Sometimes—but “faithful” is not a single pass/fail quality. A film or series can preserve a game’s characters, themes, tone and world while changing its plot, viewpoint, pacing or structure. Another adaptation may use the same universe for an original story. To judge one fairly, identify what it set out to preserve and compare that dimension directly.
What “faithful” means in a game adaptation
Video games and screen dramas tell stories through different systems. A game gives the player control over movement, exploration, choices and sometimes combat. A film or television episode fixes the sequence of events and decides what the audience sees. Converting one form to the other therefore requires creative decisions, not a mechanical transfer of scenes.
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Fidelity is best treated as a set of separate questions rather than one overall score:
| Dimension | Question to ask | What a change might mean |
|---|---|---|
| Plot and events | Does the screen version retell the game’s main events, rearrange them, omit them or tell a new story? | A reordered or shortened plot may still preserve the source’s central conflict, while a new plot may be faithful only to the broader universe. |
| Characters and relationships | Do characters retain their goals, personalities and important relationships? | Additional scenes can clarify a character without contradicting the game; replacing a motivation can alter the story’s meaning. |
| Tone and themes | Does the adaptation maintain the emotional register and central concerns? | A story can change events yet retain themes such as grief, survival, guilt or power. |
| World and design | Are settings, rules, imagery and recognizable franchise details carried over? | A new narrative may still feel connected through its locations, institutions, creatures and visual language. |
| Interactivity and viewpoint | What happens to the player’s agency and the game’s way of revealing information? | Scenes may replace exploration, and an internal player perspective may become an external point of view. |
| Declared purpose | Was the project presented as a close retelling, a new story in the same universe or a looser use of characters and imagery? | The appropriate standard depends on the creators’ stated aim. |
These dimensions can point in different directions. An adaptation might reproduce major story beats but lose the feeling of inhabiting the protagonist. Another might invent events while preserving the world and emotional effect. Saying only that it is “faithful” or “unfaithful” hides those distinctions.
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- Enhanced visuals: Completely rebuilt from the ground up using Naughty Dog’s latest PS5 engine technology to improve every visual detail, The Last of Us experience has been faithfully enhanced with more realistic lighting and atmosphere, more intricate environments and creative reimaginings of familiar spaces.
- Fast loading: Initial loading times are near instant, and seamless after the first instance thanks to the PS5 console’s SSD – so you can pick up where you left off in the story and load specific encounters and chapters more quickly.
- Haptic feedback: DualSense wireless controller haptic feedback support for every weapon elevates combat encounters, and environments are brought to life through DualSense wireless controller haptic sensations of subtle falling rain, the crunch of stepping on snow and more.
- Adaptive triggers: All The Last of Us iconic weapons, including Joel’s revolver and Ellie’s bow, now deliver dynamic DualSense wireless controller trigger resistance and kickback on firing for deeper combat immersion.
- 3D Audio: Designed to make use of the PS5 console’s Tempest 3D AudioTech, Naughty Dog’s newly upgraded audio engine delivers richer soundscapes, bigger explosive moments and more visceral gameplay through compatible stereo headphones (analogue or USB) or TV speakers.
Why changing the game is often necessary
Screen stories cannot reproduce player control
In a game, the player may spend minutes searching a room, choose the order of tasks or learn about a character through optional dialogue. Television and film must decide how long a scene lasts and when information appears. A screen version can turn exploration into a short visual beat, combine several locations or give a supporting character dialogue that the player once discovered indirectly.
PBS discussions about adapting games, including a conversation with Craig Mazin, address these different storytelling conditions. The useful comparison is not whether every playable action appears on screen, but what the adaptation does with the experience those actions created: suspense, attachment, uncertainty, discovery or moral responsibility.
Episodes and films have different pacing demands
A game can pause its main plot for optional missions or repeated encounters because the player controls the pace. A television season has a fixed number of episodes and must create turning points that work for viewers who cannot wander off to explore. A film has even less room. Writers may merge characters, remove detours, move a revelation earlier or build a new sequence that delivers the same dramatic function more efficiently.
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The British Film Institute’s overview distinguishes games with developed plots and characters, such as The Last of Us, from games whose strongest appeal lies elsewhere. A source with extensive dialogue and a clearly defined protagonist offers more story events to transfer. A game built around mechanics, atmosphere or a simple premise may give filmmakers mainly a setting, concept, visual identity or collection of characters. For the second kind of source, “faithful” cannot reasonably mean scene-by-scene reproduction.
The Last of Us: a close retelling that still changes the material
The Last of Us is a clear example of a relatively close story adaptation rather than an unchanged copy. PlayStation Productions described the television task as finding “the perfect balance of what to leave out from the game, and what new things to add that couldn’t work in a video game, such as going deeper into side characters.” That statement acknowledges both continuity and alteration.
What the creators say they carried over
Neil Druckmann, co-creator of the game and a participant in the television adaptation, has described parts of the series as extremely faithful while also discussing additions that fill gaps or explore material more fully. His assessment is a creator’s account of the process, not a measurement of universal audience agreement. It does, however, clarify the intended approach: preserve the core story while using television to examine elements that the game handled differently.
