even though it is an anime, it doesn't always feel like one, which makes it endearing to Western and Eastern audiences alike. Unlike the movies, which only feature a few select characters, all the lovable characters from the Sonic series can be found in this children's cartoon. But see, this is one of those shows that may be intended for children, but is also a great watch for adults. Especially if you're in need of some good old-fashioned nostalgia. While this definitely isn't the first Sonic cartoon, it is certainly the best. 14 'Detention' (2020) Image via Netflix Like Resident Evil, Detention also saw a movie adaptation that was released before the show. While the movie is regarded as being significantly better, the show has found a decent reception, too. Taking place in a Taiwanese high school, a group of students becomes trapped within the building after hours, which is made a lot worse considering the fact that ghosts haunt the halls. Naturally, this series leans more into horror rather than into action, and it works for this series. Netflix released Detention in 2020, but there was no second season. All the same, if you're a fan of horror, especially East Asian horror, this one and its movie counterpart are definitely worth watching. Is it the best TV adaptation of a video game out there? No. But it is entertaining. And let's be honest, there aren't a lot of horror games that get turned into TV series. 13 'Dragon's Dogma' (2020) Image via Netflix Released in 2012, Dragon’s Dogma is an action role-playing game that takes place in the high-fantasy realm of Gransys, with the playable character setting out to defeat a deadly dragon said to bring about the end of the world. The game stayed relevant as it was updated to Dark Arisen to remain playable on a new generation of consoles, with its cultural staying power seeing it earn a Netflix original animated series in 2020. It follows a soon-to-be father as he sets out to vanquish the dragon that stole his heart, struggling with his morality as every life he takes costs him more of his humanity. While it divided fans, it was more warmly received by critics. Its action sequences stand as its major highlight, giving it a visually enriching and satisfying appeal that, funnily enough, seemed to work better for viewers unfamiliar with the game. —Ryan Heffernan 12 'Halo' (2022–2024) Image via Paramount+ Halo is an Xbox-exclusive first-person shooter series that revolutionized the genre. Taking place 500 years in the future, it centers on humans fighting a war with an alien force comprised of different races in an alliance known as the Covenant. At the center of it all is Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber), an experimental super soldier who looms as the key to humanity's survival. While many die-hard fans of the series have criticized it, the consensus is that it is best defined by its more enjoyable moments and its rewarding nods to the game series, even if some pretty significant changes have been made. Its expansion on the story world of Halo, and its focus on a revised version of the events leading up to the fall of Reach, has made the series an enthralling sci-fi with an intriguing narrative. While its seasons were uneven, many viewed Halo as one of the best modern sci-fi series. 11 'Gangs of London' (2020–Present) Image via AMC+ Crime shows, especially shows about organized crime, are pretty popular with audiences, with successful shows like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, or Peaky Blinders becoming hits on the small screen. So Gangs of London was already going to be a hit, even if it was based on a video game. The game came out exclusively for the PlayStation Portable and is the third installment in a series. Despite this bizarre choice of source material, the show works pretty well. Many critics deemed the show to be a masterpiece for its gritty action and tense atmosphere, a signature trope of crime shows. If crime shows are your cup of tea, this is definitely one worth checking out. In fact, since the game itself is pretty niche, it wouldn't be surprising if some of this show's fans had never even heard of the original game before. It's that entertaining and worth a watch if you're a fan of the game. 10 'Splinter Cell: Deathwatch' (2025–Present) Image via Netflix Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is based on the revolutionary Tom Clancy stealth franchise, which hasn't seen a major installment since 2013's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist. The series, like the games, stars Sam Fisher (Liev Schreiber), an agent with Fourth Echelon, a division of the NSA. Fisher is used to carrying out politically sensitive missions behind enemy lines to prevent major wars or catastrophes, almost always working alone. This time, he is forced to train a new recruit, Zinnia (Kirby), as they unravel a global conspiracy. This show was actually a hit with fans of the franchise, who were desperately in need of some new content. If you like espionage thrillers à la Mission: Impossible, this is a series you may want to check out. 9 'Carmen Sandiego' (2019–2021) Image via Netflix Carmen Sandiego originally started as an educational series of video games. It seems weird that educational games of all things would be turned into a Netflix TV series. But this one worked pretty well as it saw the release of four seasons in just two years and received stellar reviews. The Netflix series decided to spice things up a little and craft an action-adventure series with some of the classic education thrown in, just to keep things at least a little reminiscent of the originals. The show features a star-studded cast, with Gina Rodriguez voicing the titular character. The cast also includes Finn Wolfhard and Dawnn Lewis. The show proved to be a brilliant adventure story reminiscent of classic Indiana Jones flicks, with a few fun facts sprinkled in, allowing viewers to have fun and maybe learn a thing or two in the process. Even though Carmen Sandiego is marketed as a kids' show, it's still enjoyable for adults who remember the games from their childhood. Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The MatrixYou took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare. You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it. The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. Mad MaxThe wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. In the wasteland, that distinction is everything. Blade RunnerYou'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. DuneArrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools. You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect. In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it. Star WarsThe galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of. In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ Image via Peacock Twisted Metal is one of the wildest game series ever created. The premise focuses on a group of destructive racers who deck out their vehicles with all kinds of high-tech weaponry. With a memorable cast of characters and loads of high-octane action, the game was bound to be adapted into a show or movie eventually, and, so far, it's delivered. Fans of the series have been hungry for a new installment for quite some time now, as the most recent game came out in 2012. Luckily, the show seemed to satiate fans' appetites as it delivered all the abrasive comedy and ridiculous explosions that they had come to expect from the franchise. If you're a fan of cheesy action movies or of the zany game itself, Twisted Metal is, by far, a must-watch. 7 'Devil May Cry' (2025–Present) Image via Netflix Devil May Cry is based on a hack-and-slash series of video games about demon hunting. The show stars Dante (Johnny Yong Bosch), who is also the protagonist of the main games. Dante is a half-human/half-demon, known as a cambion, who is constantly on the run from the shadowy government organization DARKCOM. He has to balance this life of running away with his job as a professional demon hunter. On a routine contract, he comes into contact with a terrorist who intends to exterminate the human race as an act of vengeance. Devil May Cry proved to be the treat that long-time fans of the series were really hoping for. It's a solid adaptation and a great new story set in the same dark universe. It's filled with the gruesome violence and fast-paced action that fans have come to love and expect, which has led to some pretty high critical praise. Even though the end is already in sight, it's still worth checking out. 6 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' (2022) Image via Netflix An expansion on the immensely popular CD Projekt sci-fi game from 2020, Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners excelled as an anime evolution of the story world. While the game was initially met with some criticism but developed into a respected title, the series was an instant hit, with the standalone miniseries winning over plenty of fans thanks to its visual splendor and its frenetic action sequences. Set in Night City, a dystopian megacity where crime and corruption run rampant, a street kid decides to use his skills to get by as an “edgerunner,” a teched-up, black-market mercenary also known as a “cyberpunk.” An all-out assault on the senses, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners overloads its 10 25-minute episodes with action, style, and a frenzied narrative to make for a terrific treat for fans of the video game as well as lovers of sci-fi anime. —Ryan Heffernan