Over the years, video games have raised standards in all respects. Technical progress and gameplay are tangible, but the most subtle and at the same time the most obvious transformation is related to the stories. From the simplicity of a plumber rescuing a captive princess to today’s complex scripts, plenty of water has passed under the bridge, with titles like The Last of Us Part 1 pushing the storytelling and relevance of the text to the limit.
only from work obedient dogReleased in 2013 on PS3, then on PS4 in remastered form and now landed on PS5 with a remake, is one of the more tyrannical examples of this evolution. So let’s go and see what a file 5 reasons why The Last of Us Part 1 is a cult that changed our lives.
Because it’s a journey
Since the world began, where stories are told, to reach his goal, each character must pass through a tripBe it indoors or paved with kilometers of asphalt. The journey is a symbol of that path our heroes take to reach the light, provided they miss it at the beginning of the journey which can represent a kind of salvation for them.
In that sense, the adventure directed and written by Neil Druckman perfectly blends the roadside with the luminous side of new awareness Joel got it at the end of his mission. In the course of the epic journey that he saw accompanying little Ellie from Boston to Salt Lake City, the ragged spirit of the getaway gradually appears cracks, scratched and chipped, until it turns out that the core has long remained covered in a forged shell. Painful life.
Every meter he travels, every abomination he kills on the road, every inch that separates him from death, because Joel is a step toward the epiphany that makes him renewed man, who finally finds in that little girl so different from her daughter Sarah a reason to risk everything. and live for it.
Because it tells us about a new birth
Focusing on Joel again, it’s impossible to overlook him Psychological state Where the character was at the dawn of the story. Our hero’s approach to life is clear from the start: his existence no longer makes sense, and he ends up with the facts outlined in the introduction; The work he does with his partner Tess is nothing more than a barren struggle.
It is ironic to say that, but in Joel’s life there is no place for life; The same life that the protagonist will have a new taste thanks to the unexpected relationship with Ellie. Starting from this assumption, the first part of The Last of Us takes on the features of a story New birthfor an unexpected second chance fate gives her to return to see the light of the sun, which for Joel is synonymous with resurrection.
It’s an evergreen topic in the narrative realm and winks at…well for any of us. Yes, because the ability of a script born from the pen of the Uncharted author is knowing how to touch the emotional strings we all perceive worldwidea transcendence of subjects and subjects that cannot leave us indifferent for the simple reason that they involve us personally.
Of course, none of us may have experienced exactly everything that happened to poor Joel, but we certainly have at least once tasted this mixture of feelings that led to an abyss, perhaps after a strong bereavement or disappointment. In our little way, we too, like Joel, carry our luggage with us surgeonwhich we hope will fade once we get out of the dark thanks to a comment that life can surprise us with.
Because it depends on imagination
Although he did not invent anything from the point of view of the general narrative context, one of the undoubted advantages of The Last of Us Part 1 is that it conveyed in a video game a fantastic fantasy like the one for which it is famous Literary production after the end of the world. The scenario that sees a few survivors fighting for survival in an environment devastated by a pandemic, atomic or natural disaster has been widely addressed in fiction, with some notable examples that proudly carried the banner of the genre.
The vampire nightmare that Richard Matheson imagined with him in 1954 I Am Legend and the devastation described by Cormac McCarthy in street It seems to be the atmosphere closest to Naughty Dog’s work, yet the title also blends elements from other landmarks of dystopia on paper. historical novel city of thieves He was a valuable inspiration to the development team, while scorpion shadow Written by Stephen King It seems to share The Last of Us the epic nature of a long journey in the middle of A disheartening post-pandemic picture.
In some ways too men’s boyswritten by Phyllis Dorothy James in 1992 and brought to cinema by Alfonso Cuaron in 2006, lends something to the title published by Sony: the significance of one special topic Rents for an entire company on its knees.
The Last of Us Part 1, in short, merges, reworks, and brings to the console a universe already treated by great authors past and modern, but it does so in a compelling way, identification And not a derivative at all: The world of The Last of Us is the world of The Last of Us.
Because they don’t offer discounts
The gameplay element is clearly central to a video game. But the latter often chime in with a paraphrase in some way local Some elements of reality that appear once on the screen. The licenses that games take in transferring some components of real life to them are multifaceted, on the one hand for stylistic reasons, and on the other hand to weaken the influence that must be fed to users.
However, The Last of Us does not succumb to this unwritten rule: seemingly ordinary violence, death, and past lives of which one has tangible evidence by exploring the various houses now upside down… Every hinge that bears the narrative is told the structure for what it is. , Without sweetening the bean. An undoubtedly impressive choice, one that has among its goals the communication that we are already playing, but also that we are on another level in terms of the fun side. We are behind.
All this instills realism and credibility Completely new in the context of the ferocious wolf-footed humanoid that the developers have envisioned; The effect that, if possible, reaches a higher dimension with the second chapter of the series. Nowadays, video games are able to organize amazing and reasonable fights and cruel situations, but in The Last of Us the feeling of killing for survival is palpable, since it is clear that in this house lived a family with customs and their own daily life.
In short, the script developed by Naughty Dog is powerful because don’t bargain And he doesn’t hold back when it comes to showing the blunt side of reality: the side that doesn’t rule out.
Because it talks about change
In the end, however, the magnetic charge that The Last of Us Part 1 imposed on the audience probably all resides in an element found in any worthy story: they change. Every story, every movie, every story talks about a change, a paragraph, an internal – and sometimes external – transformation that the protagonist undergoes to embrace a new situation, generally better than the previous one.
But why, if this component is common to all stories, is The Last of Us special? Well, all thanks to that window that the player uses to look and observe the change: Personalities.
In the field of narrative, The wounded and hesitant hero It’s archetype with unquestioned effectiveness, and it captures audiences almost easily, because basically, in a way, we’re all a few. Each of us, after small or great difficulties, lives a daily routine in which he feels safe, and when a suggestion is made that requires us to leave our comfort zone, hesitation is a semi-automatic action.
However, if we end up accepting among a thousand doubts, this new adventure will bring us something new to learn as a gift, perhaps the discovery of a friendship we never thought possible, or at least a few more or less money in our pockets. In short, we will be different from the previous one. We will change.
Joel Miller is a character designed for action, to please the player because, with the right proportion, he is the player. there resistance Which the protagonist exerts towards the spring-loaded change of feelings that will reach the final part of the story, just as if in real life we were surprised by performing an action, a gesture, we never would have believed she was able to do.
Similar design makes Joel something special Clint Eastwood in Gran Torinoor better at Million dollar kid: A heartbroken and down-to-earth character, she doesn’t want to know anything about the world outside of her comforting bubble until someone knocks her over.
From this point of view, Ellie is not far behind. The change a girl goes through during an adventure has nothing to do with hesitation, but rather sudden growth Which leads it to confront violence and extremist solutions. At the end of the journey, one that takes her in some ways far more from the light than it does with Joel, Ellie has put her hands to struggle and nurtured her new “father” and found someone to entrust his life to: she’s grown up, she’s changed. And we are with her, in a way.
What do you think of The Last of Us Part 1? What aspects of his novel do you like the most? Tell us about you in the comments.
“Unable to type with boxing gloves on. Freelance organizer. Avid analyst. Friendly troublemaker. Bacon junkie.”
