The Last of Us: Video game adaptation done right
By James Burkhalter
The Last of Us - cutscene screenshot by Flickr
“The Last of Us,” a video game originally released worldwide on June 14, 2013, has recently seen a revival on screen with the HBO show “The Last of Us.” “The Last of Us” video game was heavily anticipated when it was announced in 2011 and became one of the best and fastest-selling video games in 2013. Due to its immersive storytelling, complex characters and immersive graphics for its time, it has widely been known as one of the best single-player story games ever released. When HBO announced that it would be adapted as a television series, many year-long fans worried because other franchises have not set a good precedent.
Video game adaptations have been a major hit or miss in the gaming and film communities. For every “Halo” tv show, which was widely disliked, there is also “Arcane,” — a show with a much smaller fan base that was received extremely well by the public. Fans of “The Last of Us” watched the show with a large amount of skepticism but have seemed pretty pleased by the quality of this adaptation thus far.
“The show offers exactly what fans have loudly demanded: an adaptation that feels faithful to the source material in look, sound and vibes,” said Gene Park of the Washington Post.
The creators of “The Last of Us” cared deeply for the original game. The work and care put into it, the environment created specifically for the story and the careful dialogue between characters makes this evident. The team made every decision purposefully. There are scenes from the show that are line for line from the game and visuals that are frame for frame from cutscenes— the same amount of effort and love put into the game made apparent in the series. This show saw that it wasn’t broke, so it didn’t fix it. In most adaptations, it is normal to follow the original plot as a loose thread that the writers can pull if they ever get lost, but the writers of “The Last of Us” took the loose thread and wove it into a project that they could still call their own.
“The show builds upon the game’s story...one shudders to think how great this show could be down the line,” says Bernard Boo of denofgeek.com.
This quote only talks about the third episode of the series, which goes to show how well-received this show truly is. All three episodes released so far have an hour to an hour and a half runtime, which lets them develop complete stories in the confines of a singular episode — something that many fans have noted as an aspect they enjoy. Although this show strays a little from the game, it still has roots in the many beloved parts of the original game. The game itself also stuck to an almost episodic formula, which is obviously portrayed in the show. However, at the same time, it allows itself not to be a carbon copy while still honoring the storyline that started it all. This series has much more story to tell and has shown that it can tell it. Give it a shot. DON’T BE THE LAST OF US TO WATCH IT!