Without veering into the territory of spoilers, you may remember Ellie mentioning a friend called Riley, a street tough aspiring member of the Fireflies with whom she shared a good few yucks. Thankfully, we have been gifted that desired return ticket in the form of Left Behind, a slight yet deeply engrossing piece of DLC which sheds further light on Ellie’s backstory while filling in a few gaps from the main campaign.
To see them move from a begrudging co-dependency to a genuine affection was a truly moving thing, even when surrounded by all the head-splitting violence and human cruelty.Īs bleak and inhospitable as that world was, most gamers would give their right arm to a family of hillbilly cannibals to return there. However, the characters of Joel and Ellie, ragged survivors in an increasingly desperate situation, were so well drawn, both literally and metaphorically, that their journey together is a powerfully memorable one. The idea of a post-apocalyptic world run amok with infected crazies certainly is not new, though the inclusion of a rage inducing cordyceps fungus was a welcome addition. The idea of the lowly videogame being able to cause a person to weep is epitomized by The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog, Multiformat), last year’s masterpiece of storytelling and full tilt gameplay. If you know what it means to either save or “harvest” a Little Sister in the Bioshock series, or have made it to the denouement of The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, you should know just how emotive this medium, however artificial, can be.
But can a videogame be moving? Can it jerk tears or pluck heartstrings? The answer, of course, is a resounding, hollering from the rooftops “yes”. Addictive… well, as anyone who has spent three hours straight rotating tetriminos into position will attest, that would be putting it mildly. By Ross Thompson 0 The Last Of Us: Left Behind (Sony, PS3)Ĭan a videogame be emotional? Exciting, yes.
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