Join the game to explore The Last of Us’s surroundings, one of the most popular post-apocalyptic themed games on the PlayStation generation.
The Last of Us 2 is about to debut, almost the entire gaming community in the world is excited about the story that takes place after the controversial end of 2013. Has Joel decided right or wrong? Does his choice cause anything next for humanity? What were the consequences of Joel lying to Ellie and letting her know what it would be like? Many questions that game lovers are waiting for the second part to answer.
However, in this article, let us put aside the excitement for The Last of Us 2 for now. Instead, have you ever wondered, “I really love The Last of Us, but do I know all that is around it?” Indeed, there will be people who know and someone who is blind. So I will present in this article to give readers ten interesting information revolving around the classic Naughty Dog brand The Last of Us.
10 / The plague in The Last of Us is inspired by real-life
We all know The Last of Us’s fantasy setting about the world after an outbreak of a plague, a fungus that turns people into monsters. However, this disease problem is very close to the reality in which we live, although it has not yet been recognized as affecting humans.
Cordiceps unilonymousis (or scientists also called ophiocordyceps unilateralis) is a parasitic fungus on insects inBrazil’sBrazil’s tropical rainforest. This fungus’s spores can cling to humans and then enter the insect’s brain, kill the host, and then control the host to climb up to the high wind to die. In the later stage, the spores use nutrients on the insect to grow into a tree, the germ pierces through the animal to sprout up, and spread the spore away to reproduce.
The Last of Us design team first learned about Cordiceps when they watched a BBC documentary. Immediately the idea of a fungus attacking the human brain came to mind. In the end, the idea of zombies being parasitic fungi is considered much more interesting than the zombie concepts often seen in movies or video games.
9 / The Last of Us was ever more depressing and had a clearer ending
It has been six years since its release, but the end of The Last of Us is still an endless debate. If Joel saves Ellie from extinct humanity, fans will know in The Last of Us part 2.
However, throughout the development process, the ending of The Last of Us was very different. In an interview, Druckmann shared some things the development team had to change. Tess’s character is much more villainous than the official version. Even she is willing to chase Joel anywhere in the world when she knows she’s betrayed. Ellie was initially built as a naive girl, only changed her personality, and was forced to kill Tess when she tortured Joel. As for the ending, Naughty Dog originally intended for Joel and Ellie to live happily in a place in San Francisco. The two of them will spend the rest of their lives there, helping the survivors and contributing to rebuilding society.
In the end, those initial ideas met with controversy among the people within the company. The development team has been divided into two camps. And after much discussion, the company changed to create the official version, as the fans already know.
8 / Interesting Easter Eggs
In addition to The Last of Us, Naughty Dog also has other attractive game brands such as Uncharted, Crash Bandicoot, Jax, and Daxter. And fans may notice the interesting Easter Eggs in TLoU related to those games.
For example, when Ellie learned how to whistle, she started with the classic Uncharted theme song. A bar in Pittsburgh named O’Sullivan’s Pub is reminiscent of Nathan Drake’s companion and teacher. It is very similar to the bar that Nathan and Sullivan went to on Uncharted’s first mission 3. Even Released, by the time of The Last of Us, Uncharted was filmed until the thirteenth, and the lead actor was none other than Justin Bieber.
In a toy store, you can find two Uncharted and Jax and Daxter titles. Images of the characters in these games also appear in the bedrooms of TLoU characters. I just gave a few small examples, but if the player is hard to research, indeed, they will find a multitude of interesting Easter Eggs related to other games.
7 / Same-sex kissing controversy
In DLC The Last of Us: Left Behind, Ellie had a noticeable segment, the same-sex kiss with her best friend. For the original game, the plot does not mention Ellie’s gender bias, as basically both Joel and the girl are too tired to fight and survive. And Left Behind has more time to focus on her life, her personality.
With that kissing segment, the fans immediately made a lot of speculation. Is Ellie a lesbian? Or is it simply a magical moment between two close friends? According to the sharing of Neil Druckmann and Ashley Johnson, there are not too many doubts for fans to discuss. “When I wrote it, I did it with the idea that Ellie was gay,” Druckmann said. “And when the actresses are working, they definitely do it with the idea that both of them are attracted to each other.”
“That makes a lot of sense to Ellie. It says who Ellie is and the relationship with Riley is so important to you. ” Ashley Johnson agrees.
As for Ellie’s clear gender bias, fans probably don’t need to guess much anymore. Because right from the trailer of The Last of Us part 2, Ellie has reached adult age and also made a kiss with her gay friend right away.
6 / Ellen Page does not like The Last of Us
The Last of Us has captivated both critics and the gaming community. However, many people still feel unable to absorb this game, and one of them is actress Ellen Page. In an interview, she accused Naughty Dog of stealing her image for Ellie. This caught the gaming community’s attention, mostly when Ellen Page played the lead role in Beyond: Two Souls, the PS3 exclusive.
We can see the similarities between Ellie and Page, even though I was a little confused at first and thought that Page had cast for that role. The name Ellie – Ellen is the same. When asked about his feelings, Page was quite annoyed about this similarity without any permission from Naughty Dog. The annoying attitude of her when she first saw the character Ellie is also understandable.
After Ellen Page showed the first trailer, Ellie’s appearance was slightly modified. And luckily, this edit has brought about unexpected results.
(Continue)
