GAME · 2013 · USA
The Last of Us
- Developer
- Naughty Dog
- Publisher
- Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Platforms
- PlayStation 3
256 archived facts 7 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Nov 2026
256 Interesting Facts About The Last of Us
Interesting Facts (128)
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At PAX Prime 2013, Naughty Dog showed off enemy characters that never made it into the game. One type of enemy appeared to be bald, fanged beats with stringy fungus growing off of their backs. Other early concepts looked like generic zombies with fungi like groups scattered across their bodies. The developers felt that these iterations didn't feel like still-living infected humans, which is why they were scrapped. Another enemy that was cut from the final game is an infected elephant. It had tendrils of fungus grow from its legs and blooming mushrooms on its head. A scenario in the game would have had this creature chasing Joel as he desperately scrambled away. Instead the team decided early on that they wanted to have zoo animals to roam freely in the game. This led to the giraffe scene.
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An unused element in the game was Ellie's puppy. Early concept art shows Ellie carrying her dog after it was injured. The idea of Joel and Ellie adopting a puppy was ultimately cut entirely. It was also planned for Ellie to use her fungal immunity to cross spore filled areas. This would have allowed players to control her during it.
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At the 2016 PlayStation Experience (PSX) a sequel titled The Last of Us: Part II was announced. In its reveal trailer Joel discovers Ellie singing and playing a guitar in a house full of dead people, who appear to possibly be Fireflies, that Ellie has presumably killed. Shortly after its reveal the trailer was confirmed to have been running in real time on actual PlayStation 4 Pro hardware rather than being a prerecorded video. It was also confirmed that players would primarily be playing as the now 19-year-old Ellie, which also confirms that this sequel takes place five years after the first game. Writer and creative director of the first game Neil Druckmann is confirmed to be directing this sequel, and Gustavo Santaolalla has also returned to compose the game's score.
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The ending is somewhat similar to the beginning of the game, albeit reversed. In the prologue, Joel and Sarah start off at home, and then use the car to escape the infected which eventually crashes, forcing Joel to carry Sarah, who is eventually shot by the soldier. Sarah then dies in Joel's arms. Near the end of the game, an unconscious Ellie (reminiscent of the dying Sarah) is carried by Joel out of the hospital away from humans and into a car. The duo then drives 'home'; home being Tommy's settlement.
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The Infected grew out of a segment of the BBC documentary Planet Earth (2006) about Cordyceps, a deadly fungus that invades ants' bodies and can take basic control of their motor functions. An infected ant climbs high and dies in a spot that lets the fungal spores drift farther and find a new host. The segment aired in the episode "Jungles" (Jungles (2006)).
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On July 28, 2014, at a live performance of The Last of Us, game director Neil Druckmann introduced a special scene, never recorded, set after the game's ending. Lead actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson performed it live on stage; Druckmann asked that nobody film it and stressed that it would never be released or shown in any other form. He reportedly wrote it as a "goodbye" to Joel and Ellie, and it takes place at Tommy's dam one night after the game's closing events (some reports say four years later, but the general agreement is simply "after"). Joel talks to Ellie in her room at Tommy's and explains that Tommy is trying to set him up with a woman named Esther. By most accounts, Ellie is cold and withdrawn until Joel picks up his guitar and sings a song (sung live by Troy Baker, Joel's voice actor). Joel tells her a joke, the two laugh and the tension breaks. He leaves her the guitar as a gift, and the scene ends with Ellie alone on her bed, strumming a chord. More than two years later, in 2016, the first trailer for The Last of Us: Part II opened on Ellie strumming a guitar alone on a bed, and a version of the scene, with some rewriting, also opens the sequel.
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Naughty Dog developed the game in secret for exactly two years. After finishing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2009, the studio split into two teams, one for The Last of Us and one for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. The first time it split like this, the second team wasn't sure what to make; they thought about another Jak and Daxter game, but felt a new IP was needed to justify a second team.
