Spec Ops: The Line
Thematically, the game Spec Ops: The Line is based on the narrative and the later book Heart of Darkness, written by Joseph Conrad in 1899. The sailor Charlie Marlow reports to his friends about his journey into the Congo, where he is supposed to find an ivory trader. There, Marlow experienced the cruelty of the British towards the natives and from then on doubted whether such exploitation of people was justified.
In Spec Ops: The Line, these doubts about one’s own mission are reflected. However, the setting is different: It revolves around Commander Martin Walker. He leads a U.S. military team sent to Dubai.
Martin Walker finds Dubai in ruins and realizes more and more how civilians are suffering and how the city is controlled by cults, corrupt soldiers, and fanatics. Within the first-person shooter, players must make various morally questionable decisions that can also lead to different endings.
The Bioshock Games
The games of the Bioshock series are inspired not only by one book or book series, but by many different ones that all tackle similar themes. The Bioshock games combine shooter and role-playing elements with an adventure filled with philosophical questions. The first game was released in 2007; Bioshock 2 followed in 2010 and Bioshock Infinite in 2013.
The games were shaped by many books, particularly strongly by the books Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand from 1957 and 1943. Dystopian novels like George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World are also believed to have inspired the games.
In the books, themes such as Objectivism, radical individualism, surveillance, and dystopia are addressed. The underwater city Rapture in Bioshock was founded by Andrew Ryan, whose name is a nod to Ayn Rand, which is meant to represent a kind of paradise for geniuses and entrepreneurs.
Without government interference, the inhabitants should be able to implement their ideas, but society within Rapture collapses. Radical individualism without a form of moral control leads to chaos and violence. Abuse of power occurs.
Themes like surveillance from the book 1984 are also played out in Bioshock, as society is increasingly monitored and people control each other. Players in Bioshock are repeatedly confronted with moral and philosophical questions: Should they exploit Little Sisters for their own advantage or rather save them?
Which books from our list have you already read, and do you know of any more video games that are based on books? Let us know in the comments!
Video games can not only originate from books but can also serve as templates, for example for films. In our list, we give you an overview of which video game adaptations you can look forward to in the future: All video game adaptations that are to be released in 2026 and 2027
