Sometimes, it takes more than an actual game to tell the story for all its characters. In a lot of franchises, games often show major things that happen to the world. Sadly, these stories don’t necessarily show the bigger picture. Thankfully, some publishers and developers take the time to release extra media to present the “hidden stories” that shed more light to some of the best game worlds out there. And sometimes, comics and graphic novels offer the best balance between art and narrative for these titles.
However, with many games having their own comics adaptations, which stand out among the rest? For gamers out there, here are some graphic novels or comics of hit games and franchises they should add to their reading lists.
10 Hellgate: London
Despite its current struggles, Hellgate: London captivated dark fantasy fans for its modern take on an ARPG roguelike experience. The game takes players to a post-apocalyptic 2038 where London—alongside the rest of the world—struggles to survive amid an ongoing invasion from Hell itself. As expected from a team composed of some former Diablo devs, players can enjoy fighting demons and saving the world in replayable randomly-generated maps and missions.
In addition to a trilogy of novels, Dark Horse Comics also published a Hellgate: London series of comics. Despite its lack of a separate narrative, its pages leave a lasting impression about the game’s world. These include insights towards player factions such as the warrior Templars, the ex-military Hunters, and the demon magic-empowered Cabalists.
9 Mirror’s Edge: Exordium
Fans of Mirror’s Edge love the series not just for its unique take on a dystopian setting. Rather, players love it for its intuitive take on parkour mechanics. Unlike other games, protagonist Faith Connors needs to traverse obstacles perfectly and with precision to avoid enemies and other dangers. As a result, players constantly feel that “flow” as they move around each level. Interestingly, WildStorm Productions released six tie-in comics that give the same feeling—even if they happen in still drawings.
As with the games, the comics also showcases the adventures of Faith as she uncovers a mystery surrounding her parents. Additionally, supporting characters from the game such as Mercury, Kate Connors, and even Clarence expand their stories outside the games.
8 Warcraft
Blizzard’s acclaimed Warcraft RTS stunned the world with its unique and compelling setting. After all, Warcraft‘s Azeroth is nothing like popular settings such as Middle-earth. And with World of Warcraft taking the MMO scene by storm, Blizzard has all the time in the world to expand on its hit franchise’s story. However, aside from the RTS and the MMO, Blizzard entered the comics scene with a number of comics.
The original World of Warcraft: The Comics happened concurrently with the Burning Crusade expansion. Meanwhile, other comics and graphic novels tried to expand the lore as tie-ins to other expansions. As a result, a lot of these comics reveal unique insights about characters and events that questlines in the game couldn’t immediately explore. Essentially, fans would appreciate the depth of scope of the Warcraft comics—especially since its story is ongoing.
7 Dragon Age: Magekiller, Knight Errant
Fans of BioWare praise the Dragon Age series for its unique take in the dark fantasy aspect of RPGs. After all, the publisher took such a deep narrative dive into making Thedas a living and breathing world with its complex intertwine of races, clans, factions, and magic.
The series has two sets of comics under its belt. Its first series, Magekiller, talks of the adventures of mage-killer Marius and his handler Tessa as they eliminate maleficarum, or blood mages, all while the Venatori faction slowly rises to power. Meanwhile, Knight Errant follows the elven thief Vaea and knight Ser Aaron Hawthorne as they steal various artifacts. Aside from their self-contained stories, readers praise the solid world-building and exposition involved in these comics series.
6 Tomb Raider
Adventure fans love the recent Tomb Raider series and its attempt to put a modern spin to Lara Croft’s adventures. Thankfully, fans can get a few hundred pages’ worth of stories to read with Dark Horse Comics’s Tomb Raider line. The comics fleshed out her character as well as her relationship with the various parties related to her hunt for treasure.
In the comics, Lara discovers the existence of new organizations, allies, and even enemies. A lot of her adventures offer valuable insight towards individuals and factions in the series. The comics sheds light to the true nature of the death of Lara’s father, and even had Lara pursue the Mushroom of Immortality.
5 Silent Hill
With Silent Hill, horror fans get a wildly terrifying experience as they play as protagonists in the eponymous towns where their nightmares turn into reality. As such, players and critics praise Silent Hill for its remarkable lore-building—both in the personalities of their protagonists, and the chilling past of Silent Hill itself. Thankfully, the Silent Hill series of comics did much of the same throughout its run from 2004 to 2008.
This series of comic books follow the experience of different individuals inside Silent Hill. These stories take place across nine volumes, each highlighting various facets of Silent Hill’s culture. These include stories about the inner turmoil of a doctor, a disgraced artist, a criminal gunslinger, and various horrific entities – among others.
4 The Halo Graphic Novel
Thanks to Marvel Comics, Bungie managed into their combined teams’ passion towards the Halo franchise to bring the Master Chief’s adventures in the form of comics. The resulting The Halo Graphic Novel has four stories that further expand various important elements of the Haloverse.
Its first story, “The Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor,” explores the Covenant answering a distress call from an eponymous Covenant agricultural ship in the events of Combat Evolved. Meanwhile, “Armor Testing” takes place before Halo 2 while the UNSC try out new SPARTAN Armor. “Breaking Quarantine” highlights a human soldier’s efforts to escape the Flood outbreak with a unique story structure. Lastly, “Second Sunrise over New Mombasa” explores a reporter’s perspective prior to the New Mombasa attack in Halo 2.
3 Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team
Fans of Cyberpunk 2077 likely had a blast exploring Night City with Johnny Silverhand and protagonist V. However, fans know one playthrough isn’t enough to explore the vast expanse of Cyberpunk 2077‘s world. Thankfully, Dark Horse Comics teamed up with CD Projekt Red to give another short but impactful look towards the colorfully-terrifying skyscrapers of Night City.
In Cyberpunk 2077: Trauma Team, readers follow Nadia and her work with Trauma Team International. Unfortunately, an encounter with their most recent customer leads to a shootout killing everyone in Nadia’s team. In the story, sole survivor Nadia had just been reassigned to a team after therapy, but their new client won’t make recovery easy for her.
2 Injustice: Gods Among Us
When NetherRealm Studios created Injustice, fans simply wanted DC Comics’ best heroes to bash each other in gory Mortal Kombat fashion. However, its comics adaptation puts a new face to DC Comics’ most prominent superhumans. This time, Superman decides that “enough is enough” and kills the Joker after the latter killed the former’s family. Where could the Man of Steel find truth and justice?
As a result, fans of DC Comics won’t just see Batman assemble his team to combat Superman’s reign of forced peace. Rather, the story forces readers to look into their favorite heroes and villains as their perspectives on trust, loyalty, and justice become constantly tested.
1 Metal Gear Solid
Espionage fans would fondly remember the adventures of Solid Snake throughout the Metal Gear Solid series. However, aside from its story and revolutionary gameplay, fans also love the series’ take on comics-style cutscenes for some of its games. In fact, the series itself would release comics of two games.
As such, the Metal Gear Solid and Sons of Liberty comics had the equivalent of top-grade spy-fi suspense in its pages. Interestingly, the comics do a retelling of the plot of the two games. Additionally, the unique art featured in the comics definitely sets the MGS comics apart from its contemporaries.
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