In a poignant story of loss and found family, the main characters of The Last of Us gives us an insight into the best and the worst parts of humanity.
The Last of Us has gained recent popularity after the release of the HBO television series adaptation, starring Pedro Pascal as one of the major characters. While the show adapts the game fairly faithfully, there are still moments of original content that make the show its own media, at least I thought so with having seen the first couple of episodes. The original game, though, released in 2014 for PS4 players and a sequel came to follow in 2020. Since, a remake of the first game has also been made available for PS5 players.
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic America where the world is virtually in ruins. A sudden zombie virus outbreak, originating in south america grains, starts to spread across Texas in 2013, leading to Texan man Joel Miller’s daughter’s death by a government agent falsely believing she was infected. 20 years later, Joel is living day to day, scrounging up supplies in nearby areas while living in a government mandated quarantine safe zone full of violent soldiers and hungry people.
After a popular rebellion group called the Fireflies is found to have the supplies Joel and his partner Tess technically own, the pair decides to do a favor for the group to get their supplies back. The favor involves delivering a mysteriously immune teenage girl to a Firefly base where she will be used to help create a vaccine against the zombie virus.
Due to many complications and the death of Tess, Joel and the girl, Ellie, must travel from Boston to Salt Lake City on foot to get to the Firefly lab. Despite constant arguing and differing opinions, the man and the teen grow closer over the journey. Many violent encounters with both zombies and fellow men push the two together as Joel starts to view Ellie as a daughter, and one that he will not lose this time.
When the two finally reach the lab, Joel is suddenly told that ‘using’ Ellie to create the vaccine involves her death and dissection. Desperate and unwilling to lose another daughter, Joel goes on a rampage and steals Ellie from the scientists, killing them and opposing soldiers on the way. The duo eventually join a community where their story continues in The Last of Us part two.
As someone who plays games for story over combat, this game has quickly become one of my all time favorites. I have cried numerous times watching Joel and Ellie become like a father and a daughter as they face their past and decide what kind of people they want to be. I really enjoyed playing a character that wasn’t strictly good or evil, and is instead a human being with priorities that take hold over his morals. Joel’s decision in the end of the game can be seen as selfish and incredibly violent, and while true, most players still sympathize with him and blindly take his decision as good, a concept which is explored in the second game.
The characters are also written incredibly well, as Joel and Ellie are distinctly their own characters that have core values and questionable, but distinct morals (as one would expect in a zombie apocalypse). I really feel like I am observing a relationship grow, and if the amount of time I have cried while watching it is a metric, then the entire game is a masterpiece.
The combat, on the other hand, is a world of its own. As an unashamed player of easy mode (and, if possible, very easy mode)… this game is hard! I know the game is supposed to be like that, but I’m just not a combat player in the slightest. The game can even get scary at times when playing against certain zombie types. The scariest moment in the game happens when Joel falls down an elevator shaft alone, and must get back to Ellie from the hotel basement infected with stalkers, arguably the scariest zombie type that has incredible intelligence and high speed. Although Ellie doesn’t have a gun at this portion of the game, just her presence helps me feel more in control, but Joel being alone really freaked me out, but I’m not the best judge since I’m scared of almost everything.
Although the fighting is hard, it’s still pretty fun. I love trying my best to do every kill as a sneak kill so as to not waste any ammo and to reduce risk of ambush. Even if it is hard, it’s pretty accurate that someone, even Joel Miller, would struggle when trying to kill a 15 zombie ambush.
Overall, this game is incredible. The story is emotional and raw and the characters are written amazingly with a beautiful relationship. I can’t wait to play the Ellie DLC and the second game, but I would give The Last of Us Part One a 10/10.
