11 Movies That Feel Like A Video Game

With all the innovation in graphics, storytelling, and game engines being utilized in the industry, video games have reached the point where they can have the cinematic quality of movies, and some are even developed as interactive FMV titles. But what about the other way around? Are there some movies that copy video games?

In truth, yes. There are probably many examples of movies that you watched that had you drawing parallels to some of your favorite video games. The following might even be some of them, as each movie here is full of action set pieces and can easily fit into distinct genres of games.

11 Enemy At The Gates

The emotion and violence in war movies typically shouldn’t be meant to mimic a video game, but not if you’re Enemy at the Gates. This entire movie centers around the Nazi occupation of Stalingrad and the conflict between a rival German and Russian sniper in a cat-and-mouse duel the whole way through, played by Ed Harris and Jude Law.

Some of the sniper scenes have gone on to directly inspire video games, specifically the opening of the ‘Vendetta’ mission in Call of Duty: World at War. It’s the perfect film that captures everything you get in a sniper game and PVP mode in a film setting.

10 The Tomorrow War

Alien invasion movies are somewhat oversaturated these days, and it’s hard to find one that stands out, but Prime Video’s The Tomorrow War is excellent for its premise and action sequences. Think Resistance or Gears of War, but it hasn’t happened yet, and you’re shipped off to the future to prevent the invasion.

The plot sounds like a classic sci-fi action game, and the post-apocalyptic environment and creature designs and swarms certainly complement that video game world feel. The non-stop mowing down of the White Spike aliens alongside squad members makes it the perfect follow-up movie after finishing a similar session of gameplay.

9 Love And Monsters

If you’re a fan of big open-world games with tons of various deadly creatures populating the map and posing a threat to your life and a touch of romance in the narrative, Love and Monsters is the movie to watch. It’s about a character who traverses the perilous landscape on a quest to reunite with his girlfriend, encountering massive mutated monsters along the way.

Eventually, the main character, Joel, forms a party and even gets a dog companion named Boy to fight through the monsters that were once normal insects and animals before the asteroid Agatha-616 transformed them all. Some of the designs will even evoke the kemono creatures from Wild Hearts.

8 Sucker Punch

Zack Snyder has adapted graphic novels and comics masterfully into movies with Watchmen, 300, and his DCEU films, and Sucker Punch carries that Frank Miller vibe, but its plot, objectives, and video game NPC-style design of protagonists are a balance of American McGee’s Alice, Final Fantasy, and the sci-fi RPG NieR: Automata (costume designs too).

The main character Babydoll is forcefully committed to a mental institution and plots her escape, which takes her to a pseudo-fantasy world filled with dragons, orcs, WWI soldiers, and giant samurai mech boss battles together with support from her fellow inmates. There, Babydoll also meets the Wise Man, who sends her on a quest to collect five items to ensure success with the escape.

7 Ultraviolet

Aesthetically, Ultraviolet feels pretty high in comparison to similar neo-futuristic sci-fi action-packed films like Equilibrium, Aeon Flux, and Lucy. However, the characters and premise feel more made for a video game than a movie, with a female lead who’s actually starred in her fair share of video game adaptations.

Iconic movie actress Milla Jovovich now plays Violet, a powered vampiric heroine known as a hemophage like a Rayne and Bayonetta hybrid in a world with Mirror’s Edge lighting and atmosphere. She’s experienced with a fancy sword, guns, and a motorcycle. Plus, the unusual CGI actually works in the movie’s favor in simulating a video game look.

6 The Matrix

No one else can do complex and original sci-fi film narratives besides two directors – Christopher Nolan and The Wachowskis. Even though Sense 8, Cloud Atlas, and Jupiter Ascending are all incredible in their own right, The Matrix will always be both sisters’ magnum opus and one of the most innovative sci-fi films ever created.

There are many video game elements contained in The Matrix (itself camouflaging as a world of virtual NPCs). There’s a choice-based mechanic where Neo has to decide between the red pill or blue pill, fighting game-style tutorials in the kung fu simulation with Neo and Morpheus, bullet-time and destructible environments, and bosses like the Agents.

5 Death Race

Vehicular combat games translate well into movie format. While Death Race might seem like another video game adaptation from the director behind the Monster Hunter and Resident Evil movies, it’s actually a reimagining of a 1975 film where Twisted Metal meets The Running Man.

In this dystopian society, prisoners get a chance at freedom when participating in a televised show in which they, well, race to their deaths in armored and armed cars. Elevating the gameplay aspect here is how the cars must drive over pressure plates that activate their shields and offensive or defensive weapons at various points during the race.

4 Hardcore Henry

There’s no other action movie spectacle quite like Hardcore Henry for one reason alone; it’s entirely done in the first-person. Director Ilya Naishuller, who even caught the attention of legendary game designer Hideo Kojima with this debut, essentially puts you in a cinematic FPS adventure without any need to pick up a controller.

The story is chaotic, and the action is pure adrenaline, with the main protagonist’s point of view always seen through it all. It’s also the perfect companion to Cyberpunk 2077 since the main character is cybernetically enhanced and is joined by multiple different versions of the same character named Jimmy, who keeps reappearing to help Henry, very much like V and Johnny Silverhand.

3 John Wick: Chapter 4

Keanu Reeves just can’t help being in movies that resemble video games, and the fourth John Wick movie is the most intense and video game-leaning yet in the series. There’s even a shootout scene with camera angles and weapons directly influenced by a video game called The Hong Kong Massacre (referenced in the image).

What truly makes this feel like a video game is the timed pressure, neverending waves of enemies, and High Table boss fights posing as obstacles that John Wick must run the gauntlet through to reach his destination for an important duel, as though 2018’s God of War crosses over with the Raid movies. It’s incredible and immersive third-person shooter action.

2 Avatar: The Way Of Water

James Cameron achieved exactly what video games are about in the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. The world-building, plot structure with side quest-like beats, dialogue, environment art, survival aspects, and creature design are all reminiscent of watching a video game play out on film.

The expansion of Pandora to include the ocean tribe known as the Metkayina clan, new characters, new RDA enemy types and submersible machines, underwater mounts, and a species of warrior whales called tulkun seems like everything checks all the boxes you’d expect for a video game sequel to deliver. And in addition, The Way of Water’s story and visual effects are arrestingly captivating.

1 Dune: Part Two

A masterpiece like Dune: Part Two on this list? Why not? It’s a mesmerizing and stunning sci-fi spectacle and a massive achievement across all filmmaking fronts, from visuals and cinematography to the set pieces, sound, writing, and performances, but some moments can still remind you of classic video game tropes, and it’s only a compliment.

The opening had an intense and immersive sequence of Fremen snipers picking off Harkonnen soldiers one by one, bodies dropping from massive heights everywhere, and another section that felt more Assassin’s Creed than any of the recent games, with Paul using the cover of the desert to stealthily kill enemies with his blade. Additionally, you get a beautiful and awe-striking first-person perspective of riding a sandworm, and Chani has a rocket launcher boss fight with an ornithopter.