I am currently in the process of producing a video that very may well be the most important thing I ever produce. A Last Of Us retrospective that goes in depth about how insipid, uninspired, and disgusting the story of the game actually is.
It’s interesting to me how, even in this day and age where everyone hates Sony and everything they stand for- there are a lot of people who still stand by the original Last of Us as a stand out example of excellent video game storytelling. It was, I think, the absolute high point of Playstation’s relevancy. At that point the gaming industry genuinely believed that Playstation had won the console war and that games like The Last Of Us were absolute high points for the medium.
I have known this is not true for over a decade- in fact, it predates even the existence of my Youtube channel. The absolute worship that The Last Of Us received by the gaming establishment was, in no stretch of the imagination, disgusting. The Last Of Us was the last major release before Gamergate kicked off in 2014- at the time, the general public still believed gaming journalists to be serious hobbyists who cared about the medium. When people were told that The Last of Us had the best story in gaming, for the most part they believed it.
The Last of Us truly did bring about the end of an era: Although the PS4 was hyped as the ‘winner’ of that console generation (In reality it paled in comparison to the far superior Wii U) none of its titles ever received the same kind of universal critical acclaim and commercial success that the Last of Us had. The journalists had put the game on such a pedestal that nothing could be allowed to be seen as better than it. Even today, you see the game crack the top five in Best Game Ever Lists, and it really sticks out from the pack because unlike every other entry it has done nothing to deserve it.
The game does not look particularly good. It does not play particularly well. It does not have an unique setting, interesting characters or mechanics, or an interesting hook. And above all- it certainly does not have a very good story.
This last bit is important because the central narrative has always been that The Last of Us was truly special because it had a truly unforgettable story with amazing characters. But it simply isn’t true: 90% of the game is just filler building up to the ‘twist’ in the ending, in which Ellie is saved from being sacrificed to save humanity.
The game’s ‘story,’ if you can call it that, is just Joel and Ellie going through various misadventures growing increasingly attached to each other until the game’s climax. There’s nothing really to the game outside of its core central ‘twist’ being surface level morally grey. Characters are introduced and dropped again with no real consequences for the overall plot, and the zombie infested post apocalyptic wasteland feels as if it has more roving bands of bandits than zombies. In fact, as I recall, there isn’t a single situation in which human enemies come into contact with zombies. Zombies don’t seem to appear unless they are going to mildly inconvenience you during some casual task. It really does feel as if the only reason the zombies exist is to justify why the setting is so lawless: The primary antagonists are ALWAYS other people.
You don’t truly feel as if the situation is truly dire and that Ellie could potentially save the world: the characters go several months without even seeing a zombie. In fact, I found it laughable how the fireflies (Who supposedly had ammunition, resources, and actual trained fighters) were somehow wiped out on the way from Boston to their top secret lab, which begged the question
Why they didn’t just perform the operation in Boston
Publicly announce the existence of Ellie’s immunity and gain the aid of the military
If there was ever a real chance of Ellie’s immunity leading to a vaccine, 100% the military would have been on board to make it happen. The idea that they’re so corrupt and evil that they wouldn’t want a cure for the spores is laughably stupid. The entire concept that the fireflies are the only group of people actively trying to find a cure is ridiculous. Realistically, scientific breakthroughs would have been made by all sorts of people all over the world and the pandemic would have been completely dealt with within five years. Even if a cure was not produced, they would be able to slowly mitigate the spread, kill ALL of the zombies, and society would adjust.
The problem with the Last of us is that it wants to pretend that it is post apocalyptic fiction when it very clearly isn’t. There’s no real indication that society is past the point of no return, and considering the game takes place twenty years after the outbreak its safe to say that the Infected are not nearly as dangerous as we’re supposed to believe. If that’s the case- why was sacrificing Ellie necessary? Marlene acts like its absolutely essential but its pretty safe to say that she had more of a problem with the military than anything else.
The game demonstrates that it’s perfectly possible to survive outside of a settlement for extended periods of time. Ellie does so throughout the winter with very little prep or training. If she can do it, so can everyone else.
Because of this, it’s impossible to take the core ‘twist’ at the end seriously. There is no real immediate danger from the infected. The idea that they’re everywhere and can get you where ever falls apart whenever you see the characters perfectly comfortable finding an abandoned apartment and spending the night there. Bill didn’t even keep the window closed in that church he was sleeping in.
The game wants to pretend its darker and bleaker than it really is, and it gets even worse by the sequel where they’re comfortable having lesbian barnyard dances. The series simply doesn’t truly feel post-apocalyptic. And that’s the worst thing a piece of ‘post apocalyptic’ fiction could possibly do. If you don’t feel invested in the setting, and the state of the world- then why exactly should we care when Joel’s actions ‘doom’ it?
The last of Us has always been a series sold to us as being a lot more competently made than it actually is. It still ranks up there as one of the best games of all time, and I really don’t understand why. For something like Skyrim, which brought open world fantasy RPGs to normies and is still wildly played and popular today, that makes perfect sense. But what did the Last of Us introduce to gaming?
The story? It isn’t that impressive. The gameplay? Repetitive and boring. The voice acting? Not good in the slightest. Serious gamers have been playing higher quality games with better stories in them for decades before The Last of Us.
And that brings me to my only point: The only point who love and hype up the Last of us are the sort of people who don’t play many games at all. They wouldn’t know about Final Fantasy or Resident Evil or Tales of Berseria- all of which are games that handle concepts and mechanics used in TLOU far more effectively. In fact if you were to try and introduce these games to these people they would simply sneer at you and say that it is ‘nerd shit.’
In short, TLOU fans consider TLOU to be the best ever because they don’t truly have a proper understanding or appreciation of the medium. They eat up absolute slop and try to pass it off as a high end meal. To a normie, it is MUCH more important to be a fan of the current big thing than it is to find something that they actually genuinely enjoy.
And that is the problem with The Last of Us: It is quite possibly the most normie friendly game to ever be produced. It isn’t overly complicated, long, or difficult. Perfect for the average loser to blow through in a weekend and then never think about it again. For an actual serious gamer though- this game will not stand the test of time. It will be remembered only for being the last major release that Playstation ever had.