"To America for Mushrooms" - The Last of Us Preview

● Announced in December last year, [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us) - an exclusive for PlayStation 3 - aims to be among the best games of this year or the next. The main star of “Uncharted” - Nathan Drake - has taken a well-deserved break from the, um, “big movies,” making way for two new characters, whose task is clear: to portray the lives and actions of people who are constantly threatened with death as naturally as possible.

Work on [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us) began back when the third part of Uncharted was still in development. Not seeing a couple of key names in the credits of “Drake's Illusions,” many journalists could not even think that these people had long been working on a completely new title. The bosses of Naughty Dog closely monitored all information coming in through Twitter and Facebook, so that in case of a leak they could quickly seal the breach. Not all team members working on Uncharted 3 were aware of the existence of [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us), let alone the company Sony as a whole: only the top brass knew about the start of work on a new exclusive for PlayStation 3.

At the end of last year, the vow of silence was officially lifted, but the first interesting information only surfaced now. It became known that the authors were inspired by the BBC documentary “Planet Earth,” in one of the episodes of which there was a mention of parasitic fungi that penetrate into insects, then feed on their flesh, and afterwards, quite literally, sprout out of the body of the poor little creature. Game developers, after watching the film, asked themselves: what would happen if a similar infection transferred to humans? The overall concept of the project was also influenced, to varying degrees, by such works as the film “No Country For Old Men,” the series “The Walking Dead” ([The Walking Dead](/games?search=The Walking Dead)) and the novella City of Thieves, translated in Russia as “City.” The Hollywood screenwriter who wrote this novel placed his characters in Leningrad in 1942, where they were seemingly awaiting imminent execution. But fate granted the heroes a chance to survive.

After reading, watching, and listening to various things, Naughty Dog began to craft their background for the new game. Thus, another dark future world was born, in which humanity came under attack from those very fungi - Cordyceps. Currently, in our real world, these little fungi are used in medicine as a rejuvenating agent. Then, apparently getting used to the human body, Cordyceps go berserk and begin to multiply, leading to total chaos. Wild, seasoned beauties, who previously frequented salons, their boyfriends, and everyone who came into contact with the infected, will roam the streets. Many people will turn into monsters, millions will perish, and a handful of survivors, who once didn’t care about rejuvenation, will actually be fighting for survival. Welcome to the world of [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us)!

Two characters have asked to be the main protagonists. One of them - Joel - is a forty-year-old man of solid build, with a rather dark past involved in drugs and arms dealing. One cannot say that Joel is eager to start his life anew, but, as they say, he can’t avoid it - weighing on him is Ellie - a fourteen-year-old orphan girl, who, on the contrary, knows nothing of the world before the evil deeds of the fungal virus. Thus, every odd thing created before her birth genuinely excites and intrigues her. “We didn’t intend to make an ordinary zombie action shooter,” says game director Bruce Straley, “it’s just not in the style of Naughty Dog.” And indeed: the plot of [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us) greatly resembles that of Richard Matheson's science fiction novel “I Am Legend,” which is far from being focused solely on battles with the undead.

“Our game is not a horror, as you might have thought at first. Of course, it may sound somewhat cliché, but [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us) is a story about love. It is a non-romantic story of love, in which we try to show the relationship between a father and daughter from all angles.” And while Joel is mostly a rough man, Ellie knows that without such a guardian, she won’t survive in the new world. “Joel, stop the car, we have to help him!” the girl screams, noticing a wounded person ahead, clutching his side and barely standing. “Buckle up,” Joel mutters as he pushes the gas pedal. A moment later, the supposedly wounded man straightens up, pulls a gun from his pocket, and shoots at the car. A similar scene developed in the post-apocalyptic film “The Book of Eli,” but there the main character dealt with the bandits without much trouble. Joel, though previously dealing with guns, curses the Creator each time he comes across thugs and other troubles along his path.

The story begins in Boston, where our protagonists meet. Twenty years ago, the fungal virus significantly battered humanity, dragging it back thousands of years when everyone struggled for their own survival in this world. Young Ellie must constantly learn new skills from her new friend. After mastering sign language and distributing roles, the kids scavenge for food, ammo, find shelters, in short - survive. And along the way, they travel across the United States (so far, Boston and Pittsburgh are confirmed, but be assured, the events of [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us) won’t be limited to these cities).

The player, controlling Joel, must first and foremost care for Ellie. If he doesn’t get to her in time, the girl, despite her bravery and fighting spirit (in the described Gameinformer episode she bit her attacker’s hand), will no longer be able to marvel at the disfigured America. The authors assure, by the way, that Ellie will not act illogically or create problems with her behavior; fortunately, a specially intelligent AI was written for her. In the demo version presented to the magazine editors, Ellie obediently followed her friend, hiding behind cover when needed, helping to finish off enemies when necessary, and when luck ran out - falling into the hands of foes. By the way, Naughty Dog rejected cooperative mode for obvious reasons (it would ruin the atmosphere of the game), yet the online component in [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us) will still be present.

The gameplay, as such, does not seem to differ much from the “Uncharted” style, except that there should be far fewer shootouts, and much more tension, horror, and plain struggles for survival. Ammo for firearms won’t just be lying around anywhere; players will have to search and scavenge for them, and here is where Ellie’s skills, as demonstrated in the debut trailer, will come in handy. If ammunition suddenly runs out and there’s nothing left to shoot with, various improvised devices can be put to use for killing. These tools can break and go to waste, so the heroes will have to constantly monitor the condition of their protective items.

However, while the combat system in the demo was quite effectively demonstrated, journalists could not comment specifically on the quality of the puzzles - there were only a few, and they didn’t stand out on the overall background. But, knowing Naughty Dog’s creativity, one can safely assume that proper brain storming will still be present in [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us), since one cannot just suddenly forget all the habits developed during the creation of Uncharted. Nathan Drake constantly snapped through excellent puzzles, so we hope that Joel’s and Ellie’s days won’t be limited to mere jumping, climbing, and shooting.

But for now, all this looks like a good Uncharted, just in completely different settings and with completely different actors. It will be another story when we finally see gameplay footage where the main characters face off against the infected. How will the gameplay change in such situations, how must the player behave, how can encounters with monsters be avoided, and how will the behavior of these creatures be structured? “We want to focus on living people, and emphasis is placed on that,” explains the vice president of the company Evan Wells, “You will encounter regular opponents more often than the infected.” In general, this is logical. Insects die from the playful tricks of the parasitic fungus, and the same should theoretically await humans. Now it’s interesting to know where these monsters come from, how they survive (maybe it’s all about the immunity of the victim?), where they live (the zombies from “I Am Legend,” for instance, could not endure the light), what they feed on, and so on, and so forth.

The player will explore and survive accompanied by a soundtrack, provided by Gustavo, wait a minute, Santaolalla (Gustavo Santaolalla) - the composer and two-time Oscar winner for Best Music. His music, created with the help of guitar, violin, piano, and the so-called charango, combined with a live voice, creates the necessary mood, the right atmosphere for the game, ultimately benefiting both the listener and the author of the tracks.

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Summing up all of the above, one cannot help but conclude that Sony is staying true to its course, betting not only on time-tested titles but also on new IPs capable of attracting both a new audience of gamers and loyal PS3 fans. [The Last of Us](/games?search=The Last of Us) has all chances to become the best, and there’s no need to worry even about the visual aspect of the project. Yes, the ceiling of possibilities has been virtually reached (if it hasn't been reached) in Uncharted 3, but, damn it, will we be spitting at such graphics a year from now? Probably not. And will Naughty Dog find ways to break through that very ceiling and climb even higher?