Games Based on Movies That Are Actually Good
Movie games are mostly bad, which is the whole premise: rank these thirteen exceptions and vote the order into a shape you can defend. Every entry had to be good on its own terms, not merely good for a tie-in, and where a game clears the bar as a movie game and not much higher, its own copy says so. Two definitions do the work. A game is based on a movie here when a feature film is its licensed source, whether it retells that film or tells a new story inside its continuity. So Starship Troopers is in, its license being Verhoeven's 1997 satire rather than Heinlein's novel, and Scott Pilgrim is out, since the game and the film are sibling adaptations of one comic. Television spin-offs and book adaptations that skipped cinema stayed home. Order runs on how good the game is with the film stripped away. Where a remaster is the sole Steam version, the item says so.
Alien: Isolation is #1 on “Games Based on Movies That Are Actually Good”.
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Alien: Isolation
Creative Assembly, previously the Total War studio, put this out in October 2014 and set it fifteen years after Ridley Scott's 1979 film. Its xenomorph runs unscripted; designers unlocked behaviors as it met you so it would never settle into a pattern. Your motion tracker tells you something is close and nothing about whether it is in the vents above you. Best game here, film or no film.
Alien: Isolation on SteamDiscover the true meaning of fear in Alien: Isolation, a survival horror set in an atmosphere of constant dread and mortal danger.https://store.steampowered.com/app/214490/ - 2
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
MachineGames, the Wolfenstein studio, shipped this in December 2024 and dropped its story into 1937, between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade. First person suits Indy far better than it should. Whip a guard's ankles and he trips onto his back; photograph a puzzle you cannot crack and Indy talks himself toward the answer. Punching fascists has rarely landed this heavily.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on SteamUncover one of history’s greatest mysteries in a first-person, single-player adventure. The year is 1937, sinister forces are scouring the globe for the secret to an ancient power connected to the Great Circle, and only one person can stop them - Indiana Jones™.https://store.steampowered.com/app/2677660/ - 3
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition
Westwood Studios shipped the original in November 1997, and it remains the strangest thing built from Ridley Scott's 1982 film: which characters are replicants gets randomized whenever you start a new game. Run the Voight-Kampff machine on a suspect and your answer may not match a friend's. Nightdive's 2022 remaster drew hard criticism for its new visuals, and the package carries the ScummVM-based Blade Runner Classic as well, so both builds arrive together.
Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition on SteamArmed with your investigative skills and the tools of the Blade Runner trade, you'll be immersed in a world that lives and breathes around you with breakthrough lighting and visual effects. Your ability to survive will be put to the test in the richest game environment ever created.https://store.steampowered.com/app/1678420/ - 4
RoboCop: Rogue City
Teyon slotted its 2023 shooter between the 1990 and 1993 films, and Peter Weller returned to give both voice and likeness to Murphy. Nobody expected a licensed first-person shooter to catch Verhoeven's satire, and then it did. Firing the Auto 9 costs no ammo at all, which sounds broken until you feel how slowly the suit turns. Heavy, deliberate, oddly funny.
RoboCop: Rogue City on SteamBecome the legendary part man, part machine, all cop hero and deliver justice in Old Detroit.https://store.steampowered.com/app/1681430/ - 5
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure
Lucasfilm Games released this point-and-click in 1989, the same year as the film it adapts, and it treats that film as raw material rather than a checklist of scenes. Score is tracked as an Indy Quotient that carries across playthroughs up to a maximum of 800, so going back to punch a guard you previously outwitted pays you rather than penalizing you.
Indiana Jones® and the Last Crusade™ on SteamEurope, 1938: The lost Ark was just a warm-up! Now Adolf Hitler is after the most powerful talisman of all - the Holy Grail. A few brave men stand in his way. Fortunately, one of them is Indiana Jones, and this time he has his dad with him.https://store.steampowered.com/app/32310/ - 6
STAR WARS Episode I Racer
LucasArts built an entire racing game from one sequence of the 1999 film, and by the 2011 Guinness Gamer's Edition it held the record for best-selling sci-fi racer at 3.12 million copies. Repairs run mid-race: hold the button, your pod slows while the engines knit back together, and every wall you clip becomes a bet about your position. The Steam release is that 1999 game.
