[E3 2012] The Last Of Us

[Psykoboy2]

I’m not sure I can think of a single game shown off at this year’s E3 that has been talked about like Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us. Since its showing at the Sony media briefing on Monday night, it’s almost all I heard from the show floor for the rest of E3. Okay well, maybe Watch Dogs, but while very little was being told to us about that game, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley weren’t shying away from talking about The Last Of Us.

In-Game Chat listeners from old will recognize the names as we interviewed the two of them when the very first Uncharted released in 2007. We spoke with Neil again for Uncharted 2 in 2009. It was around that time that Naughty Dog became two teams under one name. A small group of Dogs ventured away from Uncharted 3 and began working on The Last Of Us.

Teased in late 2011 with a trailer at the Spike Video Game Awards, we were shown what looked like something post-apocalyptic with what we could only describe at the time of being zombies or...something. It was hard to really put a label on what we were seeing.

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After that, it was a long drought of information. There was a GameInformer cover story on the game, but we’d seen nothing new until the truck sequence that showed up a few weeks back. That would lead us into the on stage live demo of The Last Of Us at Sony’s E3 media briefing. If you haven’t seen that yet, you should take a look because what I’m about to tell you of what I saw behind closed doors directly references that 7 minute demonstration.

The same demo was played for us during this session, but it was much longer than what was shown during the media briefing. Some of the subtle differences are that Joel actually interacts with the movie poster that Ellie points out and they have a very quick conversation about it. Also, once they enter the run down hotel, the ladder isn’t magically waiting on them, they have to find it and when they do, find a way to get to it. The subtlety of differences stop there.

From the moment they notice other people in the building, the gameplay is VERY different from the stage showing. Joel & Ellie completely avoid that room shown on stage and take a different route. In doing so, Ellie doesn’t come across that brick like she did before. They do find a bandage, some ammunition, and a lead pipe. By some ammunition, I mean about 3 bullets. They manage to make it to another floor in the hotel before being noticed at all. Even then, they only kill one of the three people and sneak away from the other two searching for them. In fact, it’s played with much more stealth involved, showing off the fact that you don’t have to engage everyone you see in the world. This isn’t a game where you have to take out everyone you come in contact with in order to move on. It’s about moving on. It’s about survival.

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The game takes place 20 years after the event that has made the world what it is in the game. Joel was born before those events and works the black market at a military outpost under martial law. If you want things you aren’t allowed to have, Joel’s the guy to get it for you. Meanwhile, Ellie was born after the event. She has no concept of the things that Joel does. It’s why that movie poster in the demo seem so strange and foreign to her. She’s never known anything like it. For her, it’s always been about survival. Stabbing a guy in the back or throwing a brick into someone’s face is nothing for her. She’s very light hearted when she comes upon a bathtub with two rotten corpses inside of it - the casualty of two people who’d rather die by their own hands than die from the virus. This is everyday life for her. Joel has been hired to escort Ellie to another outpost and this is how their story begins.

And it is their story. This isn’t about how the world’s gone to shit. It’s about Joel and Ellie living in this world and surviving it. This was stressed over and over that the focus of this game is the relationship between Joel & Ellie. It’s hard to take anything away from that since we’re given very little to see in the overall scope of this game. It’ll honestly take you playing it to understand that, so I won’t bother with trying to convey the message.

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I will tell you the game involves surviving and that means scavenging for supplies. There were plenty of moments in the longer demo where Joel and Ellie would search as much as they could for any little thing. Bottles, bricks, bandages, ammunition, pipes...whatever they could find and use. And it isn’t just about weapons. With the crafting system in place keeping a bottle in your pack, you can combine it with a bandage and fuel to create a molotov cocktail. You’ll lose some of the fuel and the potential to heal yourself by using up the bandage, but you’ll have a pretty useful weapon in a world where there isn’t very much of...well, anything.

As you may have noticed in the stage demo, your health doesn’t regenerate and if you do decide to use a bandage it’ll be done in real time. It isn’t instant. Joel will have to take the time to wrap the bandage around the wound in order to get the effect of it. Another thing you may have noticed in the stage demo was the AI of both the enemies and Ellie. Ellie, in particular, is an AI that Naughty Dog is trying something new with. It’s a bit like having a co-op partner...but without the actual person playing with you. She follows your lead. If you play the game with stealth and avoid conflict, she’ll be right there helping you do the same. Maybe point out a path that could avoid running into a group of people. Conversely, if you play a little more straightforward and go for the kills, she’ll be much more aggressive. It’s a bit like having the director from Left 4 Dead, but as a partner this time. The fact that the AI heard the gun click and recognize you were out of ammo is something the team at Naughty Dog is really working on. So much so that they are even recording the characters breathing. Yeah...even breathing can be heard by you and your enemies to give away a position. Sound is very important in The Last Of Us.

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Naughty Dog isn’t that big of a team, not when compared to most studios putting out games of their quality. With the Uncharted series under their belt and work likely underway on another in that series, plus the continued work on The Last Of Us, I’m amazed at how they get it all done. The Last Of Us has no specific release date set, but it will not be released in 2012. Expect everyone to still be talking about this one throughout the rest of this year and on into 2013.

[Gorvi]

The game looks completely amazing. How they balance ammo and items in general is going to be key. If they make things too scarce they run the risk of alienating people just looking to enjoy the environment. Here's hoping there's something akin to Fallout New Vegas's Hardcore Mode if you feel like being a masochist.

[Grifter]

So exited for this game.

I love the texture work here, those screen shots look like panels from an extremely high a quality graphic novel.

[MagGnome]

This game does indeed look fantastic. I'd still like to pick up a PS3 at some point to play some of the awesome exclusives that system has. Hopefully it drops to $150 or less one of these days.

[Psykoboy2]

This isn't what was shown at E3, but it was shown at Comic Con: