Some video games, like The Witcher series, are directly based on books, but others, like Assassin's Creed, are a bit more subtle about their literary inspirations. These games may lift names, themes, or concepts from a book, but not be directly based on them. While none are direct adaptations, it is still easy to see how the source material influenced these games once you know.

This doesn't just happen with books; some video games have also been inspired by movies or TV shows without directly adapting them. For instance, games like Max Payne and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening were inspired by Twin Peaks. That said, I tried to avoid touching on games like Alan Wake, which wear their literary inspirations more plainly on their sleeves.

10 STALKER Was Inspired By Roadside Picnic

The Zone And Stalkers Come From The Novel

Although you may already know that the STALKER games were inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky's film Stalker, you may not know that they were both based on the book Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Roadside Picnic is set in a world where extraterrestrial beings visit six different areas on Earth where strange things occur and alien artifacts can be found. Scavengers who explore these "Visitation Zones," like the book's protagonist Redrick, are known as stalkers.

STALKER changes a few things about Roadside Picnic's set up, like there only being one Zone in Chernobyl, as opposed to there being six across the world. The overall story is also relatively different from Roadside Picnic's main plot. However, this is probably one of the games on this list that comes closest to recreating the experience of reading the original text that it was inspired by, even if STALKER isn't a direct adaptation.

9 Devil May Cry Was Inspired By The Divine Comedy

Devil May Cry's Characters Are Named For Divine Comedy Figures

Devil May Cry started its life as a spin-off of the Resident Evil series, but it's clear from the character's names that it also took some inspiration from Dante Alighieri's poem, The Divine Comedy. Dante himself is the main character of the poem, and it follows him as he is guided through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, with the aid of the poet Virgil, a woman Dante had met named Beatrice, and Saint Bernard, respectively. These figures, as well as the poem's partial focus on Hell, both lend some inspiration to the Devil May Cry games.

Dante is Devil May Cry's protagonist, and his brother Vergil starts the series having spent some time trapped in the demon realm, not unlike how the poem's Virgil is in Hell while Dante is still alive. It may also be that DMC's Vergil being more cold and inhuman is a reference to how Virgil in the poem often encourages Dante not to feel sympathy for the people suffering in Hell. However, in the poem this is seen as Virgil being correct, whereas he is typically an antagonist in the games.

Dante's partner Trish gets her name from Beatrice of The Divine Comedy. Trish is read by some as a potential love interest for Dante in the first game, which could reflect the real Dante's love for Beatrice. This is a little messy, since Trish also looks exactly like Dante's mom, but Oedipus is also mentioned in The Divine Comedy, so hey, maybe it's another reference. Additionally, Devil May Cry's Lady, whose real name is Mary, is named after the Virgin Mary, who Saint Bernard was particularly devoted to. Mary is also called the Madonna, which means lady.

8 Spec Ops: The Line Was Inspired By Heart Of Darkness

Spec Ops: The Line Took Themes From Heart Of Darkness

Spec Ops: The Line is famous for its attempt to subvert video game tropes and get players to question how they view war as entertainment through the lens of games like it. Because its cultural critique seems so centered on video games, it might be surprising to learn that the game was inspired by a novella written before video games even existed. According to an interview by Digital Spy with lead game designer, Cory Davis, the game was partially inspired by Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

Heart of Darkness' theme that so-called "civilized" men are capable of committing terrible acts works well with Spec Ops: The Line's commentary on the horrors of war that soldiers are often ordered to carry out. While Heart of Darkness largely existed to criticize imperialism in Africa, its message has (sadly) continued to be relevant in the 126 years since it was written. The novella also inspired Apocalypse Now, which adapted its story to criticize the Vietnam War, similar to how Spec Ops: The Line took inspiration from it to critique America's use of white phosphorus in the Middle East.

7 BioShock Was Inspired By Atlas Shrugged

BioShock Used Rapture To Criticize Ayn Rand's Philosophy

Although many of the games on this list seem to have some level of iration for the work that inspired them, inspiration doesn't always have to be positive. BioShock was inspired by the works of Ayn Rand in the same way that smelling rotten eggs might inspire you to puke. The game's developers took Rand's philosophy, Objectivism, as detailed in her book Atlas Shrugged, and used them as the inspiration behind Rapture. The game's antagonist, Andrew Ryan, is also inspired by Ayn Rand, and seemingly named after her.

Although BioShock's developers seemed coy about directly addressing their criticisms of Rand's philosophy in interviews that I found, it's pretty clear through the game's depiction of Rapture that Objectivism is not being held up as a good basis for a society. Rapture, which was founded on similar principals to Galt's Gulch from Atlas Shrugged, is collapsing both literally and as a community. It is far from the utopia Rand imagined in her novel, and it's made clear that following her philosophy of selfishness over altruism is partially responsible for it getting that way.

6 Assassin's Creed Was Inspired By Alamut

Alamut Is Focused On The Same Historical Group Of Assassins

The Assassin's Creed series is well known for taking some inspiration from history and real-life mythology. However, the first game in the series was also inspired by the novel Alamut, by Vladimir Bartol. It can be a little hard to say what exactly Assassin's Creed took from history, and what it took from Bartol's novel, as they both took inspiration from the historical Order of Assassins, AKA the Hashshashin. That said, there are some clear indications that Assassin's Creed was drawing at least some of its ideas from Bartol's novel.