STAR WARS™ Episode I Racer on SteamTwo Engines. One Champion. No Limits.https://store.steampowered.com/app/808910/ - 7
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered
Aykroyd and Ramis doctored the script and all four original leads voiced themselves, which is why the 2009 release plays like the third film nobody made. Saber Interactive's remaster is what Steam sells now, there being no separate original SKU. Wearing a ghost down, catching it on the capture stream and slamming it about before you drop a trap still beats most licensed combat.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered on SteamThe beloved and critically acclaimed Ghostbusters video game is back! Strap on your proton pack once again and join the Ghostbusters on the adventure with the voice and likeness of the original crew as you battle to save New York!https://store.steampowered.com/app/1449280/ - 8
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Traveller's Tales adapted all nine Skywalker films into one 2022 package that sold past 3.2 million copies within a fortnight of release. Any trilogy can be started first, in any order, which quietly makes it the best way to show someone the saga backwards. Mumble Mode swaps the voice acting for grunts, and the jokes honestly land harder that way.
LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga on SteamPlay through all nine Skywalker saga films in a game unlike any other. With over 300 playable characters, over 100 vehicles, and 23 planets to explore, a galaxy far, far away has never been more fun! *Includes classic Obi-Wan Kenobi playable characterhttps://store.steampowered.com/app/920210/ - 9
Mad Max
Avalanche Studios shipped this in September 2015, months after Fury Road, and it adapts no single film: George Miller was consulted, the story is original, and Gas Town and Thunderdome are about as much familiar furniture as you get. Building the Magnum Opus while Chumbucket bolts parts on from the back is the actual game, and car combat has rarely felt this filthy.
Mad Max on SteamPlay as Mad Max, a reluctant hero and survivor who wants nothing more than to leave the madness behind and find solace.https://store.steampowered.com/app/234140/ - 10
The Thing: Remastered
Computer Artworks made a direct sequel to Carpenter's 1982 film back in 2002, and Nightdive returned it in December 2024; the 2002 build is not sold on Steam, so the remaster is what you buy. Squadmates carry a trust level and a fear level at once, and a man who reaches Crack-up will shoot you or himself. Testing your own blood to prove you are human never stops working.
The Thing: Remastered on SteamThe Thing: Remastered is a faithful restoration of the cult-classic 2002 third-person survival horror shooter game inspired by Universal Pictures’ genre-defining 1982 film, The Thinghttps://store.steampowered.com/app/2958970/ - 11
Jurassic World Evolution 2
Frontier Developments released this park builder on 9 November 2021, and it holds its slot as a management game rather than as a license: containment, animal welfare and weather feed into each other, so one fence failing in a storm cascades through the whole park before you can reach it. Chaos Theory mode is a bonus on top, handing you film scenarios to rerun. Goldblum and Bryce Dallas Howard voice their own roles.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 on SteamJurassic World Evolution 2 is the much-anticipated sequel to Frontier’s highly successful Jurassic World Evolution. This bold new era in the Jurassic World Evolution game franchise builds upon the ground-breaking and immersive 2018 management simulation.https://store.steampowered.com/app/1244460/ - 12
Starship Troopers: Terran Command
Slitherine published The Artistocrats' real-time strategy game in June 2022, and its store page describes a game set in the Starship Troopers film universe, meaning Verhoeven's 1997 picture rather than Heinlein's novel, which is what qualifies it for this list. Holding a line against Arachnid swarms turns entirely on line of fire: place a squad where its bullets reach, or watch the position fold.
Starship Troopers: Terran Command on SteamLead the Mobile Infantry in this RTS game set in the Starship Troopers film universe. Balance your army composition with a diverse set of unit types, overcome line-of-sight and line-of-fire challenges through tactical positioning, and use special abilities to smash the Arachnid hordes!https://store.steampowered.com/app/1202130/ - 13
Terminator: Resistance
Bottom slot, and an honest one: Teyon's 2019 shooter clears the bar for a movie game and not much higher. Critics called it generic; Steam players disagreed loudly enough that the gap is the story. Set in the 2028 future war the first two films barely glimpsed, it lets you sneak and hack Skynet's defences rather than shooting through them. Rough, sincere, worth the weekend.
Terminator: Resistance on SteamTerminator: Resistance, is a first-person shooter set during the 'Future War' scenario that was only glimpsed at in the iconic films, 'THE TERMINATOR' and 'T2: JUDGMENT DAY'. The machines are destined to lose, but at what cost?https://store.steampowered.com/app/954740/
How this list was ranked
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