Well, with The Last of Us 2 being accidentally confirmed, it seems only fitting that some analysis be given to the original. There's a lot to analyze about Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic shooter, but in this case, we're gonna look at what makes the ending of the game so damn powerful. But first, let's talk about the game itself. Needless to say, spoilers galore. Stop reading now if you haven't played or beaten the game yet.

The Last of Us ruined the post-apocalypse genre for me. Not just in games, but in all forms of media. I don't care how good The Walking Dead is. I don't care how fun Left 4 Dead is. The Last of Us did everything you could possibly do with a post-apocalyptic setting, and did it right. The biggest thing it did right: showing an unadulterated sense of humanity.

I've described this game to my friends as one of the most human games ever made. It's completely fantasy free. The infection is based on a real fungus. There are no big action setpieces. It's free of contrived Hollywood elements... mostly, and every line of dialogue feels real.

What makes the game 'human', though, is its characters. They aren't part of roaming bands of freedom fighters or bandits or post-government oppressors. This ain't Fallout. They're just people, trying to do whatever they can to survive. We see all sides of what an apocalypse can do to a human.

We see those who shut out emotions and personal feelings to avoid being hurt.


We see those who adapt.


We see those who try to hang on to a sense of normality.

We see those who scrape for any sign of hope.


We see those who were worn down by despair and violence and became something horrible.


Most of all, though, we see Joel. We see how he was hurt, how he copes with the decaying world around him, and how he becomes so desperate to have an anchor, to stay sane, that he does the most selfish, selfless thing anyone could do in his situation.

Throughout The Last of Us, Joel's only constant companion is Ellie. Thanks to some smart programming and perfect writing, Ellie oozes charm and depth, and quickly becomes an emotional crutch to both Joel and the player. It can be easy to forget that the endgame is to deliver her to the Fireflies. For the long journey, you might forget that there was even a destination at all, until you reach the hospital.

The Fireflies take Ellie away from Joel, with the intent of extracting a cure from her brain. Unfortunately, that means she'll die, and Joel will be left alone. In the twenty years that he's survived the infected world, Ellie is only thing he loved, and now she has to die. Joel is... not well. Yeah, he's stable, he's collected, he can hold his own in a fight, he's a survivor. That's why he's scary: give him something to fight for, and he'll get it. Until now, all he had to fight for was his own life. Now that he's fighting for someone else, he kills fully armed soldiers to get to her. Worse, if you allow it, he kills doctors. How many doctors do you think are left in this mad world?

As he escapes, Marlene tries to reason with him, saying that killing Ellie to get the cure for the infection would be the best possible ending for her. Given what Ellie witnessed and experienced during the journey, Marlene's arguments have credence.

But here's what we don't know: What do the Fireflies intend to do with the cure? They openly hate the government. They're distrusted by just as many people as those that worship them. Who's to say they wouldn't keep the cure for themselves? And that's assuming a cure can even be made to begin with. We don't know. That's the key. Joel kills Marlene anyway, so we won't ever find out.

So, where's the morality on this? Who was doing the right thing? That answer becomes even more ambiguous when Joel outright lies to Ellie about what happened. And we don't know if she fully believes him. Still, what was he supposed to say? "You remind me of my dead daughter and I love you, so I doomed humanity just so I could be happy" ? That would push Joel straight into villain territory. But he's not a villain. He's just a man trying to survive, and Ellie is his survival.

The beauty of The Last of Us is given form in these last moments because how much we don't know. We don't know what's going to happen next, who is the moral victor, and how this is going to affect Joel and Ellie's relationship. All we do know is that humanity is fucked, and it's either one man's fault, or nobody's fault.

Games usually have a goal. Whether it be to reach a high score, beat a series of levels, defeat certain foes, complete missions, and so on. Your mission in The Last of Us was initially to deliver Ellie to the Firefly hideout. But it wasn't long before you might have forgotten that. Soon, your goal was simply to protect her, because so long as she and you were together, you were happy.

Now, let's assume that a cure could've been made from Ellie's brain .When you, in control of Joel, took her away from the Fireflies and destroyed humanity's last hope, you fulfilled your self-assigned mission. You protected her. Humanity will die, but you protected her. Congratulations.

A winner is you.

