Playing the Classics: Constructing a Digital Game Adaptation Database.

This article focuses on the Video Game Adaptation Database, a project initiated in 2022 by the Remixing the Classics scholarly network to catalog digital games based on or inspired by classic works of literature and drama. It outlines the database's scope, methodology, and organizational criteria, emphasizing digital, commercially distributed games that explicitly engage with literary sources considered "classics" (largely drawn from the Oxford World Classics series). The article discusses how game genres and mechanics shape narrative meaning in adaptations, illustrating this with examples such as Toho's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1988) and Golden Glitch's Elsinore (2019). It also addresses the challenges of ludic fidelity, the diverse intertextual approaches digital games enable, and the accessibility issues posed by game complexity, offering a scale to help users navigate these adaptations. The database aims to support scholars and educators in exploring the growing field of literary game adaptations amid increasing digital cultural hybridity.