Blog: Puzzling screen adaptions

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Puzzle games are probably my favorite kind of video games or app games to play. Anything that involves puzzles, strategy or mystery is right up my alley. Not every game is about combat, and it’s fun (for me, at least) to play a little 2048 or Professor Layton instead.

Now, if you were to tell me that if I could choose a puzzle game to be made into a movie or TV show, I’d have to give it some thought. My first reaction would be the Portal series – a classic in the genre. The series already has hilarious dialogue, an intriguing story and great chances for some really cool special effects. Then I might think of the visual novel 999, which is about a group of people who have to solve escape-the-room puzzles in an attempt to get out of a sinking ship before time is up.

But the last game I would think of would be Tetris.

Yup, that’s right. A Tetris movie. CEO of Threshold Entertainment Larry Kasanoff, an executive behind the film, told the Wall Street Journal “This isn’t a movie with a bunch of lines running around the page. We’re not giving feet to geometric shapes,” but rather that “it’s a very big, epic sci-fi movie.”

I, myself, am quite addicted to Tetris. (By the way, if you’re looking to also get addicted, you can play it for free here.) I never really thought of an imaginative storyline behind why the blocks were falling or why they were disappearing, though. The only thing that comes to mind is this brilliant YouTube video, “Complete History of the Soviet Union, Arranged to the Melody of Tetris.” I still can’t decide if I’m excited to see what comes of this, or just plain baffled.

On the other side of the coin, a TV series was announced for a puzzle series all too fitting for an adaption: the computer game “Myst” and its sequels. The original game, released in 1993, is one of the first puzzle games ever. It shaped the genre as it is today, but that’s not the only reason why it would make a kickin’ TV show.

The game’s main character, known as “The Stranger,” starts off the game by traveling via a special book to a mysterious, abandoned island called Myst. In the game, The Stranger discovers the secrets of the island, its backstory and other characters by solving puzzles and going into different worlds, also via books. Critics and fans alike applauded its ability to immerse the player in its fictional world.

Cyan Worlds, the developer behind the game, partnered with the television and digital media part of Legendary Entertainment in order to make the TV series. The fact that the original game developer is involved gives the show even more potential.

While I stay hyped for the Myst TV series, I will probably continue being baffled (puzzled, even, if you prefer the pun) about the Tetris film until I see a solid storyline for it. Either way, I will probably watch both, whether to be amused or to be bemused.

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