So when I picked up my PS4, the first game I decided to give a shot was of course, this. Rocking into remastered edition showed me two things; the graphic capability was beautiful, and two, five minutes in and my heart would collapse from the emotional gut-wrenching tale that Naughty Dog and the IP's Neil Druckmann wanted to tell. Not five minutes in and we're shown the man we're to play; Joel, and the morally ambiguous tale following the death of his daughter launches away!

"I got you this watch so you can count down the minutes til I eat bullets, dad."

I slipped through the game on normal difficulty, marking it for all the right things; the writing, the characters, the believability of the cordyceps infection on its victims. This was why the game was so beautiful, under the construction of several teams, it seemed that Naughty Dog didn't want to just give us a run-and-gun game--they wanted something soul. If not for the little things, the way characters flinch at flashlights, the tiny little comments, or the completely beautiful desolation of the world we're seeing, then the game wouldn't stand on its own merit. Yet, this isn't why I believe it gave a lasting impact on me.

I completed the Last Of Us within two days and I loved every single moment of it as a game. I can understand why it won 240 awards, and did exactly what I expect Naughty Dog to do; make worthwhile games.

Then I decided to give Grounded a shot.

For those of us that weren't illuminated by the brilliance of this game, a little bit of backstory must be given. See, I've played games where supplies dwindle, hope runs out, and you're left to ponder the constant fear of death and destruction from whatever the fuck's coming around the corner to eat your ass like groceries, but this game toppled that effect.

"You think this bothers me? I took on six clickers with a paperclip once!"

When it comes to TLOU, Grounded places the character in the worst case scenario. The entire game sets you up like so:

Welcome to The Last Of Us.

FUCK YOU.

While the game tried to implement a system of dwindling resources against an onslaught of zombies, bandits, fireflies, the environment, Donald Trump, AIDS, and thirst, there was always the feeling of safety in you finding supplies, healing up Joel, and moving onto the next part. However, Grounded cuts down supplies by 90%, lowers health to 10%, and increases the enemies, the AI, and the overall shitstorm of gunfights, monsters, and everything!

While before you could count your twelve bullets of your snub-nose revolver and think "Eh, fuck it, if I miss, I miss," you aren't given such a privileges this time around.

"I can take all of em out if they stand in a line."

You are to completely change your way of thinking. You don't have bullets, you don't have health packs, you have six men coming for you, and you've got a paper-clip, a piece of string, an arrow, a brick, one clean sock, and four nails. Facing people head on is a complete suicide act with the AI hiding behind cover and only coming out to shoot the second you pop out yourself, you're completely outnumbered, underwhelmed, and that is why I absolutely love it.

Joel and Ellie are on the moral ambiguous line of storytelling. We hear plenty of times that he's changed throughout this world; once a dedicated father and hard-worker, he had now become a murdering, flip-flopping smuggler who doesn't acknowledge the right or wrong in the world. Yet, we see him as a complex, real character and from that we empathize, and it makes wanting to see him and Ellie survive so much more that Grounded really gives us the game we're aching for. You feel the desperation in the their situation and story, and when you finally get to the third act of this magnificent tale, you feel like you've been through the same ordeal yourself. You've scrounged up molotovs, snuck around more clickers than a ninja in a nightclub line, and come out of every ordeal by the skin of your teeth, and overcome it in the only way you could.

When those credits finally started rolling, I really did feel like I'd been through one hell of a journey. And from it, my entire gaming perspective changed completely. While going back over old games like Fallout 3, New Vegas, Far-Cry 2--I began to realize that I was running and gunning my way through everything. When looking back to the gameplay of Grounded, it made me appreciate everything so much more. I would look back and completely evaluate every action I would make. When I hopped on Alien Isolation, I'd collect everything, work out every kink, save every piece of scrap, and barely used any supplies while evading the evil bitch. While playing Fallout, my stimpaks wouldn't falter or fade--my guns would be repaired, and I'd be cautious. I would leave settlements in Far Cry with more bullets than I spent, and health too. The Last Of Us completely revolutionized my playing style and made me appreciate the important of both challenging gameplay, style, and story.

Unfortunately now all I can do is throw bottles to distract my family while I search my fridge for food and if anybody asks me how I am, I instinctively smash their heads into cupboards while screaming for Ellie to run.