Perhaps the clearest indication that Alamut inspired Assassin's Creed is through the Assassin's motto, "nothing is true; everything is permitted." This saying originally appeared in Alamut, though translated slightly differently as "Nothing is an absolute reality; all is permitted." As this saying seems to be an invention of Bartol's novel and not a real Hashshashin saying, Assassin's Creed's depiction of the Assassins is at least partially inspired by Alamut.

5 Far Cry 2 Was Inspired By Red Harvest

Far Cry 2 Took Ideas From Multiple Novels

Far Cry 2 tackles the idea that people, when pushed to go too far, can eventually commit heinous acts of violence. If that sounds like a familiar theme, it's because the game was partially inspired by Heart of Darkness, just like Spec Ops: The Line. However, I was interested to learn that the game was also inspired by the novel Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. According to GameSpot, Red Harvest gave Far Cry 2's developers the idea of a story where a lone person enters a place that is in conflict and takes out both sides of the fight.

The Far Cry series in general is no stranger to literary influence. The first game in the series was inspired by The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells, which is where the game's plot about genetic engineering comes from. As someone with only a ing familiarity with the series, I was a little surprised to learn that it had taken inspiration from several literary classics, though I'm not sure if it will be enough to convince me to give open-world Ubisoft games another chance.

4 Dynasty Warriors Was Inspired By Romance Of The Three Kingdoms

Dynasty Warriors' First Characters Were Figures From History And The Book

You may be surprised to see not one, but two hack-and-slash series of games on this list, but Dynasty Warriors didn't start out as a pure action game. The series was actually a spin-off of the turn-based Romance of the Three Kingdoms games. Those games were actually inspired by a historical fiction novel of the same name attributed to Chinese author Luo Guanzhong. The novel tells the story of feudal lords during China's Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han dynasty.

The first Dynasty Warriors game also didn't follow the hack-and-slash style of the newer games, and was actually a one-on-one fighting game. Fighters in the game are mostly made up of historical figures from the Three Kingdoms period. While these are real historical figures as well, the game's connection to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms game series would lead me to believe that Dynasty Warriors took inspiration from the same historical fiction interpretation of the characters.

3 Black Myth: Wukong Was Inspired By Journey To The West

The Destined One And His Weapon Are Based On Sun Wukong

The Soulslike game Black Myth: Wukong made quite a splash last year, and was a major step forward for the Chinese video game industry, becoming the country's most successful single-player game, according to Reuters. The game was inspired by the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West and its character Sun Wukong. Like Black Myth: Wukong's Destined One, Sun Wukong is a monkey warrior who wields a magical staff.

The game's staff also takes inspiration from Journey to the West, as it is similar to Sun Wukong's magical staff, Ruyi Jingu Bang. Like the staff in Black Myth: Wukong, Ruyi Jingu Bang can change its size in accordance to its owner's wishes. While Black Myth: Wukong lifts many elements from the original novel, it isn't exactly a one-to-one adaptation, though the game doesn't try to hide that it was heavily inspired by the novel.

2 Fallout Was Inspired By A Boy And His Dog

Fallout Is An Amalgamation Of Post Apocalyptic Fiction

The Fallout series can claim several inspirations, including developer Interplay Productions' previous post-apocalyptic RPG, Wasteland. However, the novella A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison deserves a lot of credit. Similar to Fallout, it takes place in a post-apocalyptic future brought on by a nuclear war, and even features underground nuclear vaults that helped people survive the initial war.

While Fallout takes some direction from A Boy and His Dog, it also has a lot of other inspirations, including films like Mad Max, according to Polygon. Newer games in the series have also clearly taken some inspiration from the works of H. P. Lovecraft, as seen with the Dunwich building in Fallout 3, named for Lovecraft's story The Dunwich Horror. Drawing from such a wide range of inspirations is likely what helps Fallout feel like such a distinct property, despite drawing from so many existing sources.

1 EarthBound Was Inspired By The Talisman

EarthBound's Predecessor Mother Was Inspired By A Novel

Even if you've never played EarthBound, you're probably familiar with its protagonist, Ness, from the Super Smash Bros. series. EarthBound was the sequel to the game Mother, which was only released in Japan. According to an interview with Da Vinci, Mother's game director, Shigesato Itoi, credits The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub as inspiring the first game. In the interview, Itoi mentions The Talisman's sense of sadness as a major source of inspiration for Mother, and says he was also inspired by the way King and Straub collaborated to finish the novel.

Interestingly enough, apart from the character Wolf, Itoi doesn't reference many direct plot elements from The Talisman that ended up inspiring Mother. This shows that inspiration doesn't have to be as one-to-one as Assassin's Creed lifting the Hashshashin slogan from Alamut. Instead, a feeling or idea born out of reading a book is enough to inspire a new creative work.

Sources: GameSpot, Reuters, Polygon, Da Vinci