Forget the Oscars, Sinners Would Make the Best Vampire Game Ever

The 2026 Oscars ceremony was a bloodbath in the best way possible. While I’m buzzing my personal favourite - Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another - took home the Best Picture crown, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners would’ve been a deserving winner.

That’s not to say it went home empty-handed! Michael B. Jordan secured the Best Actor Oscar for his twin performance as the besieged brothers - Elijah "Smoke" and Elias "Stack".

I recently rewatched Sinners ahead of the 2026 Oscars, and there’s one scene I think proves Sinners would make an incredible video game.

Sinners is a story that expertly weaves Black folklore and blues culture into a vampire horror epic.

But there’s one scene, about halfway through the movie where, in a fit of rage, Grace invites the vampires into the juke. I'm not joking when I say I felt my soul leave my body, watching this in IMAX.

Coogler and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw use a breathtaking aspect ratio shift here, expanding the screen to its full 1.43:1 height. But it’s the camera movement that’s the real kicker: a seamless transition that feels exactly like a classic third-person-to-first-person perspective shift. You know the one. Where the camera dives through the back of a character’s head to put you directly in their eyes.

The framing and the camera movement were so playful, it felt like a video game. Check it out here!

A Sinners Game Adaptation Could Be a GOTY Contender

The narrative bones are already there for a GOTY contender. You have Smoke, the quiet, tormented brother lured into the world of the undead, and Stack, the impulsive fighter trying to save his brother’s soul.

The line between man and monster blurs perfectly for a morality-system RPG.

Stick in a few flashbacks you can play through of the brothers’ infamous Chicago robberies, and a high-stakes survival sequence featuring Remmick’s flight from the Choctaws, who even needs GTA 6?

If any developer is looking for inspiration, they should look no further than Robert E. Howard’s "The Horror from the Mound." It’s a Weird West classic that perfectly captures the "vampire in the dirt" grit that Sinners excels at.

Scratching the Vampire Game Itch

If Sinners has left you craving a period-piece vampire fix, there are a few titles that can get you close.

Dontnod’s Vampyr (set in 1918 London) is a decent game with some interesting morality questions - lots of investigating and choices like choosing to help people, or feed on them.

But looking forward, I’m desperate for a Vampire: The Masquerade game that ditches the modern day. Give us the 1930s. Give us the blues. Give us the smoke-filled rooms and the supernatural dread of the Great Depression.

Sinners proved that the Academy is finally ready to embrace "prestige horror."

Now, it’s time for the gaming industry to realize that Michael B. Jordan just handed them the perfect blueprint for a masterpiece.

Let’s make it happen!