A few days ago I finished playing Naughty Dog’s most recent offering.

Since it’s reveal 2 years ago at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, it was one of the most talked about new IPs in development. Flash forward to June 14th 2013 (June 20th for Japanese gamers!) and we all finally got to sink our teeth into the world Naughty Dog created for us.

And what a world it was.

In The Last of Us the environments are full of stories and aesthetics that breathe more life into the game’s surroundings than any cutscene could hope to achieve. Whether it’s spray paint on the walls or the various notes hidden in abandoned homes or hotel rooms, we get a glimpse of what it was like for people who were surviving (or trying to) as best they can. While the fates of the various authors of these notes are relatively ambiguous one thing can be sure; Every time I found one I was given a little boost to just keep moving forward despite the hostility that was sure to come for Joel and Ellie, the game’s protagonists and dynamic duo.

While a lot of the game is just Joel and Ellie there are occasions where they’re met and accompanied by others who are simply trying to survive (there’s that word again) in the fucked up world they live in. I won’t get into specifics and ruin it for people who haven’t played the game (or just haven’t gotten very far yet) but I will say that The Last of Us has a great cast of characters. They’re all so human and it’s a little jarring that they aren’t. All are equipped with different motives and personalities and ideals that really help drive home just how remarkable this game is from a storytelling standpoint.

The gameplay is nothing to sneeze at either. It has a few combat hiccups (mostly involving melee) but that’s a very minor kink in relatively pristine armor. One thing I was worried about going into the game was whether or not I’d ever feel too prepared for a situation. That was never the case.

I don’t know what it’s like on other difficulties but I played the game on Hard and I found myself rejoicing every time I found parts or ingredients to make the various items Joel can use. Just the idea of not knowing when I’d find another ingredient to craft an item made me approach combat with more precision than I initially intended. Survival is always the better option than full on combat but sometimes things don’t go the way you’d hope.

On more than one occasion while trying to make my way past a group of enemies I found myself slipping up and getting thrown into the fray. While combat is hectic, it’s also manageable and really forces you to stay on your feet. But even as I progressed I still found myself having the occasional hiccup like absent-mindedly tossing (and missing) with a molotov cocktail or getting so distracted by infected runners that I failed to notice the Clicker that was breathing down my neck or the Bloater stomping towards me. Every combat situation feels dire and making it out as unscathed as possible was always a cause for celebration. The checkpoint system in this game has been harshly criticized for taking away from the survival aspect but I disagree. Yes, when you die you’re taken back to a checkpoint usually just before an encounter but it’s not as if you’re given a “Get Out Of Jail Free" card just because of this. The survival aspect was never taken away because of that and I personally think it’s a silly complaint to make.

No game is perfect but The Last of Us comes astonishingly close. There are some immersion breaking moments (nothing major), the AI can be a little silly (again, rare), and the combat has hiccups here and there but regardless of that The Last of Us is a 10 out of 10. It’s on the short list of games that you just have to play. You have to experience the sadness and the terror that Joel and Ellie experience. I can’t recall the last time the ending of a game left me feeling the way I felt.

But don’t take my word for it, go play it and experience it for yourself because you definitely won’t regret it.

I sure didn’t.