Opinionated: Did the Last of Us Really Change the Industry?

It’s been exactly ten years since a remaster of one of the most iconic games in the history of the gaming industry, The Last of Us, was released on the PS4. Despite the PlayStation 4 being a next-gen console, the game from the previous lineup was one of the compelling factors for buying the console. The phenomenon of The Last of Us is that it would have been successful even if it was not a video game. If the story had been told in a book, a theater production, or a TV series (which eventually happened ten years later), it would still excite people’s minds. The story is so good, the narrative is compelling, and the solutions for the industry at the time were revolutionary.

Narrative Revolution

Everyone who played The Last of Us 10 years ago noted that for games of that time, the game demonstrated unprecedented character development. Even the secondary characters that the player meets only for a few minutes have depth, have their own character, and speak like real people, not like plastic dummies. The game’s main duo, Joel and Ellie, generally became the favorites of a generation of gamers. When Joel is killed in the second part (spoiler alert), it causes a storm of anger, which results in threats to the creators of the game and voice actors. Joel, who lost his daughter and became a cynical smuggler while surviving in the post-apocalyptic world, transforms the game and regains his paternal instincts. Ellie, a teenager, gradually hides her needles and finds in Joel, if not a lost father, then an older brother.

Their relationship develops throughout the game, and beautifully crafted dialogue only enhances the impressions and creates the effect of presence. At some point, you can forget that you are controlling the character. Many studios later adopted such a move, and the story’s root, where the adult hero travels with a child partner, became very popular. The most famous example of a similar narrative that was clearly inspired by The Last of Us was the reboot of God of War. It’s important to note that The Last of Us brought movie storytelling standards into the gaming medium. Until then, most games focused on action or puzzles, leaving the story in the background.

Mastery of Emotional Tension

Thanks to the revolutionary graphics and active use of motion capture technology, Naughty Dog created truly vivid characters you wanted to watch and sympathize with. The entire game is divided into seasons, and during this period, you watch the characters grow closer, lose friends, and experience mortal danger. When you realize the year is ending and you are approaching the finale, you don’t want to press the stick and send your character forward. You want more of the story, more depth, more adventure. And the perfectly directed scenes really made you cry and laugh. With the characters, you experience the death of Joel’s daughter in the prologue, Tess’s self-sacrifice at the beginning of the game, and laugh at Ellie’s jokes about Bill’s men’s magazines, which also has its own tragic story. The fragment of the game where players meet Henry and Sam adds variety to the story. The sudden tragic outcome of this part made it necessary to put down the joystick for a few minutes and think about everything that was going on.

Many scenes from The Last of Us have become textbook examples of how to create an emotionally charged narrative in a video game. For example, the moment when Ellie is forced to kill an enemy to save Joel makes the player feel the full weight of responsibility and the moral implications of her actions. This approach prioritizes the emotional toll and has been a key element for many subsequent projects.

Masters of Social Dilemmas

Although the game does not give the player options to choose the character’s actions, and you are essentially an observer, the player will still think about how they would have acted in a given situation each time. The game successfully brings you into the gray morality zone at the end of the game and asks the player the philosophical humanistic question: Is killing one person worth the chance to save many thousands?

Without giving the player a choice, the developers put him before the fact and forced him to accept Joel’s decision. This not only made many people think about whether Joel is a positive hero of the story but also made them reflect on the ethics of many of their actions.

Influence on the Interactive Movie Genre

The Last of Us set new standards for character development and influenced the genre of interactive movies. Dynamic cameras, realistic dialog, and the use of actors to create characters have become common industry standards. The cinematic nature of the narrative became a necessary element for a story to succeed. When it comes to cinematic and emotionally intense events, apart from its own sequel, the game has a good competitor in the form of the Red Dead Redemption series, where characterization and story development in tandem with cinematic and immersive gameplay come first.

Conclusion

The history of the world of the Last of Us is alive and well nowadays. The emotions after the second part of the game have not subsided yet, and fans are looking forward to the series’ second season in this universe. The Last of Us is more than just a game; it is a cultural phenomenon that left an indelible mark on the history of video games and changed their development forever.