It's hard not to like Ryan Reynolds' new movie, Free Guy. The actor is featured as a generic run-of-the-mill NPC named Guy in a video game called Free City. Living as a background character who works as a bank teller where players perpetually rob the bank during the game's missions, Guy suddenly finds himself wanting more when he comes across a player one day while walking home from work.
After watching Free Guy, it's hard not to wonder what it would be like to play as Guy in Free City. This irresistible city filled with Grand Theft Auto-like missions and open-world freedom is exactly the sort of game that players love to play. But does that mean that there should actually be a Free Guy video game, or is it best left a fictional game within that movie's world?
10 Would Work: Playing As An NPC Would Be A Unique Twist
Players often wish that they could play as an NPC character since NPCs are often given strong characterizations that appeal to players. Being able to play as Guy, starting in his NPC role in Free City, and then being able to diverge from that path would have strong appeal to players and would give them an unseen glimpse into the NPC world.
Since NPC's are never given a main role, having one in the hero spot would be a refreshing way to make the game adaptation unique from other games.
9 Wouldn't Work: There Would Be No Character Diversity
With the main characters of Free Guy being Guy and Molotov Girl, adding more characters that are relevant to the game's story would be challenging. A big part of games like Free City is character customization, allowing players to create the exact character they see themselves playing.
In addition, players who wanted to play the main storyline as a female character would have a hard time, since the movie's story is based on a male hero with the other characters supporting their journey. Because of this, having a game adaptation for Free Guy just wouldn't have the character diversity that players enjoy.
8 Would Work: Zero-To-Hero Stories Are Always Fun To Play
Nobody wants to start a game where their character is already maxed level. This would take the fun away from being able to explore the world, choosing which build is right for them individually, and experiencing all of the key boss fights that help level up the player's character.
Being able to see the progression of power build over the course of the game allows players to also feel like an important part of the story. This in turn lets players build more of a connection to a character that starts off as a weak and ordinary nobody who eventually saves the day.
7 Wouldn't Work: The Gameplay Could Be Too Linear
There's nothing more frustrating than having a game that gives the impression of an open world and then turns out to be linear progression instead. Being a game adaptation of a movie means that either the game would need to revolve around a completely new story arc for the characters to follow, or there would need to be substantial additions to the existing storyline.
Otherwise, if the game follows the same story arc that the movie did, the gameplay could be uninteresting for players who have seen the movie and in turn know how the game will play out.
6 Would Work: Nice Guys Don't Finish Last
Often the nice guy gets a bad rap for being too soft and for having no backbone, but in Free Guy we see the main character stick to their guns and double down on being the nice guy, and getting rewarded for it too. This perspective isn't generally seen within games or movies and by translating Free Guy into a game, players would be able to get the chance to be the nice guy for a change.
Not only would this refreshing take on the hero genre allow players to pick the style of play that represents who they are as a player, but also offers different ways to play the same game which adds different and unique challenges to each style.
5 Wouldn't Work: It Would Take Too Long To Develop
Games, in general, take years to make, and a game like the one Free City is based on would take a long time to develop and create. Players who enjoy the Free Guy movie want to play a game adaptation within the near future and spending years making it will lead to players inevitably losing hype for the adaptation as people forget about the movie.
Long development times for games also mean that when they do release, they often do so in haste in order to appease waiting players, which can be hard to recover from.
4 Would Work: The Movie Provides A Strong Backstory To Expand Upon In A Game
A game adaptation of Free Guy wouldn't need to focus very hard on an origin story since the movie provides all the context that players would need. The movie would also set the game adaptation up to go forward and introduce more characters to the Free City universe.
This would allow the game to become more of its own entity and rely less on the movie as well as give players more options to choose from when playing. Creating a game with a wide range of player freedom and strong lore ensures that players have more fun and increases the immersion of the game.
3 Wouldn't Work: Multiplayer Would Be Difficult To Pull Off (But Players Would Expect It To Be Included)
While a co-op story mode could work well with a Free Guy game adaptation, having an online multiplayer mode would be hard to pull off. With limited characters to choose from, it just wouldn't make much sense.
An online multiplayer mode would require having separate gameplay away from the main story campaign and allow players to play as non-story characters. However, this could overcomplicate a game adaptation and muddy the main gameplay, which would lessen the player's experience overall.
2 Would Work: There's So Much Of Free City To Explore That Is Not Seen In The Movie
Only a fraction of Free City was explored in the movie, and there are many interesting areas that could be explored with a game adaptation, adding depth to the movie and game adaptation. Having extra and hidden areas within a game is a part of what gives players a sense of accomplishment and a sense of ownership in a game.
When players encounter side missions and things that other players might otherwise ignore, not only can players earn extra achievements but also gain a greater sense of completion when playing the game.
1 Wouldn't Work: The NPCs Would Have To Act As Players
Creating a reversed world where the playable character is an NPC and the non-playable characters are players would be very difficult to pull off. The actual NPCs in the game adaptation would have to have more complicated programming in order to mimic the randomness of real players.
There would have to be a great number of NPCs as well in order to give players the feeling that Free City gives off. While it isn't impossible to do, it hasn't been seen often in games, and in practice is often glitchy or underwhelming.
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