Lemonly Comparing Critical Reception of Video Games and TV Adaptations

Do video games make good TV shows? We compared critic scores of video game franchises and their small-screen adaptations to see which adaptations leveled up and which were game over.

Illustrations bring these beloved video game characters to life, and bar charts make the comparison clear. Starting with Netflix's Arcane (2021) — the best-reviewed TV adaptation among these twelve video game franchises — and continuing with critically acclaimed hits like HBO's The Last of Us (2023), the list also features some critical flops like the widely panned Halo (2022) and Resident Evil (2022) that didn't live up to their source material.

Source: Metacritic | View source data