Explore the official Eragon video game concept art based on the books, not movie

By Mike Macauley April 1, 2015 Eragon Video Game 11 Comments

Tronjheim's Star SapphireIn 2006, several Eragon video games were released alongside the movie. What many fans don’t know is that the video game largely drew its inspiration and themes from the books, not the film.

This is because the game’s development team began production on the game long before the Eragon movie was in production, allowing them to read and comb the books for inspiration. While the final product did incorporate many elements of the film, the books remained the game’s core inspiration.  Concept art used to develop the game reflects inspiration from the source material, rather than just the film (some hints of movie inspiration can be found in several pieces).

Two talented concept artists have been kind enough to share their many video game illustrations with us and have discussed their work, inspirations, and process in two great interviews. Today, we look at the art of Michael “Rusty” Drake, a long-time illustrator and talented concept artist. Rusty was part of the game’s core concept art team and was responsible for many incredible pieces depicting Urgals and various Alagaësia locations, including Tronjheim and Gil’ead.

Our gallery of Rusty’s artwork is accompanied by descriptions explaining each illustration’s contents:

We encourage you to join us tomorrow as we release our interview with Rusty, who sheds some light on the process behind adapting the book as a video game, how he was inspired by the world of Alagaësia, and more!

Now we ask: What’s your favorite piece of video game concept art by Rusty? Let us know in the comments!

  • some asshole

    This looks just like I have imagined!

    • Danielle

      I know right!!:)

  • Demacian Scout

    This is really neat to look at. A bit surprised there’s so much Gil’ead though.

  • Nolan Holley

    I’m a sucker for landscapes and set pieces, so I’ll say #22 is my favorite of the bunch, but they’re all great!

  • Lorenzo Morroni

    It’s awesome!!!! Where can we find it???

  • Noah M

    the Isidar Mithrim one is definitely different than how I pictured it, but i still like it

  • Laura

    Can’t pick just one. 2, 9, and 23 are just how I imagined. Beautiful art!

  • icryforhumanity

    The video games were about as bad as the movies except maybe the gba one? Did i miss one?

    • Noah M

      nope you are correct, in fact they were WORSE than the movie

    • They were definitely pretty lousy in terms of gameplay, although I’ve heard the GBA one is a good game. However, visual-wise (when comparing it to whether the movie or game got the vision of the books better), the game wins. Weirdly, the 360 version has hidden levels featuring things that should have been in the movie, such as the Kull.

      I was in regular contact with the team who developed the game back when they were actually working on it. Their hearts were in the right place, they just had to steer toward the movie as it was a movie-based game, not book-based. 🙁

      Still, these images are a fun look at what COULD have been.

      • icryforhumanity

        Is the 360 version the same as the pc version? If so could you inform me of these hidden levels?
        Also, just saying some of the aspects of the game (as a game) could have been a lot better.