What the television format enables
The series can give side characters more time away from the player-controlled route. It can show events that the game leaves implied, establish relationships before they affect the main pair and let viewers observe consequences from a different angle. Those choices may alter chronology or emphasis without discarding the central journey. Conversely, a scene that feels brief in a game can require a larger television sequence because viewers do not participate in the action themselves.
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A useful comparison separates three questions:
- Event correspondence: Which major encounters, locations and turning points remain, and which are removed or rearranged?
- Character function: Do the protagonists want the same things, and do their relationships develop for comparable reasons?
- Experience: How does the series replace the game’s exploration, stealth, combat and player-controlled discovery?
This method avoids treating every omission as a betrayal or every familiar image as proof of complete fidelity.
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- Flexible design
- High-quality material
- Durable
Resident Evil: when the franchise supplies the world, not the plot
Netflix describes its Resident Evil television series as an original story set in the franchise rather than a direct retelling of one game’s narrative. That places it in a different adaptation category. The relevant comparison is primarily with the franchise’s continuity, imagery and concepts, not with a single game’s sequence of events.
For an original-universe story, ask whether it uses the established world coherently: its institutions, threats, visual identity, rules and recurring ideas. Then ask whether it announces itself as a new chapter rather than promising to reproduce a particular campaign. Judging that project by the standard applied to a close retelling would confuse two different purposes.
The Last of Us and Fallout show why there is no single template
The Royal Television Society discusses The Last of Us and Fallout together as examples of game adaptations that can take different approaches. Producer Bronagh Monahan is quoted advising, “Respect the source material but don’t treat it as gospel.” This is an industry professional’s opinion, not a formal rule or a survey result.
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The principle captures the central tension. Treating a game as untouchable can produce a rigid translation that ignores what television does well. Treating it as disposable can leave only names and imagery. A successful adaptation must decide which underlying qualities are essential and which were products of interactivity, game length or player choice.
The available commentary does not establish a complete, scene-by-scene account of which Fallout plot elements are preserved or changed. It is therefore more accurate to use the series as evidence that different adaptation models exist than to assign it an unsupported fidelity score.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical method for judging any adaptation
1. Identify the source and the promise
Specify the game, version and screen project. A remake, sequel, spin-off and television series may draw on different parts of a franchise. Read how the creators describe the project: close adaptation, continuation, prequel, anthology or original story in the same universe.
2. Map the source’s essential elements
- List the protagonist’s goal and the relationships that drive it.
- Note the central conflict, major turning points and ending.
- Record the tone and themes, not just the events.
- Describe the world’s rules, locations and visual signatures.
- Identify what the player actually does to uncover information or make progress.
3. Separate additions from contradictions
An added backstory is not automatically unfaithful. Determine whether it deepens an existing motivation, fills an implied gap or changes the character’s reason for acting. The same distinction applies to new locations, rearranged chronology and merged characters.
4. Evaluate the interactivity transfer
Ask what replaced player agency. Did exploration become dialogue, visual foreshadowing or a set piece? Did a moral choice become a decision made by one character? Did an unreliable perspective become a camera angle or voice-over? This step explains changes that a plot checklist cannot.
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5. Judge against the declared aim
A close retelling should be held to a stricter event-and-character comparison than an original story in the same universe. A franchise-based project can succeed through coherent world-building even when it does not reproduce a game’s campaign.
6. State the verdict by dimension
Use precise conclusions such as “close in plot, expanded in supporting characters and different in viewpoint” or “faithful to the universe’s design, but not a retelling of a particular game.” This tells readers what the adaptation preserved and what it changed.
Common mistakes in adaptation debates
Counting references instead of assessing meaning
Costumes, locations, sound cues and recognizable objects can demonstrate attention to the source, but they do not prove that the characters’ motives or themes survived. Design fidelity is one category, not a substitute for narrative fidelity.
Assuming every cut is disrespect
Games often contain repeated traversal, optional encounters and systems designed for play rather than observation. Removing those elements may improve screen pacing. The important question is whether the cut removes a necessary relationship, theme or turning point.
Assuming every new scene is betrayal
Television may need scenes that externalize an internal thought, connect two episodes or give a supporting character a visible arc. An addition becomes a serious departure when it contradicts the source’s established characterization or changes the story’s central concern, not merely because it was absent from the game.
Using audience reaction as a universal measurement
There is no authoritative statistic establishing the overall percentage of video game adaptations that are faithful, and the available sources do not provide a representative ranking or universal fan consensus. Individual responses can be intense without serving as a general measure. Explain the textual comparison instead of presenting an invented score.
What readers should take away
Video game adaptations are faithful in different ways and to different degrees. The Last of Us demonstrates how a close retelling can omit material, add new scenes and expand side characters while keeping the central story recognizable. Resident Evil, as Netflix presents it, demonstrates a franchise-world adaptation built around an original story rather than one game’s plot. Industry commentary on The Last of Us and Fallout reinforces that respecting a source does not require treating every game element as untouchable.
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The fairest verdict names the adaptation, identifies its purpose and specifies the dimension being judged: plot, character, tone, themes, world, design or interactivity. Once those categories are separated, the apparent argument between “faithful” and “unfaithful” becomes a more useful explanation of what changed, why it changed and what the screen version preserved.
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