Ten Ton Hammer Video of the Day

Even Joel didn't see this one coming.

Let me start with a disclaimer: If you haven’t already played the fantastic story that is The Last of Us on the PlayStation 3, turn back now and go play it. It's an experience worthy of a spoiler-free playthrough. That said, there will be some spoilers beyond this point.

I don't hide the fact that I love of horror games, particularly "good" zombie horror games. And I've played many in my long history of gaming, but few of that rather long list of games has managed to both create a tense atmosphere and a story as engrossing as The Last of Us. The Last of Us is a fantastic tale with one of the most engaging and gut-wrenching opening sequences I’ve had the pleasure to experience. And after that, things get ugly as you’re thrust into a post-apocalyptic world where the vicious zombie-like infected are often less dangerous than your fellow surviving humans.

You meet many characters on your yeat-long journey through The Last of Us, including a character named David, who is voiced by Nolan North. This chance encounter leads to one of the more intense parts of the game, thanks in no small part to North's excellent voice work. Without going too deep into the story spoiler details, today’s video will make more sense to you if you’ve actually finished the game, right down to its amazing conclusion.

The story of Joel and Ellie as crafted by Neil Druckmann is perhaps one of the best that gaming has ever managed to produce and, in my opinion, is nothing short of a work of art. It's a testament to why trusting that focus testing for an appeal to the mass audience rather than an original vision can often mean the difference between another generic and forgettable game as opposed to something truly special and memorable, something the Naughty Dog team had the good sense to realize.

The ending to The Last of Us is solid and rather final, something that few games in this diluted market packed full of sequels can say. Like it or not, it was that. But the story could have ended very differently and that’s what today’s video is all about. In it you will see one of the alternate takes of The Last of Us ending, which includes first pass cinematics and the full performance from the actors in motion capture gear. Enjoy!

I would also like to give big props to the actors for keeping it together through that scene when the people behind them on set hardly could.

Have you played The Last of Us? Tell us what you thought about the game and story below. The first DLC for The Last of Us will be announced later today.


If you've got a video you'd love to see featured as our Video of the Day, drop me a link at martuk[AT]tentonhammer.com. You can also tweet me @TTHTuk on Twitter.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Stacy "Martuk" Jones was a long-time news editor and community manager for many of our previous game sites, such as Age of Conan. Stacy has since moved on to become a masked super hero, battling demons in another dimension.

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