George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' getting video game adaptation

George Orwell's 1945 "Animal Farm" is getting a video game adaptation.Wikimedia Commons

George Orwell's classic allegorical novel, "Animal Farm," is getting a new and somewhat peculiar adaptation – a video game. The game will be largely based on the narrative of the book, with the developers getting assistance from the author's estate.

The "Animal Farm" game will adapt the classic story in two parts. The first one is an adventure game wherein players will take on the role of one of the farm animals. The game will focus on the character's choices, allowing gamers to forge their own path as the farm undergoes a power struggle.

The second genre of the game will involve a tycoon-esque gameplay where players will be tasked to manage and maintain the farm.

The team opted to use the hybrid genres to let players experience the everyday choices that the characters make in order to run the farm.

Although the game is still in the early development stages, a team member working on the title says he's been thinking about making it for decades. "When we started this process in earnest, I found game design notes from the 1990s," said Imre Jele to Engadget.

Jele also believes that the timing of the game will be just right. "It's the right time for us as creators as we are mature enough to take on the responsibility," said Jele in a report by Polygon. "It's the right time for the audience as gamers are keen to experience more sophisticated themes and subject matters, and it's the right time for society as we're heading into an era uncomfortably similar to the universe described by George Orwell."

The team is getting assistance from the Orwell Estate, which according to Jele, "scrutinized our goals and ideas extensively during this process, as they should."

Aside from Jele, the other members working on the new game include Jessica Curry ("Everybody's Gone to the Rapture") George Baker ("Fable"), Andy Payne ("Gambitious"), and Kate Saxon ("The Witcher 3").