8 Video Games You Didn't Realise Ripped Off Famous Movies

3. Spec Ops: The Line - Apocalypse Now

Spec Ops The Line Apocalypse Now
2K Games/United Artists

Easily boasting one of the best video game stories of the decade so far, Spec-Ops: The Line is one of the medium's few genuine cult-classics. Telling a grim-dark tale about the horrors of war, the story is all about one soldier's descent into madness while trapped in the almost-alien landscape of Dubai, which has been cut off from the rest of the world by a sandstorm.

The general story takes inspiration from Apocalypse Now, which is similarly about a group of soldiers entering foreign territory to take down a Colonel who's gone rogue and embraced the brutality of their lawless environment. Diving headfirst into themes of PTSD, the movie also informs the game's visual style, especially in its scorched Earth depiction of war.

However, both projects are fundamentally based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, to the point where the villain of the game is literally named after the author. It wears its influences on its sleeve, and it's all the better for it.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.