10 Video Games That Are Based On Novels

In 1971 Arkady and Boris Strugatsky wrote a novel called Roadside Picnic which went on to inspire the 1979 science fiction movie Stalker which was separately novelised by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and all three of these went on to inspire the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series...the book is just as insane as that preceding sentence.

Roadside Picnic has actually inspired more science fiction than I could actually list in this entry. It is a brilliant, unique work of fiction unlike anything else I've ever read that falls under the 'alien invasion' sci-fi umbrella.

Instead of the 'invasion' being treated as an act of aggression by whatever species perpetrated it, the novel instead asks the question: what if it was simply beyond our comprehension? Much like ants at a picnic would have no idea what a ring pull's function was yet seem compelled to explore regardless.

Roadside Picnic is baffling, thoughtful, philosophical and oddly beautiful in its own right. In the introduction to the edition I own, Ursula LeGuin gives it her personal seal of approval (which is a pretty huge deal).