It's hard to digest news like this, not because I am bewildered and ecstatic, but it's a bit more confusing than that. I really did like the original Last of Us. Great story, though gameplay not so much. The remake will obviously fix that, but that's not what I am mainly here to talk about. It's the foul odor it leaves behind in its awake. Controversies ranging from Twitter mobs defending the game from its "victimized" status to outright expecting people to accept the choices the game developers make.
I mean, this is Naughty Dog we're talking about. They have such a high pedigree for making games, they're now doing remakes of their own games. Isn't that kind of odd? This is obviously a move for them to squeeze out as much money as possible.
It's overreaching when it comes to promoting the franchise, considering that it has a TV series produced by HBO coming on the way, and a new Last of Us stand-alone multiplayer game coming.
Opening Up Old Wounds
I kind of remembered playing this game like it was yesterday, most of my playtime weren't fond memories because of how much I've loathed the game's story and characters. 2 years since it came out, it has so far sold 10 million units. So obvious to see that the game's infamy hasn't stopped it from finding success.
That isn't to say the game had no strengths, it was the result of so much talent and hard labor, both from in-house and outsourced. And the results show, superb visuals and animation at work, which becomes the envy of most AAA games out there. The game pushed the envelope of high production value. Of course, being enjoyable, it also had caveats.
One was the narrative gimmick of making the players feel guilty when you're killing enemies as they'll grunt in pain, whimper, or scream for help. Someone dies, if their colleagues hear them, they come running. Holding enemies at gun point when they beg for their life, soon as you spare them, they'll start attacking you again. There's no variation from that.
Playing for over 20hrs, the pattern seems to become very familiar, and when you thought the game made you feel like you have a choice for everything you do, the deception comes off and gimmicks start to really show its lack of depth. This does nothing but break the immersion it tries so hard to set. You don't even get to choose how to end the game after playing both characters.
All these criticisms have rallied so many liberal parties to defend the game and the choices the writers have made, despite how terribly written it was for video games standards in 2020. The developers and publisher all joined in its "victimization", giving anyone bad labels for looking at the game funny, being a detractor overall. This controversy was widespread at the time, and it put a literal bad taste in my mouth.
Aftermath
Seeing the comparisons online, it was cleared that this remake was going to do things a little different. I mean, going back to playing one of the most iconic characters who get killed later doesn't exactly spark joy now, does it? Now, they're changing the character models, including Tess, all except maybe Joel.
Not only is it a full on remake of a game that was remastered and played by multiple people already, it is exclusive to the PS5, and the release price for the game is 70 USD. Let that sink in, feeling like it's kind of a money grab situation while also setting a bad example for game prices.
But hey, I guess if you have people to use to protect your interests, then I guess there's nothing stopping you. I don't even believe the game is going to sell well either, the trailers received only 250-400K views each.
Then there's the multiplayer, I mean that has been touted for release a long time back. But instead of maybe promising a new IP, something that proves to this day that Naughty Dog can make any kind of cinematic video game of the highest caliber, they're busy milking this series, it's going to be a big franchise now.
What was a great classic and supposed to left alone to be a better example of storytelling, got an unnecessary sequel that was not only forced on us to acknowledge its existence, that game also won awards, including GOTY. TLOU is just a big joke in the end.
I wish game died, and just never come back. Maybe for a long, long time. This feels like Star Wars Rise of Skywalker all over again. And is not just Naughty Dog trying to get away with this, Sony becoming a landmark achievement for exclusive games, now just wants to focus on games that helps them sell way more, while also finding other ways to gauge their audience off.
Naughty Dog is dead, and the rotting carcass it is, now just does nothing but joins internet feud before justifying their game releases. Thanks, Neil Druckmann.