So, You Want to Watch HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’

There is no game that shuts down the debate of whether or not video games are art with quite as much unapologetic brutality as 2013’s The Last of Us (Warning: Spoilers in link). Made by Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot series, Uncharted series), this game is a post-apocalyptic survival horror that put a new spin on the zombies and scarcity gameplay model made famous by Resident Evil.

This menu still spikes my anxiety. (Image via Capcom)

“But what are some of the basics?” I can hear you asking. “What do I need to know?” Well, in short. . . Crash Course Instead of a feat of bioengineering or an evil corporate plot, the call in The Last of Us came from inside the house, with infected people first being infected by fungus that underwent good old-fashioned evolution. This was the first of many story beats that the game used to turn the survival horror genre on its head, all presented against the hollowed-out yet still stunningly vibrant backdrop of a darkest-timeline’d USA.

20 Years. (Image via Naughty Dog)

The game follows Joel, a rugged smuggler who comes off like a cross between Han Solo and “Dirty” Harry Callahan, and his proverbial last job – transporting a mysterious 13-year old girl, Ellie, across the country. He is to deliver her to a group of freedom fighters called the Fireflies. This is a group made to oppose FEDRA, the military regime that took over in the midst of the world’s destruction. What follows is a generation-defining journey of thrills, tears, the occasion…