The Last Of Us // Retrospective Look
How many video game series can successfully bring together zombies and a coming-of-age story? We have Telltale’s “The Walking Dead” of course, which is brilliant in its own right, but my favourite is most certainly Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us”.
Initially released in 2009 for the Playstation 3, The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror game played from a third-person perspective. Controlling both Joel and Ellie, you must survive in a post-apocalyptic environment by navigating forests, abandoned cities, towns, and sewer systems while using improvised weapons and stealth. The game sees you fending off not only zombified humans that have been infected with a strain of the Cordyceps fungus, but also other survivors and soldiers.
It all started in 2004 when creative director Neil Druckmann was a student at Carnegie Mellon University. He was challenged to create a video game concept to present to George A. Romero, the director of the iconic horror film Night of the Living Dead. Druckmann’s core concept took aspects from Ico, Sin City and Romero’s aforementioned movie, Night of the Living Dead. The game concept placed a young girl in the care of an older guy, he would take her through the various levels offering his protection. The twist is that he has a heart condition and that the roles would reverse when he begins to suffer with it — The protector becomes the protected. The game didn’t get chosen, but the seed had been planted into Druckmann’s mind.
The Zombies themselves were inspired by a segment of the BBC’s Planet Earth documentary. In an interview with GamesBeat Druckmann said: “the BBC show we were ripping off is Planet Earth, where they talked about the cordyceps fungus and how it affects insects.” For those who haven’t seen Planet Earth, those spores can actually attach themselves to a host and eventually take over their mind and body. With prolonged exposure providing further infection.
Druckmann wanted the game to feel real, though. That’s why he and the other developers at Naughty Dog extensively researched what a post-apocalyptic world would look like. The team took notes from the polio epidemic of the late 1800s and Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 to 1920, trying to zero in on the feelings of paranoia and tension between socioeconomic classes that arose as a result of the outbreaks.
According to Druckmann, the key theme of the game is that “life goes on”. This idea is best illustrated in an iconic scene where the two protagonists, Joel and Ellie, observe a group of regal-looking giraffes in the distance. The everyday dialogue adds a mundane quality to the game, establishing a sense of normalcy that is otherwise far removed from a post-apocalyptic setting. The game shows a stark contrast between the ugly side of humanity and the slow march of nature in the wake of an apocalyptic event, which is precisely what makes it so enticing. This duality is strong throughout the game, manifesting most evidently in the relationship dynamics between the characters.
Joel is a hardened smuggler who will do questionable things to survive. His sense of morality has dramatically weakened at the start of the game, evidence of a slow moral decline that began with the death of his daughter Sara many years ago. He deeply distrusts others, yet wrestles with loneliness; his contradictory character later proves to be fertile ground for character development. In contrast, Ellie is a 14-year-old orphan who is still young enough to want to trust others. Joel’s job is to smuggle her out of a quarantine zone in exchange for a cache of weapons. Her appearance forces Joel to confront his grief over losing his daughter, and over time, his paternal instinct comes alive once more while looking after Ellie. Eventually, his burgeoning vulnerability scares him enough to hand her over to another character for safekeeping, but Ellie herself quickly reprimands him. Were it not for her confrontation, Joel might have safely retreated into his emotional and moral ambivalence, highlighting her importance as a protagonist.
Because of the game’s post-apocalyptic setting, Druckmann wanted a relatively sparse music style. Argentinian composer Gustavo Santaolalla is the man behind the score. Because he struggles with reading sheet music, Santaolalla wanted to focus more on the textures of the sounds rather than their arrangement or melodic quality. He used unfamiliar instruments, like detuned guitars, to create an air of unease and anxiety. He also challenged himself to record in unconventional spaces, such as kitchens and bathrooms, all in hopes of lending an uncannily familiar strangeness to the game’s music.
Ricky Cambier, one of the game’s designers, shared that The Last of Us’s gameplay and minimalistic style was inspired in part by Resident Evil 4 and Ico, respectively. He wanted to balance the terror and uncertainty of the outside world with the characters’ emotional, inner worlds. The result was well-received by critics. Metacritic, an online review aggregator, gives the game an average score of 9.5/10. You can add your own review and rating over at We The Players by clicking here for the PS3 version or clicking here for the PS4 remaster.
The Next Chapter
Naturally, the success of the first game has led to a sequel, The Last of Us: Part II. Set for release on the PS4 next month — June 19th, to be exact — Druckmann himself claimed that this game was “one of the most ambitious ever.” Players can expect to see now-19-year-old Ellie more in control of the game, although Joel will still make an appearance and play a significant role. Some added features include the abilities to jump, climb, and crawl. A ‘Skill Tree’ has also been added, breaking down Ellie’s skills in three categories: Survival, Crafting, and Stealth. Upgrading survival skills means increased health, throwing distance, and hearing abilities in Listen Mode (“[a mode which allows] players to locate enemies through a heightened sense of hearing and spatial awareness”). Upgrading your crafting skills improves Ellie’s ability to craft weapons, the speed with which she crafts them, and her battle mode abilities. Last but not least, when you upgrade your Stealth skills, you improve your movement speed, quicken your stealth skills, and gain access to pistol silencers. Furthermore, Part II introduces guard dogs that can track your scent during certain parts of the game.
A series as poignant as The Last of Us makes no small impact. Currently, HBO is producing a television series based on the game, where director Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) is working closely on both the script and character development with Druckmann. While the adaptation is still in its very early stages, the series intends to stay true to the game’s events while adding new plotlines based on events from the forthcoming sequel. While there are no official premiere dates, Druckmann has announced that he is excited to be taking on the bulk of the storytelling for the series. Mazin has endorsed this view. With two brilliant, detail-minded creators such as Mazin and Druckmann, the result is sure to be nothing less than extraordinary.
