I have one question before we start; how the hell were Naughty Dog able to keep a game this big under wraps for so long? Was the development team, supposedly all 80+ of them, shackled to their work stations with all hope of holidays suspended until the announcement was made? Remind me to pen a letter to Amnesty, there could be something sinister to this.
Well anyway the joke’s on us, with Naughty Dog the fidgety delighted mastermind, as last year at the Video Game Awards we were all broadsided by the announcement of The Last of Us. For those of you who are reading this and do not know what the Last of Us is then I hope were comfortable under that rock of yours these past few months, this includes you dear editor of mine.
The Last of Us will be a third person action adventure game with a dollop of survival horror on the side and comes served in a post apocalyptic world where a fungi, a plant folks, has wiped out most of humanity and created a breed of … things, let’s call them zombies for now. One of the main inspirations behind the game supposedly came from a BBC documentary which chronicled the effects of Cordyceps, a parasitic fungus which attacks entire groups of the animal kingdom. I myself had prior knowledge of Cordyceps, but for those who wish to know more I’ll let a true professional take over. How about Sir David Attenborough?
Yum. So it’s not so much mutated, infectious, zombies that you’ll be contending with but an actual force of nature itself. But don’t be quick to assume that the Last of Us will be a monster game, for had it been I doubt we would have actually seen the monsters themselves in the very first trailer. Instead game director Bruce Straley says that the true stars of the show will its leading duo, Joel and Ellie.
Joel is a survivor, and an apparently well known one at that. Voiced by Troy Baker, he’s been called a ‘violent thugs, a brutal killer and a torturer.’ Whether this is his actual character summed up to a tee or just the kind of man the world has forced him to become isn’t apparent yet. But we do know that he will have a powerful connection to our second protagonist.
Ellie, voiced by Ashley Johnson of The Help fame, is a fourteen year old girl described to be a ‘brave young girl who is wise beyond her years’ who wasn’t around for the good old days, when nature wasn’t killing us all. From the trailer, and the body language and non verbal indications of the characters, indicates that she and Joel have been on the crash, Irish term for hard going, for some time together.
The game will focus on their survival as they make their way across what is left of the US. Mark Richards, former lead designer of Enslaved, will be on hand to make everything look as beautifully ruined as possible but what of the game itself? Will we be in control of Joel or Ellie? Maybe both. One thing for certain is that there will be no online co-op, as stressed by the official web page, much to the chagrin of online lovers.
Along the way Joel and Ellie will be faced with overcoming other survivors as well as the infected plant people, still not sure what to call them at this point. Concept art and popular rumour insists there could be a some focus on stealth much in the same way as Naughty Dog handled it in Uncharted 3, well that is to say, while the environments we have been already shown simple yearn to be explored. Early screenshots also show a lot of focus on melee combat, including desperate and visceral struggles with a plant of wood. But the sad truth is we still don’t know an awful lot about the gameplay as of yet, apart from the lack of co-op. Damn it.
The story is already a huge talking point on the web, with Druckmann hoping it will ‘change the f***ing industry.’ Go for it, we say. You’ll hear no objections from us, especially with the apparent lack of compelling narratives in the games released this year so far, with Binary Domain‘s surprisingly enjoyable campaign being one highlight what with Mass Effect 3‘s documented shortcomings. The choice of composer should also get emotions flaring, in game that is, with Brokeback Mountain’s Gustavo Santaolla blowing the bag pipes behind the scenes. Not that there will actually be bag pipes in the game, although it would be pretty cool if there was. Just saying, food for thought.
Last of Us will also mark Naughty Dog’s first mature rated game to date, with Uncharted always aiming for the young adult market. But with a bludgeoning, stabbing and headshot all taking in the space of forty seconds within the very first trailer we’re sure that the Last of Us will be ditching the hopeful optimism of the Uncharted series, nobody can be that unlucky and live to tell the tale, in favour of a more gritty and bloody approach. Yet Druckmann stresses that it won’t be anything too gratuitous, insisting it won’t be a true horror game but more of a love story. Wait, what?
Very much inspired by the birth of his child, Druckmann hopes to keep the narrative focus on the budding ‘father – daughter’ relationship between the game’s two protagonist. In fact, as stated in an earlier interview that I can’t seem to find right now, Druckmann revealed that the name Ellie had originally been one of the names considered for his daughter. Talk about personal investment.
Whatever the challenge the game will create studio boss Evan Wells insists they have a team more than capable of delivering. As for when it will actually be delivered, as in released, is still anyone’s guess. While certain to see it before the coming of 2013, if we’re all still here, an exact release date has yet to be announced. We’re hoping to see it this November, filling the slot of an Uncharted release and butting heads with whatever Treyarch will have come up with. That’s what we’re hoping anyway, as gamers who already can’t wait to get their hands on it.
Come what may, Last of Us already looks like an incredible addition to the PS3 library and one which gamers can not afford to miss. Making the already intolerable wait for more details all the more frustrating as we patiently labour over our keyboards and pray for a new trailer, interview or, hell, even an image just so we can know a little bit more of our new favourite videogame.
And for those among us who disagree here is a trailer to change your mind. Or if this isn’t your thing, then click here to check out another awesome upcoming game.