The phenomenal award-winning series

Last of Us II has become one of PlayStation’s best-selling games. Concluding a 93% rating in the characters, main story, and art style by Imagine Games Network (IGN).

In June 2020, Naughty Dog, an American first-party video game developer, released the long-awaited sequel of the original “The Last of Us”. Sales of the sequel reached 2.8 million units in its first month of release, making it one of the best-selling PlayStation exclusive launches of all time. The Last of Us Part 2 was given its official age rating by the ESRB board, an “M” for “Mature” due to its dark themes, blood, and gore.

“I cried. I was extremely excited that we got to play from Ellie’s POV,” said DBHS freshman, Andrew Peterson.

PlayStation describes the game with a complex and emotional storyline, tense and desperate action-filled survival gameplay, and a beautiful yet dangerous open world. PlayStation has two versions of Last of us II, the regular version running at $39.99, and the Digital Deluxe Edition priced at $49.99.

The main character is a young girl, Ellie Williams, who is a survivor of the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak and the only person known to be immune to the infection. She gains allies and enemies, just like her father figure, Joel Miller. He grew an unbreakable bond with Ellie back in the first game. Joel tried extremely hard to protect her from others and herself at times when she was clueless of the outside world due to isolation inside quarantine zones.

“The gameplay is the best! But the storyline had me crying at times, not going to lie,” said anonymous DBHS senior.

To further personify the storyline, The Last of Us the series premiered on January 15th, streaming on HBO Max, and is releasing nine live-action episodes. The show tells the story of Joel and his journey with Ellie for the future of humanity. After a few weeks, thousands of people fell in love with the show and think it’s a perfect adaptation of the game.

Not only fans but also critics were blown away by the impeccable writing and the phenomenal performances of the actors. “Retaining the most addictive aspects of its beloved source material while digging deeper into the story, The Last of Us is binge-worthy TV that ranks among the all-time greatest video game adaptations” said television critics.

This rising Naughty Dog franchise is constantly growing with further adaptations for people that don’t just play video games. The apocalyptic genre of thrilling zombies continues to be a fan favorite and attracts participants to the Last of Us fandom

Written by Maria Morales | Graphic Designed by Maria Morales

Published February 2, 2023 | ePathfinder | Entertainment