6 Books We Wish They’d Adapt Into Video Games

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt
This Pulitzer Prize-winner is so detailed covers so much time that there are just so many characters. The novel is just begging for the Mario Kart treatment. We’d all have hours of fun squaring off as our favorite Goldfinch characters—whether it’s a main player like Theo or Hobie, or briefly appearing but important characters like Tom Cable, Mr. Bracegirdle, the girls Boris sells cocaine to (Katie and Them), and the goldfinch from the Fabritius painting that figures prominently in the book.

Silas Marner, by George Eliot
In this rhythmic game inspired by Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero, the player controls the bitter miser onscreen, having him move pieces of gold from one side of a table to another as he counts them. But he must do so in perfect rhythm and not get distracted by the cries of the abandoned baby in his care or he loses.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Like many party games available for the Nintendo Wii, Moby-Dick is actually a series of fun, quick, “mini-games.” In one game, the player can steer the mighty Pequod through treacherous waters. In another, they can try to harpoon a whale before the 400-hour timer runs out. Or the player can just stay in calm water and contemplate man’s true nature.

Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
This could be one of those Facebook games with lots of bright colors and sparkly objects that hypnotize the brain into wasting away the hours. In this puzzle game, the player is “Georgie” and has to pick as many bright orange and glitter covered pieces of barley as possible. It sounds easy but it’s hard to do when Curley keeps jumping in to stop you, not to mention the soft rabbits and puppies running around the edge of the screen.

Nicholas Nickleby, by Charles Dickens
Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. allows players to select virtually any player from Nintendo’s archive of classic games…and then make them fight each other to the death with karate moves and swords. (Finally, you can see once and for all if Mario could take Pac-Man in a fight!) In terms of having a huge reserve of characters, the literary equivalent is Charles Dickens’ epic novel Nicholas Nickleby and in its virtual city full of Victorian English people, which includes seemingly everyone Nicholas Nickleby deals with across a few decades. With this game, you could see who is the mightiest in battle—can Nicholas defeat his nefarious Uncle Ralph in a bout? What about housekeeper Peg Sliderskew vs. the mysterious “Man Next Door”? Or even Mr. Pluck against Mr. Pyke?

Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton
Video games are way too concerned with things like “action” and “stuff happening.” But imagine how revolutionary an Ethan Frome game could be. Finally, a video game that is both vaguely sad and almost entirely uneventful! Tasks that must be completed in the Ethan Frome game include: “Maintaining the Failing Family Farm Even Though You Have No Desire to Do So,” “Trying to Sell Some Lumber,” “Being Quiet While Your Terminally Ill Wife Sleeps,” “Walking Mattie Home From the Dance While Stifling Romantic Feelings,” “Trying to Repair the Pickle Dish,” and finally, “Sledding.” That last level sounds fun, but try as you might, guilt will displace any fun and the player will inevitably crash and leave on-screen Ethan with a permanent limp.
What book do you think should be adapted into a video game?