Feeling Meh about "Fallout"

Lately it seems like ye olde streaming services have become real interested in adapting video games into streaming series.  In the last few years we've gotten several adaptations including Netflix's The Witcher and Amazon Prime's Fallout.  This trend seems like it is continuing as I've seen rumors/stories that a God of War adaptation is currently in production.  There's something kind of fun about seeing stories and characters from some of our favorite games making it into the main stream, but generally, I've found the quality a bit lacking.

Let's start with the highly controversial The Witcher adaptation on Netflix.  I watched the first couple of seasons and found it somewhat enjoyable.  Henry Cavill played a believable Geralt of Rivia and is a favorite of all nerds thanks to his own dedication to the nerdy arts (such as building PCs and painting Warhammer miniatures).  The series seemed to garner quite a bit of dislike online because many of the characters were not an exact replica of how they were depicted in the game.  I found this a bit silly since the series is based on books (that, let's be totally honest here, aren't the greatest read) and the game characters don't even totally stick to how they're described in the books!  The storylines in the show seemed to at least somewhat follow what was in the books (although there was also controversy because the director/showrunner fully admitted that she hadn't read the books) and there were some fun CGI monster fights.  For me, the show went fully off the rails when Henry Cavill decided to leave and they replaced him with an off-brand Hemsworth (Helmsworth?  I don't know and don't want to look it up).

I greatly enjoyed Amazon Prime's first season of Fallout and was pleasantly surprised that it didn't absolutely suck.  The characters were fun and the world in the show felt like an accurate depiction of what is in the games.  This second season though...woof.  I was very excited because it was going to take place in the New Vegas universe and it was kind of fun to see the landmarks from the game in the show.  With that said, I found the storyline to be very...in-between-y.  It felt like the middle book in a series (and, I kind of wonder if they're going for a 3 seasons type of schedule where we'll see all the major fireworks occurring next season) and like it was sort of leading to something but not really going anywhere.  I was definitely underwhelmed.

Should the streamers keep pumping out these video game adaptations?  I feel like they're looking for anything with a guaranteed fanbase that will tune in regardless of the quality (and, I'm guilty of that).  That's not to say that these adaptations are pure garbage--they've got some enjoyable qualities (at least for awhile).  I'm watching to see which beloved video games will be adapted next--methinks an Assassin's Creed series could be a possibility.

It's the weekend and I hope everyone gets a chance to enjoy their favorite games (or streamers!).  Happy gaming or streaming!