The Best Games For Tim Burton Fans, Ranked

Tim Burton returns to theaters with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, taking audience members on a journey once again through his signature style of family-friendliness fused with the dark and strange that made him famous. Tim Burton's style impacted many from the 80s to the present, resulting in filmmakers and video game developers taking inspiration from him.

As a result, there have been many games that take on similar concepts and visual styles as his films. Fans of Tim Burton and his long filmography looking to experience undead characters or fantastical worlds can enjoy them, even when he has no direct involvement with them.

10 Hollow Knight

A Cute Metroidvania Game That Helped Bring The Genre Back

Despite cutely designed characters, Hollow Knight is filled to the brim with the monochromatic visuals and Gothic atmosphere that Tim Burton famously uses in nearly every film. Hollow Knight is often praised for being a strong indie Metroidvania game, a genre that had been on a long hiatus before its release, and since then, other games of that style have risen in popularity.

Traversing through 2D levels, taking on bosses, and the visuals turned Hollow Knight into a modern classic. It is regarded as a difficult but satisfying open-ended adventure that resulted in it becoming a major success. So much so, that it received a sequel in the form of Hollow Knight: Silksong.

9 Lost In Random

Weird Yet Imaginative Fairytale To Save A Sister

Lost In Random is about a young protagonist traveling to a wacky yet ominous realm ruled by an evil queen, and it is a similar concept to Alice In Wonderland. As the hero named Even travels through the fairy tale world, she encounters many quirky characters as well as obstacles that result in a simple yet effective 3D adventure.

From the dark yet fantastical visuals to the colorful world, Lost In Random feels like a love letter to both the animated and live-action Disney versions of the C.S. Lewis tale. On top of it all, the art style of Lost In Random resembles the stop-motion animation that Tim Burton has worked with in the past with Corpse Bride and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

8 Pumpkin Jack

A Perfect Platformer For The Spooky Season

Pumpkin Jack draws a lot from The Nightmare Before Christmas, even down to Jack himself resembling the pumpkin-head scarecrow that Jack Skellington was first seen as in the film. Tim Burton has always had an eye for Halloween esthetics and Pumpkin Jack emulates that throughout the 3D platforming adventure.

Fans of classic 3d platformers of the 90s and 2000s will get a sense of nostalgia from Pumpkin Jack. The cartoony visuals combined with the bouncy gameplay are reminiscent of games such as Banjo-Kazooie but with plenty of spooky Halloween material that makes it perfect for that time of year.

7 Batman: Arkham Asylum

The Game That Changed Superhero Games Forever

Of all the Batman: Arkham games, Batman: Arkham Asylum came the closest to resembling Tim Burton's famous take on Batman. From the gloomy and Gothic aesthetic of Arkham Island to some of the more terrifying sequences of the Arkham games, the game oozes a dark atmosphere. And there's a reason why superhero games changed forever after Arkham Asylum was released.

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There is less focus on Batman trying to save the world and instead, Batman: Arkham Asylum is more about claustrophobic terror and trying to uncover what the Joker wants in the asylum. Combined with Kevin Conroy's famous voice for Batman's constant inner monologue, it mixes in classic noir with the wild and ambitious superhero journey that is most reminiscent of the Tim Burton films.

6 MediEvil

Makes Players Laugh While Playing As A Skeleton

Mixing action and comedy with horror elements, MediEvil was an exclusive for the PS1 that later got a remake. Both feature a failed skeleton who died before a battle began but has come back from the dead to fend off hordes of zombies and other undead monsters plaguing the land.

MediEvil is weird and unconventional, yet it works all of these aspects expertly to create an adventure for children and adults alike, much like how Tim Burton does with his movies. The monsters that are typically depicted as horrifying are hilarious and charming, which is elevated by fun and addictive gameplay.

5 Fran Bow

Provides A Scary Yet Intriguing Psychological Adventure

At first, Fran Bow looks like a strange but mostly family-friendly adventure, but it is anything but that. The titular heroine goes on a creepy adventure that features threats both physical and psychological. The concept of Fran Bow is meant to invoke familiarity with both Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and Henry Selick's Coraline.

From a black cat companion to Fran struggling with her mental illness, Fran Bow feels like a more adult Tim Burton story that keeps the player on edge with its eerie atmosphere and artwork. It's difficult to tell what's a real supernatural threat and what's simply in Fran's mind, making the adventure just as fantastical as it is disturbing.

4 Don't Starve

Surviving Shadows And Monsters With Crafting And Hunting

In terms of gameplay, Don't Starve doesn't bring much new to the table, as it is a crafting survival game in the same vein as Minecraft or Subnautica. However, it excels thanks to its 2D animation, which is undoubtedly inspired by Tim Burton films with gothic storybook art style and bizarre characters, scary monsters, mysterious lore, and quirky humor.

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While Don't Starve is enjoyable on its own, the Steam workshop page has allowed for a plethora of mods to experiment with, from new mechanics to characters. As a bonus, the spin-off Don't Starve Together allows for plenty of multiplayer antics with friends.

3 Alice: Madness Returns

One Of The Darkest Retellings Of Alice In Wonderland

Though it went under the radar at first, Alice: Madness Returns quickly became a cult classic due to its darker and quasi-horror take on the Alice In Wonderland story, featuring an older Alice returning to Wonderland years later. This idea is uncannily similar to Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland movie concept and people have wondered if the game somewhat inspired Burton.

Those who enjoyed Tim Burton's film will likely enjoy the much darker video game, which features a far more twisted universe with bloody combat and puzzles. In many ways, Alice: Madness Returns feels the most authentic to C.S. Lewis' original book, which famously was darker than the Disney portrayals that most people are used to.

2 Grim Fandango

Going On A Journey Through The Afterlife As The Grim Reaper

In the Land Of The Dead, Grim Fandango depicts the Grim Reaper as an afterlife travel sales agent named Manny Calavera. That macabre yet quirky kind of world-building is exactly what Tim Burton is known for with his films, especially Corpse Bride and Beetlejuice, which featured his own depictions of the afterlife.

Made by LucasArts, Grim Fandango is often considered a pinnacle in the point-and-click adventure genre of games, featuring a complex story, hilarious characters, and visuals that still hold up over twenty years later. The story of Manny Calavera in an underworld full of delight, intrigue, crime, and corruption is considered so good that Tim Burton could probably adapt it to a movie or series.

1 The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

A Hack-And-Slash Musical Sequel To The Movie

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Action

Adventure

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Released

October 10, 2005

ESRB

e

Developer(s)

Capcom

Publisher(s)

Buena Vista Games

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Platform(s)

PS2, Xbox (Original)

Genre(s)

Action, Adventure

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Though games based on movies are rarely good, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge breaks away from that curse to deliver a worthy sequel to the beloved film by Henry Selick and Tim Burton. The evil Oogie Boogie is resurrected and players must traverse the mystical holiday realms to stop him, mixing action and platforming together.

With Chris Sarandon voicing Jack Skellington and Ken Page as Oogie Boogie again, Oogie's Revenge surprised many fans of the 1993 film by not only having good hack-and-slash gameplay and visuals straight out of the stop-motion film but maintaining its musical routes by including rhythm gameplay segments which include new and familiar songs.

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