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The 'Ish' subplot, pieced together from the many notes in the game's 'Suburbs' chapter, was inspired by George R. Stewart's 1949 novel 'Earth Abides.' In it, Isherwood Williams, known as Ish, comes back from a long stay at a remote archaeological camp to find a virus has wiped out almost all of humanity. He meets an African American woman named Emma, and together they start a family and build a community. But after the death of his son Joey, Ish gives up hope of rebuilding the society he remembers so fondly from before the outbreak.
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At PAX Prime 2013, Naughty Dog showed enemies that never made it into the game. One looked like a bald creature with sharp teeth and stringy fungus growing from its back; other early concepts were generic zombies dotted with fungus-like clusters. The developers felt none of these read as still-living infected humans, so they were scrapped. Another cut enemy was an infected elephant with fungal tendrils down its legs and mushrooms blooming on its head, which in one scenario would have chased Joel as he ran for his life. Instead, the team decided early on to let zoo animals roam free in the game, which led to the giraffe scene.
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At the 2016 PlayStation Experience (PSX), Naughty Dog announced a sequel, The Last of Us: Part II. In the reveal trailer, Joel finds Ellie singing and playing guitar in a house full of corpses that seem to be Fireflies, possibly killed by her. Soon afterwards it was confirmed that the trailer ran in real time on actual PlayStation 4 Pro hardware rather than being a pre-recorded video. It was also confirmed that players would mostly control Ellie, now 19, placing the sequel five years after the first game. Neil Druckmann, writer and creative director of the original, would direct, and Gustavo Santaolalla came back to compose the music.
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The ending loosely mirrors the opening in reverse. In the prologue, Joel and Sarah leave the house and flee an infected person by car; the car crashes, Joel has to carry Sarah, and she's shot by a soldier and dies in his arms. Near the end, Joel carries an unconscious Ellie (echoing the dying Sarah) away from people and to a car, and the two head 'home', which is now Tommy's settlement.
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The 'Infected' creatures were inspired by the BBC documentary series Planet Earth (2006), specifically the segment about the deadly fungus Cordyceps, which takes over the bodies of ants and controls their motor functions. An infected ant climbs high and dies, allowing the fungus's spores to spread farther. That segment is titled "Jungles" (2006).
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Near the end of the game, in the Firefly fortress, you can find a recording left by the surgeon who is to operate on Ellie. Although the recording is largely ambiguous, it explains how Ellie could be used for a cure. However, the surgeon says "As we've seen in all past cases" and "Their sacrifices shall not be in vain," implying that there have been others like Ellie and that the surgeries ended in death. This changes the way the final scene is viewed: what Joel tells Ellie could be a complete lie if the player did not listen to the recordings, or a half-truth if they did.
- #047
At a live performance on July 28, 2014, director Neil Druckmann presented a special, unrecorded scene set after the game's ending. The scene was performed on stage by lead actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. Druckmann stressed that the scene would never be released in any other form. It was written as a farewell to Joel and Ellie and takes place at Tommy's dam, one night after the closing events of the game. Although some reports suggest it is set four years later, the general consensus is that it is set "after." Joel, in Ellie's room, tells her that Tommy is trying to marry him off to someone named Esther. While Ellie keeps her distance, Joel takes out a guitar and sings (Troy Baker sang live). Joel tells a joke, the two laugh together, and the tension dissolves. Joel leaves the guitar as a gift for Ellie; the scene ends with Ellie strumming the guitar alone on her bed. More than two years later, in 2016, the first trailer for The Last of Us: Part II was released. In the opening scene, Ellie plays the guitar alone on a bed. A version of this scene, with some spelling changes, also appears at the beginning of the sequel.
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Naughty Dog worked on the game in secret for two years. After finishing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2009, the team split in two: one half on The Last of Us, the other on Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. The second team initially did not know what to do; a game from the Jak and Daxter series was considered, but the developers felt they needed to work on a new intellectual property to justify a second team.
