Horror Game Reviews: The Last of Us

The game which I am going to review today is one of the most touching, well done horror games to be released in the last decade or so, called The Last of Us. The Last of Us is an action-adventure/survival-horror game which was released back in June of 2013, and came out for the Playstation 3 and later found itself ported onto the Playstation 4. It was developed by Naughty Dog and then published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The port over to the PS4 platform came as no surprise to me, considering that the game originally sold over 8 million copies on the PS3 system. The version that I am reviewing is the remastered version for the Playstation 4 

The Last of Us received huge praise and was so well received that it is one of the most awarded games to ever be released. And, there is a reason for all these rewards and praise, as The Last of Us is truly something that is quite special. I believe it to be hands down one of the best post apocalyptic stories ever told not only in gaming, but in general. It takes the overdone genre and instead of focusing on the zombies and the end of the world, focuses on the characters were given within the story. It's a character driven narrative that is interwoven masterfully with an interesting and realistic take on what the world would be like once an apocalypse has happened. 

The game starts out during the onset of an outbreak involving a mutated fungus which is happening all over the United States, turning its victims into cannibalistic monstrosities that are just referred to as the Infected. We're introduced to our main character of the game, Joel, who we'll be playing for the majority of the story. Joel, his daughter Sara, along with his brother Tommy are all trying to flee from the ensuing chaos in the suburbs of Austin, Texas. Whilst attempting to get away from everything, Sara is shot by a soldier and proceeds to die in Joel's arms. 

The story then jumps ahead around 20 years later, showing that the fungal infection has destroyed almost all of modern civilization, leaving behind only scattered remnants of humanity. Surviving human beings now live in heavily policed quarantine zones, as well as independent settlements and of course groups of vagabonds. Joel, now a much more haggard and worn down man from when we first saw him, is working as a smuggler alongside his partner Tess in the quarantine zone of Boston, Massachusetts. This profession leads him into meeting with the leader (Named Marlene) of a rebel group known as the Fireflies, after a cache of their weapons turns up stolen. 

After speaking with Marlene, they strike up a deal to double the size of their weapon cache upon completion of smuggling a teen girl named Ellie to another group of Fireflies hiding out inside of the capitol building just outside of the quarantine zone. The two quickly find out, however, that Ellie has been infected. The duo are surprised and shocked after finding this out, due to the fact that the infection takes no longer than 2 days to take over it's host, yet Ellie claims it's been over 3 weeks now and she believes that she has immunity to the fungal mutation. 

This of course is how their quest of venturing through the decimated country which has been retaken by nature begins. The levels of this game are designed with finesse, and show a quite realistic view into what the world could, and more than likely would look like with nature slowly spreading and reclaiming the lands. The remains of human civilization now nothing more than decaying buildings, crumbling to the ground with overgrowth starting to cover everything. And, we can't forget probably the most frightening, dangerous thing you'll find in the environment, the fungal infected zombies. 

But, these things aren't what drives the game forward. The game doesn't focus on the zombies, the ruins overtaken by plant life, or even the apocalypse itself. The Last of Us focuses on it's characters and their development. And, believe me, there is a ton of amazing character development throughout the game. The story of the game itself is honestly very minimalist with how it's done, and honestly has some cliches in there that make you groan when you see them in other works of media. However, you become so smitten with the characters and their interactions that you don't even mind them, and you become far more engrossed with Joel and Ellie's conversations and experiences than the plot of the game. 

Once you start your journey, you'll find that a lot of the gameplay of the game involves these parts of the game where the adventure genre takes place. Most of this is spent with your characters trying to find new paths and uncover ways to get through the ravaged cities and areas. This tends to involve simple solutions, like finding a ladder here and there, getting some planks, or just finding ways to get around or through an obstacle. While doing this you'll also have to hunt for materials which can be used for crafting things within the game. You can create new items used to help you distract threats, upgrade your weapons this way, or even to upgrade abilities of your character. 

Now, I'll be honest, these sections of the game aren't anything groundbreaking that is going wow the pants off of you. (Though, I'm sure quite a few of you aren't even wearing pants while you play games.) However, they do allow you to get a great look into the environments designs showing you all of the ways that nature has been reclaiming the land, as well as the aftermath of the decimation from the events that transpired during the outbreak. There are some beautiful backdrops once both of these things have been combined, and you'll find a lot of areas that are just pleasing to the eye to look at. 

As you forage for supplies and materials throughout the abandoned buildings, it really becomes apparently at just how fast and how much nature has seeped into everything around you. You'll notice that in a lot of ways it has influenced your environment without you really realizing it right away. Though, as I mentioned before, these areas also contain a lethal element with the enemies you'll encounter. And, that isn't limited to just the zombies lurking about. You'll also be encountering bandits or even sometimes military units that you'll have to fight off or sneak through as well. At times, it's a better idea to be up front and fight it out, while other times it's a smarter bet to be stealthy. You'll be better off mixing and matching with both play styles throughout the game. 

Something which I really love about the enemies in this game is that even after you've encountered them multiple times, there's always this element to each encounter that makes it feel unique compared to the past encounters. I think the combat style of the game helps with this, as well as the strong environments that are quite memorable and differ from each other when you get to new sections. You'll find yourself outclassed and outnumbered at times by enemies, where you'll have to thin out the numbers a bit by using stealth fighting tactics before you can just start blasting enemies with your firearms. 

