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My five favorite games of all time are made by Bioware, Naughty Dog, and Nintendo. With The Last of Us, my three favorite games this console generation are made by Bioware, Naughty Dog, and Nintendo. Well, technically it's seven and five respectively, but I count the Mass Effect trilogy as one game. Anyways, I loved Uncharted 2, but it had a big buffer zone between the Mass Effect and Mario Galaxy games for my favorites this gen. And though I expected to like The Last of Us, I never expected to like it this much. To like it even more than Super Mario Galaxy 2.

While I was initially turned off by the intro, now I get why it works. It initially reeked of the "Let's not let the player play the game until we say so" bullshit, but now I realize how necessary it was. Context was needed before so the game could take place twenty years later. And unlike most games which do little to keep things interesting, The Last of Us keeps things very exciting before you fight your first zombie. You run through a panic stricken mob, not knowing what's behind, just that it can't be good. You then explore a world shaped by panic and fear, where totalitarian rule managed to find a way to become the norm. All very fascinating stuff.

Once the combat roles in, however, the game goes on a roller coaster of one intense enemy encounter after another. The game did a fantastic job of making enemy encounters feel so different. Fighting a zombie was different than fighting a human. Fighting three zombies needs a very different approach than fighting two of them. The game would offer a wealth of different kinds of zombies and humans to fight, switching it up just when one was becoming a little less fun so you could have a blast with the other.

Even what kind of area you are in would cause a completely different approach. Was it an open area where you could see every enemy? Or was it in a building where you'd need to scout the rooms to see what you're up against before a plan of attack? The game did such a fantastic job of mixing up different kinds of enemies in different areas that the combat always felt fresh and fun the entire time. 

This was also helped by it doing something few other stealth games do: making getting caught fun. Not in a "Now the shooting can start" way either. In a "Holy shit, I need to come up with something quick before I get my head blown/eaten off" kind of way. The Last of Us is at its best when you're pulling shit out of your ass. Seeing a brick and sprinting towards it so I can chuck it at an enemy then finish them off. Throwing a molotov at a doorway so I can focus on the zombie in front of me in confidence. Firing an empty gun so a human will charge at me thinking they have advantage only to get hit with a bottle then clobbered with a pipe. The Last of Us is a stealth game (as well as horror and action) and I received a great amount of satisfaction from clearing a group of enemies stealthily. But those moments where I was pulling shit out of my ass and it worked, those were the real best parts of the game.

I was initially curious to see what Naughty Dog would have balance these combat scenarios out with, and was surprised when I found it was nothing. Sure, there would be an occasional ladder to be moved or a raft to push Ellie across a body of water. But for the most part you're just roaming around looking for supplies in between missions. And that's just fine with me. It let the game catch its breath, let the characters have some fun with each other. And it allowed the game to hide a wealth of fun little easter eggs and secrets, all of which demonstrated the amount of care and love Naughty Dog put into this game. More importantly, however, the threat of a clicker or zombie would always be present. They really felt like the calm before a storm, a storm which could happen any second.

Speaking of clickers, I love these enemies. They have a fantastic design, yet each one of them looks unique in their own way and always scared the shit out of me when they were near. I remember describing this game to one of my friends (who happens to be designing his own game) and talking about how intense fights against clickers were. A large part of this is due to how you need a weapon to beat them, you cannot take them out stealthily or in combat with just your hands. When he asked why they don't allow you to, I was puzzled as why I couldn't explain why. It was something the game just nailed with its animations, you saw the way clickers moved and acted and it just made sense Joel couldn't strangle them. When he saw it in motion, he got it too. It's a very minor, little touch, yet it combined with their creepy clicks and horrifying screech made clickers one of the most iconic enemies I had ever seen seen, up there with Geth, Koopa Troopas, and Covenant Elites.

The story itself while at its core just a checklist of what needs to happen during a zombie apocalypse, had so much heart to it I never really noticed while playing. Ellie is one of my favorite characters, largely because she feels like such a teenager. She wants to prove herself, yet she's also very goofy, curious, and easily distracted. She's so well written and provides a great foil to grumpy, focused, and bitter Joel, making those moments where he warms up to her all the more memorable.

While I'm on the story, however, it does bother me when people call this a movie. This is not a game that puts in by the numbers gameplay so it can tell a story. It offers what many games previously offered and creates something new out of it. If the game's mix of horror, stealth, and action elements is not for you, that's fine. I get it. That's a mix that's really hard to balance and even when you do it won't work for everyone.