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The 'Ish' side story, discovered through notes in the game's 'Suburbs' chapter, was inspired by George R. Stewart's 1949 novel 'Earth Abides.' In the novel, Isherwood Williams (Ish) returns to civilization after a long stay at a remote archaeological camp and finds that almost all of humanity has been wiped out by a virus. He meets an African-American woman named Emma, and they decide to start a family and build a community. However, after the death of Ish's son Joey, Ish loses all hope of rebuilding pre-virus society.
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Giraffes are a recurring motif throughout the game. They seem to represent innocence; almost every time they appear, they are associated with a child. Where they appear: * At the start, behind the door in Sarah's bedroom. * On the poster for the movie "Girrafic Park" in the movie theater at the start. * In the Boston Quarantine Zone, before the first encounter with Robert's men, a little girl is seen playing with a giraffe. * In Bill's Town, a giraffe picture in a house beyond the dog door. * Also in Bill's Town, outside the school. * In the room where Henry and Sam are first met, next to a picture of a dog. * Several in the toy store in Pittsburgh. * In the children's playroom in the sewers. * In the bedroom of the farmhouse. * On billboards in Salt Lake. * In the herd in Salt Lake. * In the murals in the hospital's pediatric unit. * Two can be found in the arcade in the Left Behind DLC.
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Alongside films, literature and other video games, The Last of Us directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley also drew inspiration from real life, one example being the 1918 Spanish flu. Druckmann also, inspired by becoming a new father, thought about how far he would go to protect his family. In an interview he said, "Suddenly I realised how far I would go to protect my child, things I had never thought about before.
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The game's surprise announcement was almost completely ruined. Naughty Dog initially planned to announce it before Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011) came out, but the announcement was delayed. However, the Uncharted developers accidentally left an easter egg in a newspaper article reading 'Scientists still struggle to understand the deadly fungus'. Fortunately no one noticed that Naughty Dog was hinting at its new game, and the surprise announcement went ahead as planned.
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The story changed significantly during development; Tess was originally the main villain and chased Joel and Ellie across the country after Joel accidentally caused the death of her brother. Tess was to catch Joel and be killed by Ellie, but the idea was shelved when the developers found it unrealistic for Tess to pursue Joel with a smuggling gang for a year.
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At PAX Prime 2013, Naughty Dog showed enemy characters that never made it into the game. One enemy type was bald, toothy creatures with filamentous fungus growing out of their backs. Other early concepts looked like generic zombies with clusters of fungus scattered over their bodies. The developers shelved these iterations, feeling they still did not feel like infected humans who were still alive. Another cut enemy was an infected elephant. This creature, with fungal sprouts growing from its legs and mushrooms blooming on its head, was to chase Joel in a scenario in which he fled desperately. Instead, the team decided to create an environment in which zoo animals roamed freely, which led to the giraffe scene.
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Uncharted 2: Among Thieves had cooperative gameplay sections between Nathan Drake and his Tibetan ally Tenzin. The interactions between these two characters were an interesting way of telling the game's story. This gave Naughty Dog the idea of developing Joel and Ellie's characters with similar mechanics.
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While shooting the game's climax, Troy Baker (Joel) kept dropping his gun and the scene had to be reshot several times. Eventually Neil Druckmann told him to carry on no matter what and asked Merle Dandridge (Marlene) to deliver her lines by singing them at random. When Troy Baker was told not to stop, he went along with it and started singing, and they played out the whole scene singing. Troy Baker finished the scene by picking Ellie up in his arms and going "dan dan dan dan dan dan dan".
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One element not used in the game was Ellie's puppy. In early concept art, Ellie is seen carrying her injured dog. The idea of Joel and Ellie getting a puppy was cut entirely. It was also planned for Ellie to use her fungal immunity to pass through spore-filled areas, which would have allowed players to control her during these sections.
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The sequel The Last of Us: Part II was announced at the 2016 PlayStation Experience (PSX) event. In the teaser trailer, Joel finds Ellie singing and playing guitar in a house full of dead people; these people are most likely Firefly members killed by Ellie. Immediately after the trailer, it was confirmed that it was not a pre-recorded video and that it ran in real time on actual PlayStation 4 Pro hardware. It was also confirmed that players would primarily play as a 19-year-old Ellie, indicating that the sequel takes place five years after the first game. It was confirmed that Neil Druckmann, the writer and creative director of the first game, was directing this sequel, and that Gustavo Santaolalla was returning to compose the music.
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The ending is similar to the beginning of the game, but reversed. In the intro, Joel and Sarah start at home, then use the car to escape the infected; the car crashes and Joel has to carry Sarah; Sarah is shot by a soldier and dies in Joel's arms. Near the end of the game, an unconscious Ellie (reminiscent of the dying Sarah) is carried by Joel away from people, to a car, from the hospital. The pair then return 'home'; the home is Tommy's settlement.
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Several Uncharted easter eggs can be seen in hidden places during the game. For example, when Joel, Ellie, Sam and Henry pass through a toy store, Uncharted: The Board Game can be seen on one of the shelves. The Last of Us's creative director Neil Druckmann later became the creative director of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
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According to the poster of the Armadillo Theater in the intro, the theater is showing Damocles Rising, Tales of Cimarron, Ghost of the Mojave, Under Your Skin, Fever Dream, The Lost Kingdom and La Casita (The Little House). They are also advertising the upcoming Blood Samurai and giving out free popcorn.
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If you pay attention to the news audio in the opening credits, the anchor states that vaccine trials have failed. This is because, especially in 2013, vaccines for fungal diseases in humans are scientifically impossible, and only modest breakthroughs were made in the 2020s. This foreshadows the Fireflies' dubious motivations for developing a vaccine from Ellie's brain with limited technology.
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In Pittsburgh, you can hear two hunters discussing how much trouble they had killing a recently encountered unusually resilient young tourist girl. One of the hunters questions whether they should take her in, but his partner rejects the idea, saying he would kill them at the first opportunity. This mirrors what happens to David (and his group) later in the story, when he tries to take Ellie in even after she and Joel killed most of his men.
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This is the first widely publicized video game released in Australia with an R18+ rating, but it is not the first game to receive the rating. The first R18+ game in Australia is Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Previously, all video games were released with a maximum rating of MA15+ (under 15 with parental accompaniment, but not restricted to 15 and over), and anything exceeding that rating was banned.
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In a cutscene between Joel and Bill, Joel tries to tell Bill that he is not looking after Ellie because he cares ("It's not like that"), and Bill replies, "Bullshit. It is exactly like that." and "You babysit long enough, you're gonna pop." It turns out Bill knows what he is talking about, because Joel eventually cares enough about Ellie to see her as a surrogate daughter and risks his life greatly for her, possibly depriving humanity of finding a vaccine.
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The Last of Us was first released for PlayStation 3 on June 14, 2013, and later released for PlayStation 4 on July 29, 2014. This version, titled The Last of Us: Remastered, includes a 1080p resolution increase, some improved and new textures, photo mode, audio setup customization, all DLC released at that time including the Left Behind story DLC, and allows the user to play the game at 60 frames per second or 30 frames per second with higher quality shadows. The Remastered version later received a patch for HDR support and PlayStation 4 Pro support. On PS4 Pro, the game renders at native 4K resolution when played in 30 frames per second mode and at 3200x1800p resolution in 60 frames per second mode. However, if you set the PS4 Pro output to 1080p, the only improvement is the enabling of high quality shadows in 60 frames per second mode.
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During the emotional argument in Jackson, Ashley Johnson improvised pushing Troy Baker. After reshooting the exhausting and critical scene many times, Troy began to focus and did not make eye contact with Ashley while she acted. Ashley then pushed Troy to get his attention, and that was the final take.
