A post-apocalyptic world
The Last of Us will apparently be set in a modern day America, but one that has been devastated by a mysterious fungus-based plague. The post-apocalyptic game world is a gaming cliché that has been used rather liberally as of late but, whilst I still have my doubts, the world of The Last of Us seems a little better fleshed out and more vibrant than others. Other elements of the game’s focus also seem more promising than the average grimy desert wasteland with the faceless hero, such as…
A character driven narrative
A character driven narrative should make a nice change from the usual space marines and silent protagonists
Studio creative lead Neil Druckmann has stated that he wants The Last of Us to raise the bar for other game developers in terms of storytelling. The Playstation blog post that revealed initial details on The Last of Us also promised us a “character driven tale,” an exciting story focus that is often lost in the post-apocalyptic survival sub-genre.
An action survival hybrid
The survival style game has become an increasingly unpopular genre over the years, with developers favouring all out action over clever inventory management. Though these survival elements can be clunky when implemented by an unskilled developer, I have no doubt that Naughty Dog will be able to make these long lost gaming staples engaging and intuitive once again.
A choice of protagonists
Multiple characters allow for some diverse gameplay mechanics
Trailers have shown us our two protagonists who will dominate the narrative in The Last of Us, Joel and Ellie. Though we haven’t had the chance to gain any real insight into their personalities, the dual character set-up offers some interesting gameplay opportunities. Considering the recent co-op focus in Uncharted 3, The Last of Us could well take the form of a completely co-operative campaign. It could, of course, wind up more like Enslaved or Ico, and feature a dedicated single player experience that involves partner AI for certain puzzles. Either way, the sky is the limit when you have a choice of likeable characters.
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