As awards season continues to ramp up, The Revenant is starting to look like a frontrunner at this year's Oscars. It's a vastly different kind of movie from just about anything else in theaters right now - for those who haven't seen it, The Revenant tells the story of a trapper (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) trying to survive in the harsh wilderness of the American frontier.
Of course, gamers are no stranger to such struggles.
If you were in school back in the '90s, then you already know what The Oregon Trail is. The educational game had players creating a group of settlers and trying to survive the harsh wilderness of the American frontier - and, while few would call it gritty, The Oregon Trail could be rather grim at times. Success was far from guaranteed, and most adventures ended with a tombstone.
The Oregon Trail and The Revenant clearly share some central themes, but wouldn't old school 8-bit video game graphics look out of place in a gritty Hollywood movie? Thanks to the folks at Vulture, we have an answer - and they actually look pretty great:
And now, it'll only be a matter of time before some major studio announces a gritty Hollywood adaptation of The Oregon Trail.
In all seriousness, there are a lot of great little touches sprinkled throughout the video. Sure, seeing an 8-bit bull sitting behing DiCaprio is funny, but it's the little references - like the pixel bullets, or the name on the tombstone - that really tie the video back into the game so many people avoided schoolwork with back in the day.
Who knows - maybe fighting a pixelated bear will finally be enough to get Leo that Oscar.
The Revenant is in theaters now.