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Cormac McCarthy's books No Country For Old Men and The Road (as confirmed by Naughty Dog itself) influenced the game: * Joel takes his name from Joel Coen, one of the directors of the film adaptation of No Country For Old Men. * In the book version, an armed Texan man accompanies a young red-haired girl, similar to Joel accompanying Ellie (and fighting alongside her). * There is a large age gap between Joel and Ellie, and they travel through a post-apocalyptic American landscape like the father and son in The Road.
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When we first see Joel, he is talking to Tommy on the phone. His daughter gives him a watch as a gift to replace his old broken one; Joel tricks her and tells her the watch is broken. Then his daughter lies down on the couch to watch television and falls asleep; Joel carries her to bed and says good night. The first sign that something is wrong is Tommy calling him and wanting to talk to Joel. When the zombie apocalypse breaks out, he is carried by Joel across town, then is shot and dies (metaphorically "falls asleep"), and by the time he meets Ellie, the watch is truly broken. He still keeps it.
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In the 'Bill's Town' chapter, an optional dialogue can be heard in which Joel and Ellie talk about chess. Bill addresses Ellie as 'Bobby Fischer'. Fischer was world chess champion between 1972 and 1975. The only American to win the title. Coincidentally, Fischer won the first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. Ellie is 14 years old during the events of the game.
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Cameras have started rolling on the third season of The Last of Us series. It is reported that the filming process for the production's new season has begun and that the first images from the set have started to emerge. As in the series' previous seasons, the third season is based on the story of the game series. Details regarding the new season's cast and release schedule have not yet been finalized. Viewers are wondering which parts of the story the season will cover and which characters will return. No official statement has been made about the production's release date on the streaming platform. With the sharing of set images, the first concrete signs of the season's production phase have begun to appear.
Production Story (55)
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Besides movies, books and other games, The Last of Us directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley drew on real events, among them the 1918 Spanish influenza. Druckmann, who had recently become a father, also thought about how far he would go to protect his family. As he put it in an interview: "All of a sudden I realized just how far I'd go to protect my kid, things I've never ever thought about before.
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Naughty Dog used PAX Prime 2013 to show off enemies that were cut from the game. One type was a bald, fanged beast with stringy fungus sprouting from its back; other early concepts looked like ordinary zombies with fungal clusters dotted across their bodies. The developers felt these didn't come across as infected humans who were still alive, so they were scrapped. An infected elephant was cut as well: it had fungal tendrils growing from its legs and mushrooms blooming on its head, and one scenario would have had it chasing Joel as he desperately scrambled away. The team decided early on that it wanted zoo animals roaming free instead, and that led to the giraffe scene.
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The game's surprise reveal very nearly got spoiled. Naughty Dog first meant to announce it before Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011) came out, but the announcement was delayed, and the Uncharted developers had already slipped in an easter egg: a newspaper article reading 'Scientists are still struggling to understand deadly fungus'. Luckily nobody realized Naughty Dog was teasing its next game, and the surprise went off as planned.
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Naughty Dog has confirmed that Cormac McCarthy's books No Country For Old Men and The Road influenced the game: * Joel is named after Joel Coen, one of the directors of the film of No Country For Old Men. / * In the book, a Texan man with a gun travels with a young red-haired girl, much as Joel travels (and fights) alongside Ellie. / * Joel and Ellie, with a big age gap between them, cross a post-apocalyptic American landscape, like the father and son in The Road.
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For two full years Naughty Dog worked on the game in secret. Once Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was done in 2009, the studio divided its staff into two teams, one on The Last of Us and the other on Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. When that first split happened, the second team didn't know what to make; another Jak and Daxter game was considered, but the developers felt only a new IP would justify a second team.
