Games based on a novel sorted by release date
Many classic games were based on books, whether novels or short stories. This literary influence brought rich narratives and intricate worlds to the gaming medium. Some notable examples include "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, which inspired numerous games that explore Middle-earth's epic battles and complex lore. "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke provided a foundation for games that delve into the mysteries of space exploration and alien encounters. "The Mist" by Stephen King led to atmospheric horror games that capture the suspense and terror of the original story.
Most popular based on a novel games
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The Hobbit
DOS1983 Beam Software
Below The Root
DOS1984 Dale Disharoon, Inc.
Below the root is an atipycal early 2 dimensional adventure game based on the Zilpha Keatley Snyder novels: the Green Sky Trilogy. The player can choose one of many characters, each with different skills and embark in a quest to eliminate the distrust between two races: the Erdling and the Kindar.
Farenheit 451
DOS1984 Telarium
ICON: Quest for the Ring
DOS1984 Macrocom
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
DOSMac OS1984freeware Infocom
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a humorous free text adventure game based on the novel of the same name written by Douglas Adams (if you never read it, shame on you!). The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was designed by Douglas Adams himself and interactive fiction god Steve Eric Meretzky, it was released by Infocom in 1984 for DOS and for...
9 Princes in Amber
DOS1985 Telarium
Rendezvous with Rama
DOS1985 Telarium
Rendezvous with Rama is an interactive fiction (text adventure) game released in 1984. Telarium, a subsidiary of Spinnaker Software, was known for producing narrative-driven games based on popular literary works. This adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's novel is one of the earlier attempts to translate a science fiction classic into an interactive for...
The mist
DOS1985 Angelsoft
The Wizard of Oz
DOS1985 Windham Classics
Treasure Island
DOS1985 Byron Preiss Video Productions
The Fellowship of the Ring
DOS1986 Beam Software
Dragonriders of Pern
DOS1987 Everlasting
La Abadia del Crimen
DOS1987 Opera Soft
La Abadía del Crimen (The Abbey of Crime) is an action-adventure developed in Spain by Paco Menéndez in the mid-1980s. It was initially created for the Amstrad CPC and later ported to other popular home computer systems of the time, such as the ZX Spectrum and MSX. The game was released in 1987.
Mixed-up Mother Goose
DOS1987 Sierra On-Line
The Fourth Protocol
DOS1987 The Electronic Pencil Co.
The Fourth Protocol is a 1985 interactive fiction video game inspired by Frederick Forsyth's 1984 Cold War spy novel of the same name. Developed by the Electronic Pencil Company and published by Hutchinson Computer Publishing, the game was released on platforms such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and IBM PC (in 1997). Designed as a ...
The Hunt for Red October
DOSMac OS1987 Oxford Digital Enterprises
The Three Musketeers
DOS1987 Greve Graphics
20000 Leagues under the sea
DOS1988 Coktel Vision
Dracula in London
DOS1988 SDJ Enterprises
Journey to the Center of the Earth
DOS1988 Chip
The Shadows of Mordor
DOS1988 Beam Software
Alice in Wonderland
DOS1989
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur
DOS1989 Infocom
Emmanuelle: A Game of Eroticism
DOS1989NSFW Coktel Vision
James Clavell's Shogun
DOS1989 Infocom
James Clavell's Shogun, a text adventure game developed by Infocom and released in 1989. Infocom was known for its interactive fiction games, and "James Clavell's Shogun" was one of its later releases.This text adventure game is based on James Clavell's novel "Shogun" and follows the story of John Blackthorne, an English navigator who becomes invol...
Neuromancer
DOS1989 Interplay Productions
The Neuromancer video game, released in 1988 by Interplay Productions, is an adventure/role-playing game loosely based on William Gibson's seminal cyberpunk novel Neuromancer (1984). It combines elements of science fiction, hacking, and RPG-style exploration in a digital world, set in a dystopian future dominated by artificial intelligence, corpora...
Red Storm Rising
DOS1989 MicroProse Software
Red Storm Rising is a submarine simulation video game developed and published by MicroProse in 1988, based on the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond. The game is set during a hypothetical World War III scenario, focusing on naval combat between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces. Players command a modern nuclear submarine from a first-per...
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
DOS1989 KOEI
The Crack of Doom
DOS1989 Beam Software
War in Middle Earth
DOS1989 Synergistic Software
War in Middle-earth is a real-time strategy game developed by Synergistic Software and published by Melbourne House. It was released in 1988 for various platforms including the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC.The game is based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy world of Middle-earth, specifically focusing on the events depicted in "The Lor...