There are a surprising amount of video games that act as sequels to movies. Games that are based on movies are nothing new, dating all the way back to the Atari 2600. However, more often than not, trying to translate a movie's plot to the format of a video game does not often result well.
A lot of developers attempt to fix the problem by having games take place after the movie. That way, it's almost like experiencing the next chapter; the developers can do as they please without poorly adapting a movie. In some cases, they are actually canon to the film franchise they are set in.
Enter The Matrix (2003)
Officially made with the Wachowskis and starring Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe and Anthony Wong as Ghost, Enter The Matrix is odd in terms of placement in The Matrix timeline. It's actually a story that takes place during The Matrix Reloaded and before Revolutions.
In a bold choice from the Wachowskis, Enter The Matrix is surprisingly vital to the lore of this timeline. It tells a side story that ends up being integral to The Matrix Reloaded; it even explains why Niobe and Ghost appear out of nowhere in the big highway action sequence.
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Before The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the game based on the first Andrew Garfield movie was the sequel. It's essentially a Batman: Arkham clone but with Spider-Man but one of the better attempts at a clone. In terms of story, it shows the aftermath of the Lizard's havoc on New York City.
Now OsCorp is obsessed with cross-species genetics which leads to the reinvention of multiple Spider-Man villains such as Rhino, Scorpion, and Vermin. It was a neat concept for a sequel but perhaps suffered from going too far from the more realistic angle of the first movie, a similar issue with the sequel fans did get.
Tron 2.0 (2002)
Twenty years after the original Tron, a sequel was made before Disney ever made Tron: Legacy. Tron 2.0 focused on Alan Baxter's son being digitized into the Grid and going on a similar adventure as Flynn did. Where Tron: Legacy heavily modernized the Grid, Tron 2.0 keeps the visual style of the first film.
The result is a surprisingly fun first-person shooter that retains the look and feels of the original while still doing something different. Sadly, it's unknown if Tron 2.0 is officially canon or not due to Tron: Legacy making zero effort to neither connect nor disconnect from the game.
Stranglehold (2007)
John Woo has been the brain behind several cheesy but delightful action films; Face/Off, Broken Arrow, Mission: Impossible 2, and Hard Boiled. Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun Fat, would actually go on to get a sequel but only in video game form with Stranglehold.
Chow Yun Fat returned as inspector Tequila Yuen, allowing fans to control the character and fight the Triads. As a sequel to Hard Boiled, it manages to retain John Woo's signature style by taking on gameplay mechanics similar to the Max Payne franchise, leading to a high-octane third-person shooter.
The Thing (2002)
John Carpenter's The Thing is a movie about tension, claustrophobia, and paranoia as a crew tries to uncover which member of their team is an alien imitation. That does not sound like the premise for a third-person shooter but somehow, Konami found a way; creating a sequel to the horror classic about a rescue team discovering the aftermath of what happened in that film.
Rather than a straight-up shooter, The Thing focuses on the same dreary atmosphere and isolation. Fighting the Thing does not happen often and the game forces the player to make the proper choices, otherwise, their team could end up betraying them. Combined with blood testing straight out of the film, this is one of the more unexpected gems based on a movie.
James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing
Most fans of James Bond can agree that Pierce Brosnan's version of Bond deserved a better send-off than Die Another Day. Technically, he did and it was considered one of the best James Bond games ever made. Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench, and John Cleese lent their voices to this cinematic adventure known as James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing.
With Willem Dafoe as the villain, Richard Kiel's Jaws making a return, and a villainous plot that's not that dissimilar to Daniel Craig's No Time To Die, Everything Or Nothing is a true Bond adventure. It's definitely a far better sequel for Brosnan to end his tenure on.
Back To The Future: The Game (2010)
There is no denying that the original Back To The Future trilogy never needed a follow-up. That didn't stop fans from asking for another adventure in the time-traveling DeLorean. A movie may never happen but Telltale Games' Back To The Future: The Game is the closest thing; taking place after Doc Brown had a family with Clara.
With Christopher Lloyd returning as Doc Brown and Tom Wilson back as Biff and his various analogs, Back To The Future: The Game is a worthy sequel. It maintains the adventure and comedy that made the Zemeckis films so iconic while showing new time periods, showing Doc as a young man, and even showing off another dark alternate timeline.
Jurassic Park: The Game (2011)
Another Telltale game, Jurassic Park: The Game focuses on the Denis Nedry subplot with different characters going on their own adventure due to the lost Barbasol can. So the plot of the game takes place during and after the events of the first movie, focusing on new characters.
Surprisingly, Jurassic Park: The Game would introduce many ideas and concepts that would be used in later movies like Jurassic World and Camp Cretaceous. One of the most famous examples is the Tylosaurus which would be the precursor to the now-iconic Mosasaurus.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009)
For many fans of the Ghostbusters franchise, this was the best Ghostbusters III that they could have received. It brought back all of the Ghostbusters, including Harold Ramis in the last time he would play the ever-quotable Egon Spengler. It created a new story that piggybacked off the first movie's story, expanding the lore of Gozer and Ivo Shandor even further, much like Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
It helps that the story for Ghostbusters: The Video Game was written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis and even they stated that the game was meant to be an official sequel. Playing as the nameless Rookie is also a great third-person shooter that makes busting ghosts a delight. The dialogue and story are written so well that the player genuinely feels like a valued member and friend to these icons by the end.
Alien: Isolation (2014)
Where most games based on the Alien franchise lean towards the James Cameron world, Alien: Isolation goes back to the 1979 movie. Every single doorway, corridor, lab, office, and vent is designed to look straight out of the first Alien from Ridley Scott. It even acts as a direct sequel to that film with Ellen Ripley's daughter Amanda looking for any traces of the Nostromo.
In so many ways, it can be argued that Alien: Isolation is a better sequel to the original than the iconic James Cameron's Aliens. On top of all that, Alien: Isolation is famous for being a terrifying survival horror due to how the Xenomorph is designed, featuring advanced artificial intelligence that adapts to the player's actions. As a result, no playthrough ends up being 100% identical in terms of encounters.