The Last of Us Review
The Last of Us Part II came out earlier this year. It’s a critical darling, a technical wonder, and also an internet sh*tstorm. The story, which took a lot of risks, was very divisive among fans and some parts of the internet feel as much an apocalyptic wasteland as the game it’s set in. Since those wounds are still really raw, I want to jump back and talk about the original game.
The Last of Us released back in 2013 on the Playstation 3. The game follows Joel Miller 20 years after the outbreak of the Cordyceps pandemic. Cordyceps is a very virulent fungus that infects the host’s brain and drives them to spread the infection to others… it’s also real, if you needed a few more nightmares this year, though it currently only affects insects. In the game, Joel is charged with protecting a teenage girl named Ellie as they travel across America to find the Fireflies, a militia group tasked with bringing civilization back to the way it was.
But that’s not the real story. The real story, the story that made The Last of Us unforgettable, is the one unfolding between Joel and Ellie. Joel’s past is largely concealed from us, but what we do know is hard to look at: he’s a man who’s faced tragic losses, done horrible things, and burned almost every bridge. Ellie is an orphan with no one left in the world but this surly, dangerous protector. And the story of The Last of Us revolves around a broken man and a surrogate daughter learning to trust and rely on each other in a world of impossible challenges.
Gameplay is so clever here: the game involves navigating ruined cities and towns, taking out Infected and post-apocalyptic raiders, and stealthily building your store of supplies to prepare for the next deadly challenge. The game is stressful: bullets and healing items aren’t just lying around ever few feet, so you need to take your time and explore to find what you need. Joel isn’t a super-soldier, either. He is vulnerable, and that vulnerability makes you, the player, feel his desperation and fear as you and Ellie struggle for the only thing you know: survival.
The game doesn’t pull punches. The world Joel and Ellie inhabit isn’t often a happy place to be, though it’s not joyless, either; watching Ellie explore the world for the first time with youthful optimism does lead to heartwarming moments. But people you care about can die suddenly and without fanfare. Perhaps worse, Joel is forced to make some impossible decisions to survive, decisions you might not agree with. These decisions challenge the player in a way other media can’t. You can disagree with a novel or film’s character’s decisions. But to an extent, you ARE Joel when you play this game, and if you want to know what happens next, you need to stand by his decisions. It makes you complicit. It forces you to be inside a broken man’s head and heart in moments of extremity. And as the journey unfolds, you will do almost anything to know what happens to these characters next. That’s the type of story you can’t walk away from.
With the sequel breaking records and news that the game is set to be adapted to an HBO series, The Last of Us is going to continue grow and deepen the story of Ellie and Joel for millions of people. But if you’ve got a PS3 or PS4, or know someone who does, check out where that story started. 5 fireflies out of 5.