echo NAUGHTY DOG’S THE LAST OF US PART I (2013)
The Last of Us video duology are action-adventure video games widely known and praised for its story, mature themes and character development. The Last of Us I was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Entertainment in 2013, followed by The Last of Us II in 2020. The critical reception to the first game was generally favourable, with consumers praising the game for its gripping storyline and tight action sequences. However, the second game was met with more controversy and criticism.
Main characters Joel and Ellie in Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us Part I
As The Last of Us Part I begins, a man jangles his keys in the doorway, slipping into the house under the cover of night. He speaks to someone over the phone before he flicks the lights on, waking up the sleeping girl nestled on the living room couch. We learn that this is Joel and Sarah Miller, a father-daughter duo whose easy jokes and light banter reveal their close and affectionate bond. Sarah then gifts Joel a watch for his birthday before falling asleep and being carried to bed by Joel.
The sequence is warm and calm, inviting the audience to bask in its quiet tenderness, a fleeting moment that does nothing to prepare its viewers for the upcoming brutality of the game. Shortly after, we learn that a mass Cordyceps infection outbreak has occurred, rendering the infected aggressive and violent. The world descends into chaos, unravelling into an apocalyptic disaster. Ultimately, Outbreak Day ends with Sarah dying in her father’s arms, marking a devastating turning point for Joel and setting the tone for the story’s emotional depth and progression.
The game jumps forward 20 years after Sarah’s death on Outbreak Day. Joel is now a hardened smuggler, moving contraband across different quarantine zones. It is now that we are introduced to Ellie, a young girl who discovered she is immune to the mutated Cordyceps fungus responsible for the outbreak. After their initial meeting, Joel and his partner Tess are tasked by the Fireflies, a revolutionary militia group, with transporting Ellie from Boston to the Massachusetts State House. This sets off a chain of events filled with peril, moral dilemmas, a trail of bodies and consequences that are both unimaginable and irreversible.
The characters of Joel and Ellie received widespread acclaim for their dynamic and ever-changing relationship.Throughout the game, they would face enemies, both human and monstrous alike, that challenge their morals, reshape their way of thinking and test the limits of their humanity.
HBO’S THE LAST OF US (2023)
A decade later, HBO would release a series adaptation of The Last of Us in 2023, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. The show utilises new story elements and perspectives, combined with the games’ original depth and storytelling. In both mediums, the main character would travel through post-apocalyptic cities, which are heavily infested with hostile creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. While the show stays true to the spirit and atmosphere of the game, there are several notable differences between the two formats. These differences highlight how television and video games alike each leverage their unique strengths and address their respective limitations.
Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us
A fight sequence in The Last of Us Part I
One of the most visible differences between the show and the video game is the nature of the mediums. Playing the video game allows for a more action-driven personal experience, where the player themselves must navigate a ruined city and fight against individual monsters and hordes alike. Some scenes and moments require stealth and tact, heightening tension for the player. Meanwhile, the show takes a more laid-back, if still action-packed approach. While there are still infected monsters and creatures in the duo’s encounters, they are less centralised and focused upon in the story. Instead, Joel and Ellie would face drama and encounters that would highlight human nature, their relationship and the aftermath of society’s collapse. The show will highlight moments of terror and tension instead of throughout like the game, allowing for a more ‘slow-burn’ drama that accentuates the performance of the actors. This gives more breathing room for the expansion of character development and emotional nuance within the story.
It could also be noted that the video game and series adaptation of The Last of Us also differs in terms of emotional impact. In the television series, the audience will be able to explore themes of loss, grief, and humanity from an outsider’s perspective. The actor of Joel, Pedro Pascal, is an excellent actor that perfectly embodies the spirit of Joel, through both perfectly representing his desire for companionship and grief from the loss of his previous daughter. While in the game the models used for Joel’s character are flawlessly capable of articulating his emotions and actions, Pedro Pascal breathes new life into the character through his charismatic demeanour and driven personality.
As a person who is willing to do anything to survive, Joel’s survival instinct is more clearly shown in the video game series along with Ellie’s, where other characters would describe him as a ‘crazy man’, and a man who would kill innocents if it meant him living. As the video game focuses more on the perspective of Ellie, we, the audience, are able to gain a deeper insight and look into Joel’s past and what led him to become this way.
Joel Miller in The Last of Us Part I
One of the main differences between the televised The Last of Us series and its original game is the pacing. In the series, characters were often killed off soon after being introduced, with one of them being Tess, Joel’s smuggling partner.
She is not the only character to receive such treatment, with other side characters quickly being axed from the show. Viewers have highlighted this as a problem because it prevents the audience from forming an emotional connection or truly being invested in said character’s plotline. As a result, they often become props for Joel and Ellie’s story while being sparsely fleshed out characters themselves.
Some viewers also commented on the inconsistencies in pacing in the series adaptation of The Last Of Us. Some episodes slowly crawled forward, taking their time to tell a story while some episodes jumped from scene to scene. In one scene where Joel has to make a decision to save Ellie or let the Fireflies operate on her to find a vaccine for the Cordyceps fungus, it seems as if the scene is proceeding at lightning speed. As a result, it lends less weight to Joel’s decision and feels less consequential to viewers.
Joel saving Ellie in the first season finale of HBO’s The Last of Us
In contrast, The Last of Us duology often had long periods of travelling with different characters, such as Dina and Ellie’s journey in The Last of Us Part II. This often gave gamers more time to delve into the complex relationships between the characters and digest the dialogue. Even though the games had long periods of fight sequences that wore on players, it also had moments of tranquility and respite, where Joel and Ellie could just bask in the beauty of their dystopian world.
Joel and Ellie petting a giraffe
In this scene, Joel and Ellie discover a herd of wild giraffes roaming through Salt Lake City. Due to aged barriers and the city’s gradual reclamation by nature, wild animals now graze freely amongst the city ruins. Here, players can choose to watch the herd of giraffes for however long they wish to, extending a brief moment in time infinitely as long as they do not exit the scene. This provides a rare moment of tranquility after a long and grueling journey.
Finally, there too is the fact that the television series would hasten the development of Joel and Ellie’s relationship much quicker than the game does. For instance, the video game would spread Joel and Ellie’s bonding chatter and small talk over the entire course of the video game, allowing their relationship to organically grow and progress. Meanwhile, the television series would, due to its limited number of episodes, release an episode where most of the relationship and character growth happens at once: when the duo leaves Jackson. Whether this is a good thing or not is up to the opinion of the audience, as a faster paced show is not necessarily always a bad thing.
Joel and Ellie leaving Jackson
Overall, one could say that the two characters had a more linear growth in their relationship within the show, while the game had Joel and Ellie face several ups and downs throughout the course of the playthrough. This could also be due to the lack of gameplay elements within the television stories, as there is no player to assist in moving things along. One could simply say that the show is a more concentrated and distilled version of the video game.
So it boils down to the question: the game or the show? Our response to that is to sit down, kick back and experience both forms of media. Why choose when you can simply enjoy both? Each of these mediums have their own advantages which make them shine in their own unique way. Of course, doing this will give viewers a fuller, more fleshed out perspective of the The Last of Us’ dystopian tale. Whether it be Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, or the in-game models of Joel and Ellie on your screen, The Last of Us is sure to touch your heart with its high-tensioned storytelling and emotional undertones.
Written by: Junn Yin & Sarah Wong
Edited by: Ashley