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The Last of Us first came out on PlayStation 3 on June 14th, 2013, and arrived on PlayStation 4 on July 29th, 2014, as The Last of Us: Remastered. That version raises the resolution to 1080p, improves some textures and adds new ones, and brings a photo mode, custom audio setup and all the DLC released by then, including the Left Behind story DLC; players can choose 60 frames per second or 30 frames per second with higher-quality shadows. Later patches added HDR and PlayStation 4 Pro support. On PS4 Pro the game runs at native 4K in the 30 frames per second mode and at 3200x1800p in the 60 frames per second mode; with the PS4 Pro set to 1080p output, the only gain is that the high-quality shadows are switched on in the 60 frames per second mode.
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The Infected were inspired by an episode of the BBC documentary Planet Earth (2006) featuring Cordyceps, a killer fungus that invades ants' bodies and can actually exercise basic control over the insect's motor functions. The infected ant climbs up high and dies in a position that lets the fungus's spores travel farther to reach another host. It was shown in the episode "Jungles" (Jungles (2006)).
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The story shifted a lot during development. At first Tess was the main antagonist, chasing Joel and Ellie across the country because Joel had accidentally caused her brother's death while saving Ellie from execution by a group of soldiers. She was meant to capture Joel and be killed by Ellie, but the developers dropped this because it seemed unrealistic for Tess and her gang of smugglers to hunt Joel for an entire year.
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The 'Ish' subplot told through the many notes in 'The Suburbs' chapter draws on George R. Stewart's 1949 novel, 'Earth Abides.' Isherwood Williams, AKA Ish, returns to civilization after a long stretch at his remote archaeological camp to find a virus has wiped out nearly all of humanity. He meets an African American woman named Emma, and they decide to raise a family and found a community. But when Ish's son, Joey, dies, Ish loses all hope of restoring the society he fondly remembers from before the outbreak.
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The story changed a great deal during development. Tess was once the main antagonist, pursuing Joel and Ellie across the country after Joel, while saving Ellie from execution by a group of soldiers, accidentally caused her brother's death. She was supposed to capture Joel and die at Ellie's hands, but the idea was scrapped because the developers found it unrealistic for Tess to track Joel with a smuggler gang for a year.
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Some special editions of The Last of Us came with two DLC packs available at launch: the Sights and Sounds Pack, with the soundtrack, a PlayStation 3 dynamic home screen theme and two avatars, and the Survival Pack, with bonus skins after finishing the campaign, in-game money, bonus experience points and early access to customizable multiplayer items.
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A bundle released for The Last of Us on May 6, 2014, packed five separate DLC: Grounded, a new difficulty for the main game and Left Behind; the Reclaimed Territories Map Pack, with new multiplayer maps; the Professional Survival Skills Bundle and Situational Survival Skills Bundle, together adding eight new multiplayer skills; and the Survivalist Weapon Bundle, with four new weapons.
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Ellie's dog was another idea left unused. Early concept art shows Ellie carrying the wounded dog, but Joel and Ellie adopting a puppy was eventually cut altogether. The developers also planned for Ellie to use her fungal immunity to get through spore-filled areas, which would have let players control her in those sections.
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Reactions to the announcement of The Last of Us Part I were mixed: some journalists and players called it unnecessary given how recent the original was and the existence of Remastered, and questioned its US$70 price. It got positive reviews on release, but the Windows version met a mixed response and became Naughty Dog's lowest-rated game.
Behind the Scenes (6)
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In Joel and Ellie's emotional argument in Jackson, Ashley Johnson improvised a shove at Troy Baker. After many takes of the draining, crucial scene, Troy started losing focus and stopped making eye contact with Ashley while she was acting, so she shoved him to pull his attention back to her, and that became the final take.
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While shooting the game's climax, Troy Baker (Joel) kept dropping his prop gun, forcing several reshoots, until director Neil Druckmann told him to carry on with the scene no matter what and told Merle Dandridge (Marlene) to suddenly start singing her lines. Told not to stop, Troy played along and sang too, and the two got through the whole scene singing their dialogue. Troy Baker finished it by picking up Ellie and going "dun dun dun dun dun dun dun".
