Mature storytelling within video games: A case study of ‘The Last of Us’

At the conclusion of my first blog post I touched upon how I think storytelling is changing, and how the link between films and video games is a prominent stage for this change. With that in mind, I’d like to examine The Last of Us (released in June this year) as an example of how modern video games are a great example of where storytelling is heading.

The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror game set in the US and featuring zombies (or, specifically, Cordyceps fungus infected humans who act for all intents and purposes, but are not in fact, zombies). The Last of Us though, is a remarkably different game to what you might expect from something of ‘that’ genre. It’s also remarkably superior to anything from that genre, and I’d even go as far to say it’s better than most games I’ve played, and certainly one of the best out of this year’s releases.

'The Last of Us' (June 2013)

Why exactly this is can be attributed to a couple of things. Firstly, it was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, a more than capable partnership that has given us some of the PlayStation 3s (and perhaps the generations) best titles in the form of the Uncharted series.
Secondly, it was a beautifully crafted game with stunning visuals and gorgeous sound design, something that helped separate it from the grimy, mindless, needlessly gore filled zombie entries of yesteryear.

Thirdly, and for me most importantly, it took the zombie-horror genre and twisted it into a character driven video game centred on a mature, complex narrative. A narrative that felt distinctly different to the usual offerings, arguably miles ahead of most present day console releases but also, strikingly similar to a filmic narrative. The Last of Us took a step away from video game tropes and instead focused on developing a game that took a lot of inspiration from the cinema.

Gory action in 'Dead Rising' and an emotional moment in 'The Last of Us'

This wasn’t necessarily surprising considering that Naughty Dog helmed the project. Ever since their debut on the PlayStation 3 with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Naughty Dog have showed themselves to be skilled in creating visually stunning, invigorating action games that take more than a few hints from the movies. The way The Last of Us differs however, is in just what hints Naughty Dog took from films this time around.

Take a look at the videos below, the first shows an action sequence from Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and the second shows a sequence from The Last of Us:

The difference is striking, and yet all that separates these two games is a couple of years. What an important couple of years they were!

Uncharted is unabashedly a Hollywood action bonanza in video game form; the thundering score, the heroic action star quips, the relentless action (most notably the roaring sequence at the back of the cargo plane (around the 2:20 mark)) and even, to an extent, the camera movement and style. Every aspect of Uncharted is created to emulate that action movie feel. The story certainly takes a back seat.

Now compare that to The Last of Us. Here, story is everything. Note the viewpoint, it isn’t until the car crash that we assume control of our hero, Joel. We start off as a little girl in her pyjamas, Sarah, sat scared in the back seat. The dialogue isn’t witty or juvenile, it’s dark and realistic. Joel feels like Sarah’s father and sounds like he wants to protect her. Even during the action sections where cars explode and infected humans maul people to the ground, the focus is on how action affects the characters, it’s not mindless or overused. All of this culminates in the tragic end to the sequence where, in the lonely dark, Sarah dies in Joel's arms. The music is sombre, the performances hauntingly real, the camera close and engaging; this is so unlike Uncharted, and indeed so unlike the typical video game. This is powerful visual and narrative storytelling: to me, it’s like an interactive film.

This stark, mature story became one of the key selling points for The Last of Us. Many of the reviews (of which nearly all gave the game top ratings and favourable reviews) mentioned and applauded Naughty Dogs narrative and storytelling technique. Colin Moriarty from IGN compares The Last of Us to The Road and praises the ‘stellar narrative’ calling it "the most memorable [time] I’ve ever spent with a game". Oli Welsh from Eurogamer notes that The Last of Us takes inspiration from many sources, but among the most familiar; The Walking Dead, Half Life 2, 28 Days Later and (again) The Road, only one of them is a game.

What The Last of Us represents, and indeed what it is a large part of, is a new generation of video games. I use the term generation here not to describe the new release of consoles, or the next level of graphics processors, but rather a new era of video games that I believe we are entering now: an era of mature, vivid storytelling. A time in which games will focus increasingly on creating a solid, engaging story for their world. Games have borrowed from film for decades, but what’s changing is just exactly what is borrowed. Dazzling action and absurd, sensationalist ‘Hollywood moments’ will be replaced by sophisticated, character driven development and presentation. I’m sure action will continue to play a huge role, but as with the video above, it will have meaning, have a purpose and won’t be there to simply dazzle and shine.

'The Last of Us': The beginning of a new wave of video game storytelling?

This evolution will not be a seamless or perfect process. Indeed, The Last of Us has moments of frustration and sometimes does fall back on comfortable, tired action game clichés. But these moments can be forgiven, and when The Last of Us slips up it’s not because of laziness, or sloppy game design or because we’ve seen it a thousand times before; no, it’s because it’s trying something new, something great and something truly exciting. For that reason, it can certainly be excused, and I’m sure it will undoubtedly be remembered for years, perhaps even decades, as one of the first games that truly changed how video games tell stories.