The situations that you stumble into seem so well designed and riddled with tension that you'll feel yourself getting nervous with each encounter with enemies. As you listen for the sound of the Infected feeding on their latest victims, or the conversations the army and bandits have with each other you're left with an anxious feeling of whether or not you should try to move up now or wait before you attack. Or, where exactly should you toss the bottle at to draw the enemy in a direction where you can either sneak by or sneak attack them. It can be difficult at times to grasp the correct moments to move, and you want to be sure because ammo and items in this game can be quite scarce at times. These aspects just helps to make the survival aspect of the game a more fun experience, in my opinion though. The stealthy nature of the combat in this game really makes the act of surviving and winning through these battles a lot more fulfilling in a way. 

A big part of the combat experience within the game is the crafting system, which thankfully doesn't feel out of place or too ridiculous in the game. You won't be crafting some insane, futuristic machine gun from pipes and glue in this game. Instead, you'll be making items like a medkit, a shiv, or a variety of bombs to use at your disposal involving nails or fire. There's also the option of upgrading your melee weapon, which stays within reason. It definitely sticks with the idea that you're playing an ordinary man, and not some cooky sci-fi character. The crafting system will also help you to get through locked doors, which will lead to you getting even more supplies most of the time. I'm glad the crafting system stays simple within the game, and never overreaches to the point where the game either becomes easy or silly. 

The enemies of the game are where most of the horror aspect comes from. Not only because you're facing mutated zombies, but because the dark side of man is shown quite a bit when encountering the antagonists of the game. You'll be playing a game of cat and mouse with most of the enemies, particularly the zombiefied ones, which keeps you on your toes as you attempt to stay one step ahead of the enemy AI. You know, before it tears you apart. As far as the zombie enemies go, I think their design is definitely a fresh take on the idea, and is quite bizarre yet terrifying. 

You'll notice that quite a few of the enemies within the game have lost their concept of having a human form after the infection has taken hold for some time. Though, the Runners as well as the Stalkers retain some of their human characteristics. The sound design for these creatures is phenomenal, as well as a key essential part to some of their designs, as a lot of the later staged zombies rely on echolocation and making this strange, creepy noises to locate their prey. I honestly believe that the zombies in this game are some of the best designed zeds to be shown in any video game or movie thus far. They were definitely creepy and made you feel really nervous when you encountered them, and that feeling never fully went away no matter how many times I ran into them. 

The atmosphere of the game is also wonderful, thanks to the great soundtrack in the background of the game and the decaying world which has died that you'll be exploring. The game is probably the most cinematic styled game with how it's atmosphere and story is shown. You're left with a sense of sadness and wonder at times as your characters encounter specific areas and things, and even the smallest noise or facial expression from your character can leave you feeling a multitude of different things. You get a feeling of isolation as you play, though you never feel all that alone thanks to having Ellie at your side. You'll be marveling at the scenes you see, but also unnerved through quite a few moments. It's somewhat hard to put into words how great the atmosphere is in this game. 

A lot of it comes from how relateable and emotionally compelling the main characters are within the game. The game is truly driven by these characters, and how much they grow as people while you play. They're both just so likable for different reasons. Joel starts off as a bitter, harsh man who slowly starts to care and like his young protege, while Ellie is just an immature, yet bold teenager who realize she needs to mature and grow up quickly in this world if she wants to survive. The themes within the game are delivered so well, it's remarkable. Things like compassion, selfishness, determination, and being tolerant are woven so well into the story and dialogue of the game that it's hard to get tired of it at all. These elements are things we've seen countless times before, but this game actually puts them all together in such a way that you can't help but be impressed. 

It also manages to capture the survival horror aspect in a great way with how intimidating and scary the game can really get to be. Between trying to manage your item inventory and make sure that you're not out of ammo or supplies to keep yourself alive throughout all of the deadly situations you're in, there are plenty of moments to be terrified strewn about. More often than not, these moments come from the human side of things, and the game definitely does a great job of showing how dark and twisted people can become when they turn on one another. 

While this game is by no means a perfect game, and doesn't bring anything innovating or new to the table mechanic wise, it gives us a breath of fresh air within the concept of a post apocalyptic world. It does a great job at being unrelenting and brutal, giving us a beautiful look into what the world may be like in a way should things ever really hit the fan. We're given some truly interesting enemies to face off against, with different styles of gameplay to deal with. The game really makes you care for the well being of your characters as well. Said characters are never stereotypical or contrived, and very down to earth. You'll find yourself so invested in them and the progress of your journey that you won't even care that the gameplay mechanics aren't anything all that new or special. If you haven't played this game yet, I'd definitely recommend you do so! 

Thanks for checking out my review! Hope you've enjoyed it! (If it's a bit of a mess structure wise, let me apologize now. I have had one of the most stressful weeks of my life so far, and it took me a long time today to actually be able to get this done. I won't be able to get out a review tomorrow more than likely either, as I have to go get a procedure done at the doctors. Hopefully after this weekend, things will be back to normal and my reviews can go back to being something I'm 100 percent happy with. Anyways, again, thank you for reading the review!)