Has the curse of video game adaptations truly been broken, or is it about to rear its ugly head once again?
Sadly, for every Detective Pikachu, Fallout, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, we've had Halo, Borderlands, and one too many Doom adaptations.
Just when we think studios have managed to turn it around, recent outings like Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and the long-awaited Return to Silent Hill have failed to score big among fans and critics.
Still, as FNAF 2 solidified itself as a box office hit, some accuse the industry of only caring about the bottom line.
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Video game adaptations are a dime a dozen these days, with some of the world's biggest IPs set to duke it out in the future. While upcoming adaptations like Sony’s The Legend of Zelda and Amazon's God of War attempt to cash in on both the small and silver screen, HBO is hoping to make it big with another video game favorite in the aftermath of The Last of Us breaking records.
Although the road to a live-action The Last of Us was a long one, everyone was initially blown away by the HBO series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
Sadly, that enthusiasm didn't last as we headed into season 2 in 2025.
With this in mind, Deadline's announcement that The Last of Us' Craig Mazin is due to adapt Baldur's Gate has been met with some skepticism. Once known for his work on Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4, Mazin moved on to more serious projects when he helmed HBO's lauded Chernobyl.
Now, Mazin is set to bring Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3 to life, which went on to break records to win Game of the Year at all five major video game awards and has since been regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time.
The outlet notes that while The Last of Us was a direct adaptation of Naughty Dog's games, Baldur's Gate will be a "continuation to the games, telling a story that takes place immediately after the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, as the characters — old and new — are dealing with the ramifications of the events in the third game."
There has been plenty of discourse online, especially as Larian has confirmed it won't be involved.
Michael Douse is known as the director of publishing at Larian, and quickly took to social media to share his concerns as he wrote on X: "I've spent the last eight-to-10 years of my life with the writers and creators of Baldur's Gate 3 and they're the most incredible storytellers and creators in the space.
"Only hope is that they get both the credit deserved and the characters are represented at the same level as the game."
After Douse said he was going to 'crash out on main' over the news, a more optimistic Larian boss, Swen Vincke, cheered Mazin's appointment: "From the conversation we had, I think he truly is a big fan which gives me hope."
Others were generally critical of the direction The Last of Us headed in under HBO, with one disgruntled fan questioning why we're getting Baldur's Gate from Mazin: "Why? So they can ruin it like they did The Last of Us? Leave things alone!"
Another complained: "Are they insane? The best adaptations all have the developers involved."
A third concluded: "Larian makes Baldur’s Gate what it is. This has terrible, boring show written all over it."
Let's hope HBO's Baldur's Gate is more of a success than Netflix's short-lived Resident Evil.