The Last of Us

The Last of Us is a great example of how a game can transcend its medium. From the moment the first cutscene appears it’s clear that the developers at Naughty Dog put a lot of care into creating characters that look and feel as real as the ones we see in the movies. The Last of Us takes a page out of the Uncharted playbook leading with cinematic styling and character, with wonderfully talented voice actors who bring the ultra-detailed characters to life. While some of the gameplay mechanics could have used the same attention to detail, great writing, exceptional character crafting, and a fully realized world put The Last Of Us on a new level, lending credence to the idea that video games are a legitimate and exciting platform for storytelling.

The Last of Us takes us into a post-zombie-apocalyptic future (2033) where the few survivors consist of people relegated to government controlled safe zones or bands of cannibals preying upon the weak. Our heroes are Joel, (Troy Baker) a gruff, world-weary survivor living in Boston and 14-year-old Ellie (Ashley Johnson) whom Joel is hired to escort across the country. Like a good buddy comedy minus, well, the comedy, the two start off at odds with one another. Joel sees Ellie as a job, and a tedious one at that and the headstrong independent teenager Ellie isn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of taking orders from a stranger. As she is herded from one perilous situation to the next, their struggles and life threatening encounters bring the two closer together. The bond that develops is very compelling and endearing, a testament to both the writing and nuance and talent of the actors.

If Uncharted is Indiana Jones, the Last of Us is Cormac McCarthy’s the Road. The game’s subject matter closely echoes Mccarthy’s story of man’s struggle to choose between humanity and survival. And the tone; gritty, dark, and grounded, is very reminiscent of the film. At several points in the game we see characters choosing to be alone, remarking “Partners get you killed.” You can understand their choice, in this bleak world where betrayal and desperation are rote. But Joel and Ellie need each other, and as they continue to fight their way through the violence, we see Joel’s hardened exterior give way to his desire for connection and the lengths he will go to protect it. This glimmer of beauty keeps the player invested in the storyline, playing perhaps just to find out what happens next. And the darkness that follows as Joel puts his own humanity to the test adds an even richer layer of story to the game. How often do our consoles make us ask the big questions?

Joel and Ellie’s story is compelling and heartfelt on its own, but the attention to detail in the world of the game is what truly makes this story feel real. Remastered for the PS4, it’s a world filled with dilapidated cars, abandoned homes, and derelict buildings so richly rendered, it’s hard not to stop and explore every little nook and cranny. And the game encourages this curiosity as it is the primary way you obtain supplies and ammo. After all, in a post-apocalyptic world, the best scavengers survive. I constantly found myself admiring each richly detailed dining room, with dusty chandeliers and peeling wallpaper, searching old kitchen drawers and cabinets for scissors, rags, alcohol, anything that can be used to craft some of the secondary weapons that can come in very handy when ammo is low. The Last of Us increases the realism by placing items in areas you’d expect to find them: kitchens are typically stocked with alcohol, rags, and tape, ammo is usually found in basement drawers or closets (you won’t find shotgun shells in little Timmy’s bedroom). Probably the closest thing to “having fun” in the Last of Us is in the exploration of each uniquely designed building or house looking for ammo and supplies. This makes for great sense of adventure and discovery along an otherwise slow and grim journey.

In large part, the slow and grim comes from the game play. Like Uncharted, the Last of Us brings through waves of enemies in abandoned buildings and out in the open. Each setting is peppered with waist high objects to hide behind while you devise a strategy for taking them out before they surround and kill you. However, unlike Uncharted, which had decent aiming mechanics, the Last of Us takes all of the joy out of using your firearms. Joel’s unsteady hand, while realistic, makes it very difficult to get the hang of taking out the quicker enemies. The dreaded “clickers” whose erratic movements coupled with the fact that they kill you instantly when in melee range resulted in me having to return to checkpoints more times than I care to admit before being able to move on to the next area. The stealth option feels like an afterthought as the results are inconsistent. Sneaking past an enemy while crouched may work in the hallway of an abandoned home in broad daylight while moving behind a car in a dark freeway tunnel somehow draws the attention of every enemy in the area. And thought it is possible to upgrade Joel’s aim and found weapons, I never noticed a difference in their handling from my first firefight to my last. Where the combat truly shines is in the absolutely brutal melee combat. The people at Naughty Dog must have had Casino Royale and the knife fight from Eastern Promises playing on a loop in their offices because you feel every knee to the stomach and steel pipe to the back. I swear I could feel bits of plaster on my face after Joel’s head smashed into a wall.

In some ways this particular kind of violence is what separates The Last of Us from many other 3rd person shooters. Unlike most games the Last of Us makes you feel the consequences of each life you take. There’s no glory in taking out that thug lurking down the hallway of a dilapidated suburban home while you hide behind a tattered wardrobe. Most times it feels better just to wait for your moment to slip down stairs and avoid him altogether. With ammo in scarce supply, lead pipes, wooden clubs, and your fists are your main defense against most enemies you encounter in the game. Every large scale encounter left me feeling exhausted rather than accomplished but it was this grounded realism coupled with a naturally progressing difficulty and variety to each encounter that kept me coming back for more. In between these action set pieces there is some light puzzle solving which mostly means finding ladders or towing Ellie, who unfortunately cannot swim, across a waterway.

In over twenty years of playing video games I have never encountered as raw and dark an experience as The Last of Us. The gameplay was frustrating and sometimes inconsistent but hey, maybe the studio that launched one of the best Playstation exclusive series of all time did that on purpose. I definitely felt the grit and exhaustion of the world, maybe more than I would have liked. Beating this game felt like finishing one of those TV shows that messes you up in the head, like you need a few days to think before you can be social again. It’s a worthwhile ride, and a great example of how narrative video games continue to elevate medium.