Perspective in the Opening Moments of “The Last of Us” Written by Samuel Gronseth
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here are a few specific moments in The Last of Us that had a particularly powerful impact on most people who played it. One of these, of course, is the very first few minutes of the game. This is mostly due to excellent execution. After all, on its face the opening of the game is fairly standard. It establishes a good relationship between father and daughter, then the outbreak happens, and in the rush to get away safely the daughter is killed, the father is sad, and the scene is set for a story of Joel finding a surrogate daughter in Ellie years later. This isn’t a criticism, just an observation; there’s nothing wrong with doing something standard and doing it well, which this opening certainly does. Nevertheless, it’s easy to dismiss its power years later; the theme of protagonists protecting or avenging a loved one has always been common in this medium, but since the early aughts (home to such classics as The Last of Us and Telltale’s The Walking Dead) the gaming landscape has been saturated with the specific subcategory of self-serious games about sad dads protecting or avenging their children. This means that describing this sequence now, in which a man tries to protect his daughter at the onset of the zombie apocalypse but ultimately fails, may sound stereotypical, if not kind of empty. At the very least, the
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OCTOBER 2020 | LEVEL STORY
basic concept wasn’t very original before games started employing it en masse, and it’s even less so now that they have. Inevitably, early examples of a once-powerful narrative device become less and less impactful as more stories employ them, which tempts one to view this sequence less charitably in hindsight. But not all the impact of this scene is lost to time. The craft behind the game’s opening is still admirable and effective, making it impacting for reasons well beyond the simple surprise or tragedy of the scenario. So let’s take a look and see how it was crafted to be as impactful as it was. The first scene is a standard cutscene, establishing the positive relationship between Joel and his daughter Sarah, as well as the watch she gives him as a gift (which will serve as a permanent reminder of her death and a symbol of Joel’s brokenness throughout the game). But then the game does something subtle, but rather inspired; the next morning Sarah wakes up to a distressed phone call from her uncle Tommy, and the game gives us control of her. Sarah is not the protagonist of the game; she won’t even survive to the title screen. But the game starts the player out in her shoes. The reason why will be clear in a bit. The player’s first task is to explore the house. Technically, all they need to do is go downstairs toward
