Ok, so Naughty Dog released Left Behind, a downloadable level to the critically acclaimed The Last of Us yesterday. So, seeing as The Last of Us is one of the best games that I have ever played, I (or rather, my Valentine ^3^) bought this pack. The level is combination flashback to Ellie's early days, and filling in some holes from the main campaign. Needless to say, this review will contain spoilers so if you haven't played the main game or plan on buying the DLC, don't read this blog. I don't care if you have nothing better to do, there is a lot to say about Left Behind and all of it is spoilers to the main game as well to the DLC.
The Last of Us was my game of the year for 2013 and you can read my blog about it here http://psykoticgamer.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/game-of-year-naughty-dogs-last-of-us.html. In this blog I pretty much said that Naughty Dog's latest offering was tits on toast and absolutely worth a play. "Fluid and immersive", "an artform" and "a psykotic recommendation from me". So having such fond memories of this beautiful game, I didn't know what Left Behind would do for me. As only a 2 hour level add on for a 17 hour game, would there be enough game time to be as epic as the original? Well, no, there's not. Instead we're offered a closer, personal look at Ellie and what it means to be immune to a disease that has killed everyone you ever loved, as well as a further look at the gameplay ideas Naughty Dog had for it's game. And oh boy, does it deliver. The closest game I could compare this pack to is Valve's Portal. Portal is a suberbly crafted two hour experience, just like Left Behind is.
Well, the best place to start is the beginning. In the original game, player-character Joel is severely injured and it is up to Ellie to patch him up. Then the game skips forward to an almost recovered Joel. What happened during those months? Left Behind explains: Ellie takes Joel into a shopping mall to hide and then sets out looking for medical supplies that could save his life. While this main storyline unfolds, Ellie flashes back to a memory that was hinted at in the main storyline. In The Last of Us, Ellie tells the story of how she and her friend were bitten only for her friend to die and for her to survive. This DLC takes a closer look at the survival guilt of Ellie and how that story unfolded. We are introduced to this friend; Riley. Having disapeared weeks before, Ellie is relieved and pissed off at her friend who then takes her into a shopping mall to make it up to her.
So that's the bare minimum story. What about those refined gameplay mechanics? Well, look at any mechanic from the main game: the brick-throwing, enemy encounters, even the dialogue scenes have been spruced up. Sure, they're basically the same, but the studio has taken these ideas further. The car destroying competition, encounters with both infected and survivors at the same time, and being given a book or magic 8-Ball that you can interact with as many times as you like is super fresh. Specifically those dialougue options, even though the main game nailed it, the introduction of more player choice gives more player agency. Rather than watching two people have a conversation, this style lends itself more to support the fact that these are two friends hanging out.
Even the collectable artifacts are more thoughtful. Rather than just finding random letters between random people, each letter found is from the same person and the more letters you find the more you can discover about the horrible events that led these people to their end. And again, these collectables support the themes of survival against insurmountable odds and survivor guilt. The letters spell out the sacrifices that were made that ultimately led to Ellie finding the medical supplies she needed to save Joel. Naughty Dog hits it out of the park again.
However, my favourtie part of the game is when Ellie and Riley stumble upon an arcade. This scene is truly Naughty Dog at it's finest. Leave it to these guys to define Quick-Time Events in such a clear yet emotional affecting way. And the introduction of the new weapons for this pack: Water guns. The fights between Ellie and Riley are just as intense as the fight between Ellie and David in the original game. There are so many amazing things to say about this pack, but really this is a game that needs to played.
If you own The Last of Us you owe it to yourself to get this DLC. It's just... wow. Thanks for reading!