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Characters & Cast (12)
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On July 28, 2014, at the live performance of The Last of Us, game director Neil Druckmann introduced a special, unrecorded scene that takes place after the ending of the game. The scene was performed live on stage by principal actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. Druckmann requested that nobody film during the scene, and stressed that it will never be released or revealed in any other form. The scene was reportedly written by Druckmann as a "goodbye" to Joel and Ellie, and takes place at Tommy's dam one night after the closing events of the game. Some reports put it at four years later, but the general consensus is broadly "after". Joel is talking to Ellie in her room at Tommy's, explaining that Tommy is trying to set him up to marry a girl named Esther. According to various accounts of the scene, Ellie is acting distant and reserved, until Joel pulls out a guitar and sings a song (which Joel's voice actor Troy Baker performed live). Joel tells Ellie a joke, and the pair laugh together, the tension broken. Joel leaves the guitar with Ellie as a gift, and the scene ends with Ellie alone on her bed, strumming a chord. Then over two years later in 2016, the first trailer for The Last of Us: Part II was revealed. It's opening shot has Ellie alone on a bed, strumming a guitar. A version of the scene was also included in the beginning of the sequel, with some changes to the writing.
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Easter Eggs & References (30)
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Several Uncharted Easter Eggs are tucked away around the game. For example, when Joel, Ellie, Sam and Henry go through a toy store, Uncharted: The Board Game sits on one of the shelves. Neil Druckmann, creative director of The Last Of Us, went on to be creative director of Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
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In the 'Bill's Town' chapter there's an optional conversation in which Joel and Ellie talk about chess, and Bill calls Ellie 'Bobby Fischer'. Fischer, world chess champion from 1972-1975, is the only American to have held the title, and as it happens he won the first of his record eight US Championships at 14, the same age Ellie is during the game.
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Behind the Boston capitol building, in the abandoned subway line, there's a note left by a smuggler who was waiting for a man named Frank to turn up so he could take him into the QZ. Only in the next chapter do you discover who Frank was, why he wanted into Boston and why he never got there.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In the Left Behind DLC, Ellie comes across a Brand X version of a Magic 8-Ball shaped like a skull. If the player chooses, her first question is "are we going to die today?" and the skull says it's unlikely. The key word is "we": both of them get bitten, but Ellie is immune.
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Contains a major spoiler — show
In Pittsburgh you can eavesdrop on two hunters talking about how hard it was to kill an unusually tough young tourist girl. One wonders whether they should have recruited her, but his partner dismisses the idea, saying she'd have killed them at the first chance. That's more or less what happens to David (and his group) much later, when he tries to take Ellie in even after she and Joel have killed many of his men.
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The surprise announcement of The Last of Us almost didn't happen. Naughty Dog first planned to reveal it ahead of the Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011) premiere, but the announcement was pulled, and the Uncharted developers had accidentally left a hidden reference in a newspaper article saying 'scientists are still struggling to understand the deadly fungus.' Fortunately no one noticed Naughty Dog was teasing its new game, and the announcement went ahead as planned.
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Deeper Meaning (20)
- #232
Giraffes come up again and again. They seem to stand for innocence, since almost every time one appears there's a child nearby or a link to children. They show up in these places: * Behind the door in Sarah's bedroom, in the prologue. / * The movie theater in the prologue, whose marquee says "Girrafic Park" is playing. * In the Boston QZ, where a little girl is playing with one just before the first encounter with Robert's men. / * A giraffe picture in a house in Bill's Town, just past the doggy door. / * Outside the school, also in Bill's Town. / * In the room where you first meet Henry and Sam, beside a picture of a dog. / * Several in the toy store in Pittsburgh. / * In the children's playroom in the sewer. / * In the bedroom of the Ranch House. / * Advertisements in Salt Lake. / * The herd in Salt Lake. / * Painted on the walls of the hospital's pediatrics unit. The Left Behind DLC adds two in the arcade.
