I Really Want to See a ‘Breaking Bad’-Like Character Change in a Video Game, Here’s Who I Think Could Pull It Off

One of my favorite shows of all time is Breaking Bad. It ran for five seasons, and if you don’t know about it? It chronicles the transformation of Walter White from a meek, 50-year-old chemistry teacher with cancer to a meth-dealing kingpin. It’s a truly great show and worth a watch. And after invoking Walter’s name in my last article, it got me thinking about something. A game that involves a character change — like in Breaking Bad — would be incredible.

Vince Gilligan, the creator of the show, pitched it as “taking Mr. Chips and turning him into Scarface.” And it was exactly that. I can’t remember seeing a TV show before Breaking Bad where the main character underwent that kind of change. I would love to see that in a game. And I’m not counting a game like Legacy of Kain where Kain became the villain in the sequel, but you play as another character. I want a character I control through the whole transformation right to the end. So, here are the developers I think could best tackle that type of transformation.

Naughty dog: the obvious one

The Last of Us proved that Naughty Dog is capable of giving us morally grey characters. People who are doing objectively bad things for what they tell themselves are the right reasons. They do really well with narratively dense concepts and could make a game that balances gameplay with this type of story. On top of that, I think with Intergalactic, they’ve shown that they can get the type of talent necessary to pull off a story of this magnitude.

FROMSOFTWARE: THE NOT-SO-OBVIOUS ONE

Hear me out on this one. The point of this is not to create a Breaking Bad game, but to create a game that mimics the character development seen in the show. With their focus on lore and environmental storytelling, FromSoftware wouldn’t be the clear-cut number-one choice. But given the depth of the lore and the characters, I think a hero-like character could become the ultimate villain in their worlds. And then imagine being a world-rending problem the last half of the game before coming to the final boss, who is actually the hero of the story. Now, of course that would require some storytelling ninjitsu to make the ending satisfying, but you know what? Maybe there is a developer with a particular talent for creating a satisfying ending out of an otherwise unwanted end for a character.

TELLTALE GAMES: mY CHOICE for this type of story

Between The Walking Dead, Batman, and The Wolf Among Us, Telltale is no stranger to unique stories — and endings as well. After all, they gave us one of my favorite versions of The Joker in their Batman series. I think they are the ones to pull this off. Maybe it’s the episodic format or the fact that choices truly matter in their games. But I believe there is no one better to give you a top-to-bottom character flip. For one thing, they do an incredible job of making you feel for a character. There isn’t a single person I know of who has played The Walking Dead who isn’t firmly entrenched in protecting Clem at all times.

Giving you the ability to make certain choices also sucks you into being the character because you hold some responsibility for what happens. Opening you up to justifying whatever is done. In some ways, it’s what made Bryan Cranston’s performance in Breaking Bad so great. You end up rooting for Walt even when you shouldn’t be. His choices are so in the moment and driven by a desire to make this money that you end up ignoring everything around it. Until you can’t anymore. Telltale has that in their bag. I need to see them pull this off.