Do androids dream of adventure games? <i>Blade Runner</i> , Hollywood and video game adaptation

Although Blade Runner (1982) initially failed at the box office, Ridley Scott’s cyberpunk/neo-noir film has since become a seminal work, widely regarded for its enduring influence and inspiration. The release of Blade Runner: The Director’s Cut (1992) removed elements Scott considered to be producer-imposed weaknesses, a vision fully realised in Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2007). A belated sequel, Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017), also underperformed commercially but reaffirmed the enduring relevance of Scott’s dystopian future, one drenched in perpetual rain, climate disaster, overpopulation, and moral decline. While Blade Runner has been extensively examined across philosophical, aesthetic, and cultural contexts, this article shifts focus to its lesser-studied 1997 videogame adaptation by Westwood Studios. By transposing Scott’s cinematic universe into a point-and-click adventure format, the game, in some respects, enhances the film by addressing the challenges of adapting cinematic narratives into interactive media.