The Last of Us is a third-person survival horror action-adventure video game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released on June 14, 2013 and August 1, 2014, exclusively on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles, respectively. Set in the post-apocalyptic United States, the story tells of survivors Joel and Ellie as they work together to survive their westward journey across what remains of the country to find a possible cure for the modern fungal plague that has nearly decimated the entire human race.
The game contains many mature elements that may appear to be inappropriate for children. The Entertainment Software Rating Board describes the game:
| “ | From a third-person perspective, players traverse through city ruins and use a variety of weapons (e.g., pistols, rifles, explosives, spiked bats, steel pipes, and blades) and melee attacks to fight off infected mutants and other human survivors. Players can also employ stealth kills (e.g., strangulations, pistol executions, stabbing attacks) and engage in extended combat sequences involving close-up camera angles and on-screen prompts. Screams of pain, realistic gunfire, and blood-splatter effects accompany the combat. Several attacks result in decapitations and dismemberment; body parts are depicted in some areas (e.g., chopping blocks). Cutscenes also depict intense acts of violence: a young character dying in a man's arms from gunshot wounds; adult characters being executed at point-blank range; an enemy getting interrogated and stabbed in the knee. During the course of the game, a character makes sexual remarks about an adult magazine (e.g., 'Whoa. How the hell would he even walk around with that thing' and 'Oh why are these [pages] all stuck together'). The words 'f**k,' 'sh*t,' and 'a*shole' can be heard in the dialogue.
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General Information | |
| Title: | The Last of Us, including an expansion/downloadable content titled The Last of Us: Left Behind, a comic book series titled The Last of Us: American Dreams, and an upcoming film titled The Last of Us. |
| Publisher: | Naughty Dog, Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Description: | The Last of Us is a third-person survival horror action-adventure video game that is set in the post-apocalyptic United States. The story tells of a ruthless survivor in his late 40s, Joel, and a 14-year-old girl, Ellie, as they work together to survive their westward journey across what remains of the country to find a possible cure for the modern fungal plague that has nearly decimated the entire human race. |
| Similar Games: | Uncharted series, Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain, I Am Alive, Batman: Arkham series |
| Genre(s): | The Last of Us is a third-person action-adventure video game that contains elements of survival horror. |
| Playthrough Length: | The single player story mode of The Last of Us will average a complete playthough of roughly 15 hours, and potentially more or less depending on how the player plays the game; if they try to collect available collectibles, or the difficulty setting they are playing on. The downloadable expansion Left Behind averages roughly 2:30 to 3 hours. The multiplayer portion, Factions, can be played for an indefinite amount of play time with no fixed ending, but is able to achieve a maximum rank progress and unlockable items. |
| Difficulty: | The Last of Us has fairly complicated controls that require the player to memorize numerous context sensitive button commands. The game has a total of four available in-game difficulty settings to choose from at the beginning of the game, and one setting as downloadable content:
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| Security Concerns: | The Last of Us features purchasable digital content that is paid for via the credit card on the PlayStation Network account attached to the game, or via prepaid PSN/PS+ cards. The online multiplayer mode, Factions, may rarely be exposed to potential hackers and modded sessions. |
Multiplayer Information | |
| Online Multiplayer: | Factions MP is a free online multiplayer mode for The Last of Us, with the exclusion of the PlayStation 4 version which requires an actively paid PlayStation Plus account. |
| Local Multiplayer: | There is no local multiplayer in The Last of Us. |
| Voice Chat: | Voice chat is available while playing Factions MP. Voice chat is defaulted to be on when the game starts, meaning the player can hear the other players as soon as they connect. Other players can be muted from within the game. |
| Connectivity Structure: | Factions MP requires an active internet connection to play, and in the case of the PlayStation 4 version, an actively paid PlayStation Plus account. |
| Age of Community: | The average age of the multiplayer community may vary, but can range between a teenager and an adult, most of which are males. |
| Community Attitude: | Attitude and discussions may vary among the community, but a majority results in mature, competitive attitude. Coarse language are more than likely to occur and topics discussed may be inappropriate for children. |
Gameplay Information | |
| ESRB Rating: |  Mature 17+
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| PEGI Rating: |  18
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| ACB Rating: |  R18+
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| Content Labels: | Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language |
Content Information | |
| Violence: | The game features heavy interactive violence, blood, and gore, such as as scenes depicting children's deaths, adult characters being executed by gunshots, and interrogative violence. |
| Language: | Coarse language is frequently heard in the game, including "f**k", "sh*t", "bitch", "as*hole", and other language that players may find offensive. |
| Sexual Themes and Nudity: | A scene during the game contains sexual remarks about an adult magazine, such as "Whoa. How the hell would he even walk around with that thing?" referring to a penis, and "Oh, why are these [pages] all stuck together?" |
| Drugs and Alcohol: | At the beginning of the game, a young character jokingly remarks that she sells drugs. |
| Crude Humor or Comic Mischief: | None |
Cost Information | |
| Subscription: | Factions MP on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 require no subscription fee, but in the case of a PlayStation 4, the user needs to be the owner of an actively paid PlayStation Plus account. |
| In-game Purchases: | The downloadable expansion, Left Behind, is only available through digital purchase. The multiplayer portion of the game predominately focuses on paid digital transactions, including the optional purchasing of cosmetic items such as clothing and head items, weapons, playable maps, taunts, and similar items, a lot of which is available through bundles or packs. |
| Gambling Elements: | There are no elements of gambling in the game. |