But that does not take away that the gameplay is fresh and new. It is very polished and controls well, though in a way that is not easy for everyone to grasp. The way Joel moves and aims is not supposed to feel precise, but the game is completely designed around this so it works. And it remembers pacing is key as it offers so many different and fun ways to mix up its gameplay in a way I have not seen since Resident Evil 4.

Is it cutscene heavy? Yes. Would it be a lesser product without its story? Absolutely. Do I expect everyone to get it? Fuck no. Either The Last of Us clicks (pun totally intended) or it doesn't. But just like it would be a lesser product without its story, it would be a lesser product without its gameplay. I don't really consider either to be better because they're both so strong.

And now, the real reason I saved this for its own blog: I want to talk about the ending. I'll italicize it for those who haven't played, but be warned. Okay.

It was fucking perfect. Before my favorite ending went to Metal Gear Solid 3, no contest. And I believed the same thing at first after beating The Last of Us. Now, however, I think The Last of Us may be my favorite video game ending ever. It doesn't have the insane plot twist that everything built up to and ties everything together. But that's not the kind of story The Last of Us wanted to tell. It wanted to tell a smaller, more personal story about a man and a girl hurt by all the people they lost.

The ending to me starts when you're at the hospital and while winter remains my favorite portion of the game, this is a very close second. The section invokes a lot of conflicting emotions. On one hand, Joel killing all these people to save Ellie, and in doing so, sabotaging what may be humanity's last chance, is a selfish act. Yet with this in mind, I was rooting for him. After the whole journey with him and seeing all the suffering the two of them went through, I could not help but feel like he deserved this selfish act. He had seen humanity do disgusting, morally reprehensible things and in this context, they may not deserve to be saved.

His happiness to me felt more important than the fate of humanity. To have something so small take precedence over something that big is really hard to do, yet The Last of Us handled it perfectly. This was helped ironically by a small scene before where Ellie is in awe at seeing a herd of giraffes. It connected to here giving the idea that no matter what happens, life still goes on, all life will. And even with this horrid future, life will still go on, whether or not humanity is still playing the role it once did. Humanity may go extinct because of what Joel did, or it may just need more time sorting itself out in this mess and he did it a favor. Either way it does not matter because life still goes on.

And once Joel rescued Ellie, there were two things I did not expect the game to do, yet am so happy it did. First, it did not give any choice to the player. No decision on whether to spare Marlene, no choice on whether to give up Ellie for the greater good. This was and will continue to be Joel's story and Joel's choices. Which in turn made them have a much greater impact.

The second ironically, is sparing both of them. The game originally screamed to me that one of these characters was going to die. And there was a bit where I thought Joel actually was going to die right before winter. Yet I am glad he didn't. And I'm glad Ellie didn't. Not because I liked them too much and wanted them to live (though that did play a part), but because, like I said before, Naughty Dog wasn't interested in telling the same old tale of giving up for the greater good or finding something worth fighting for. They were interested in telling a story about two people who lost a lot of friends and family and came to depend on each other. And this story was for the better because there was a mutual understanding that these two people did need each other. Which brings me to the final lines of the game

Still sends shivers down my spine. What I love about these last few lines is that it made it clear Ellie went through the same thing Joel did. All the people he lost during the game, she did too. And she even had a person she lost before they met just like he did. Yet Joel can't tell her that he lied and made a choice for her, whether or not making the sacrifice was the one she wanted. 

And that's where the interpretation comes in. Ellie's "Okay" is in the same tone she uses when she knew he was wrong, but did not want to make a big deal out of it. This is the same kind of scenario. She knows he's lying, but she accepts it anyways. Why is up for debate. When the few people who praised the Mass Effect 3 ending called it open ended, I called bullshit to that just like I do now. That was vague, unfocused, and out of nowhere. This is open ended done well.

Whether Ellie accept Joel's answer just for now or realizes he'll never tell the truth. Whether she's okay with being lied to and just wants to move on because she cares for Joel or is holding something against him for taking her one chance to get rid of all the loss she has to face in the world. Personally, I like to think that she knows he's lying and that he took her one chance to save humanity away. But she'll accept that because she knows he needs it. And that's important because she needs him. And to me, that is beautiful.

At playthrough number three of The Last of Us, I'm loving this game just as much. The gameplay still feels fresh and unique to the point where most AAA 3rd person games now feel much more boring and bland in comparison. The story is one which will stick with me for years to come and I enjoyed more than any movie or TV show this year. And while I enjoyed my time with these two characters, I am okay with this being the end to their story. I would love to see more of their world, but if I don't, that's okay too. The Last of Us gave me everything I could possibly want and more out of this kind of a game. I am more than happy to just replay it when I want to return to the series.