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- #235
In the Firefly stronghold near the end of the game, there is a recording left behind by the surgeon who will perform the procedure on Ellie that can be found. It is for the most part, ambiguous, and it overall states how Ellie can be used for a cure. However, he does mention "As we've seen in all past cases" and, near the end, he states "All the sacrifices of those men and women or worse, will not be in vain." hinting that there may have been more people like Ellie, and their surgeries went wrong resulting in their deaths. This changes the point of view of the epilogue: Joel's statement to Ellie may very well be a lie if the player didn't listen to the recordings while playing the game. But Joel's statement to Ellie may very well be a half-truth if the player did listen to them.
- #236
- #237
Contains a major spoiler — show
In one cutscene, Joel tries to tell Bill he isn't looking after Ellie because he cares about her ("It's not like that"), and Bill answers "Bullshit. It is just like that." and "Keep babysitting long enough, eventually it'll blow up in your face." Bill knew exactly what he was talking about: Joel does come to care for Ellie until she's like a surrogate daughter to him, and in the end he risks his life for her and may well rob mankind of a vaccine in the process.
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- #240
Contains a major spoiler — show
Listen closely to the newsreel audio over the opening credits and the anchor says vaccine trials have failed. That fits the science: especially in 2013, vaccines against fungal diseases in humans were a long shot, with only small breakthroughs coming in the 2020s. It foreshadows how questionable the Fireflies' plan is, trying to make a vaccine from Ellie's brain with very limited technology.
- #241
Contains a major spoiler — show
The first time we see Joel, he's on the phone with Tommy. His daughter gives him a watch to replace his old broken one, and he teases her by pretending it's broken. She then lies on the couch to watch TV and falls asleep, and Joel carries her to bed and says goodnight. Her first sign that something is wrong is Tommy calling and asking for Joel. When the zombie apocalypse breaks out, Joel carries her through town, and she's shot and dies (metaphorically "falling asleep"). By the time he meets Ellie, the watch really is broken, and he still keeps it.
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- #244
Near the end, in the Firefly stronghold, there's a recording from the surgeon who was to operate on Ellie. It's mostly vague, explaining in general terms how Ellie could lead to a cure, but it includes the words "as we've seen in all past cases" and, toward the end, "All the sacrifices of those men and women or worse, will not be in vain," suggesting there were others like Ellie whose operations failed and killed them. This changes how the epilogue lands: a player who skipped the recordings may take Joel's explanation to Ellie as a lie, while one who heard them may see it as half true.
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- #247
Giraffes are a running motif, seemingly standing for innocence, since they nearly always appear beside a child or in connection with children. You'll find them here: * In the prologue, behind the door in Sarah's bedroom. * At the movie theater in the opening chapter, where the sign says "Giraffic Park" is showing. * In the Boston QZ, a little girl is playing with one just before the first run-in with Robert's men. * In a house in Bill's Town, a giraffe picture right behind the dog door. * Outside the school, also in Bill's Town. * In the room where you first meet Henry and Sam, next to a picture of a dog. * Several in the toy store in Pittsburgh. * In the children's playroom in the sewers. * In the bedroom of the Ranch House. * Salt Lake City advertisements. * The herd at Salt Lake City. * Painted on the walls of the hospital's pediatric unit. The Left Behind DLC has two more in the arcade.
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- #251
The Last of Us directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley found inspiration in films, literature and other games, and in real events such as the 1918 Spanish flu. Becoming a father for the first time also made Druckmann think about how far he would go to protect his family. In an interview he said, "All of a sudden I realized just how far I'd go to protect my kid, things I've never ever thought about before.
Career & Awards (5)
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It's the first widely publicised video game released in Australia with an R18+ certificate, though not the first to receive one; that was Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Before then, the highest certificate available for video games was MA15+ (under-15s must be accompanied, rather than being restricted to 15 and over), and anything that went beyond it was banned.
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Sources & editorial notes
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia The Last of Us (video game) — Wikipedia
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