10 Video Games That Answer MAJOR Movie Questions

Movie tie-in video games have been a part of the industry for a long time and have run the full gamut on what form they take, let alone the quality. Whilst many do their best to adapt the story of the source material and perhaps bulk it out a little, some games commissioned by movie studios are a lot more than simple merchandising opportunities.

Sometime the best movie tie-in games are sequels in their own rights, growing the world of the film and addressing hanging plot threads that would otherwise go unresolved.

"Playing the film" is one thing and that's fine but games that dare to add to the setting, allowing us to play unseen moments and get to know characters better are always exciting. After all, video games are a viable place to tell a story so why waste that by just showing us a more pixellated version of what we watched in the cinema? Why not add to it?

Where did that character go? Where is that symbol from? What happened next? The video games in this list dared to answer big questions that their movies simply didn't and, in so doing, made themselves worthy contributions to the story.

The general consensus on sci-fi horror Pitch Black was mixed but the film’s anti-hero figure Riddick really stood out as ineffably cool. More than this, Vin Diesel was a fresh prospect at the time and Pitch Black would be the beginning of his breakout success.

Diesel, ever the fan of gaming, wanted to do a lot more with the character and so had a hand in the development of Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay which released in the same year as the film's sequel for Xbox and PC.

In Pitch Black, Riddick makes several references to being an escaped convict, growing up in prison and gives a cryptic anecdote about his “eyeshine” powers which allow him to see in the dark. Audiences are left to wonder the full truth of this and Escape from Butcher Bay acts as a literal flashback to these events, seeing Riddick’s attempts to escape and stumbling into his new-found abilities.

After scrabbling in the dark, the convict visits Papa Joe to fix up an injury to his arm. It’s here that we learn that Riddick’s eyeshine surgery was unplanned, with Joe doing it whilst Riddick was unconscious.

The Chronicles of Riddick sequel films that followed Pitch Black were critical failures. However, Escape from Butcher Bay is remembered quite fondly as a visually appealing game with an exciting blend of action and stealth that leads into Pitch Black wonderfully.