The Last of Us Download
The enemy combatant peers out from behind the wall they are hiding behind. They collapse to the ground dead after one shot. They too are quickly eliminated as their companions rush to attack or flee. Within minutes, a room was covered in a dozen dead bodies that had once been alive. Several dozen, if not hundreds, of video games, feature this scenario. And it's enjoyable in almost all of them.
Of course, art need not be enjoyable to be worthwhile. The Leftovers, Requiem for a Dream, and American Psycho are just a few examples of deeply unpleasant but still lauded literary, television, and film works. The same idea holds true for video games, but there are complications due to the nature of the medium.
A movie only needs to keep the audience's interest for a few hours, but video games may need to keep the player hooked for dozens of hours. Additionally, whereas plays and tangible art can be viewed passively, games require active participation.
Video games have long toyed with the idea of putting enjoyment aside in order to disturb players. Although Heart of Darkness was retold in Spec Ops: The Line, the gameplay is identical to that of shooters that take great pleasure in their bloodshed. The superficial startling that occurs in horror games like Resident Evil and Outlast is used to guide players toward the next thrill. Few video games actually make an effort to make the player feel bad, and even fewer do so successfully. The Last of Us, especially The Last of Us Part 2.
has done it better than any other game series, so it is absolutely possible.Any narrative-driven work of media needs to have writing that cannot be questioned if it wants to keep an audience interested while making them uncomfortable. It goes without saying that The Last of Us excels in that area. Naughty Dog has been praised for the story they created for almost a decade now, And the tale of Joel and Ellie, which Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, respectively, told in some of their best professional performances, really makes an impact. Both games open with a murdered victim who was helpless and either a child or a beloved character. The brutality of the violence is never avoided in either scene, which establishes the tone for the entire game. This holds true throughout the narrative, in which a number of identifiable characters are killed, maimed, and subjected to torture. While there are brief instances of humor and lightheartedness, the setting of Last of Us is overwhelmingly depressing.
The Last of Us stands out in terms of making its audience cringe because of what occurs in between the cutscenes. Given that the original game was released in 2013 on the PlayStation 3, a notoriously challenging platform for game development, it did a commendable job. Anyone who has played the game can recall the first time Joel had his throat torn out by a Clicker, one of the more dangerous varieties of the Not Zombies infected with the fungus that caused the pandemic. Additionally, one of the most horrifying deaths in video games was when the mini-boss Bloater tore Joel's face open with his jaws. The most important thing, though, is what we do to other people, just like in all great zombie fiction.
The graphic fidelity provided by the PlayStation 3 (and later the upscaling provided by the PlayStation 4 when the game was released on that console in 2014) allowed The Last of Us to depict the brutality Joel inflicts on the human body. On enemies hit by headshots, exit wounds gape open, leaving their lifeless eyes staring blankly. The shotgun in the game, which is given early in the narrative, has enough strength to rip off limbs at close range. Being so cruel to the human body, which is both lovely and delicate, is deeply unsettling.
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Players in The Last of Us Part 2, which was exclusively created for the PlayStation 4 and makes use of years of graphical and technological advancement, feel even worse about their actions. Ellie exhibits even more ruthlessness than Joel in her hand-to-hand kills, which are shown in breathtaking, nauseating detail. The same gory ethos is present throughout. The narrative in Part 2, which is a meditation on getting revenge at all costs, is much darker than Part 1 alone, and the level of violence depicted corresponds. However, Part 2 uses more than just the level of violence or the depiction to confront the player; it also shows the immediate results of that violence.
Because of advancements in the game's AI, enemies—who, it should be emphasized, are other people who presumably have rich inner lives similar to those of the protagonists—react to your actions. Kill someone in front of their squadmate? As their friend falls, said teammate will sob in fear and grief. With that shotgun, take someone's leg off? They will writhe and scream in agony as they scramble to get away from you. Dogs were added to the game in Part 2, and when their owners are killed, they react with the same deep sorrow that anyone who has lost a pet can feel.
The gameplay in both games compels the player to consider the characters' morality. Is Joel a decent man? Ellie or Abby, are they bad people? The distinctions between them are purposefully blurred, but their shared history of violence is portrayed as something that should be used against them all. Any of their choices might be justified in a vacuum, but morality doesn't exist in a vacuum. It doesn't lessen the monstrosity of their actions, and by extension, the players, that their violence was a matter of life or death for them. Violence in The Last of Us never feels good because it isn't.
Particularly in Part 2, the game's unsettling gameplay is a crucial component of the message it wants to get across. A completely unsatisfying cycle, revenge is a cycle. Nobody ever recovers from what they've lost due to violence; instead, they only end up with blood on their hands. Ellie has numerous opportunities to go back, to let go of her suffering, and to start to recover. She makes the decision to use more violence each time, and Part 2 makes it abundantly clear that she is wrong. The gameplay demonstrates to the player how incorrect she is with each body that is injured and each life that is taken.
The gameplay of The Last of Us Part 1, a remake of 2014 original that boasts truly breathtaking graphics, could have benefited from the inclusion of more of these additional AI reactions from Part 2. The gore is now more viscerally realistic thanks to graphics and physics updates, but Joel's actions might have been given more weight if his fellow enemies' frantic, agonized interactions were present. It would be interesting to contextualize Joel's ending in Part 2 after playing as him using the updated gameplay, even though it was probably always going to be debatable. By his own admission, Joel has committed despicable acts, and perhaps understanding the full scope of all the lives lost and suffering caused by his actions would have added to the comprehension of the events leading up to the start of Part 2.
The Last of Us franchise's two games don't shy away from the most heinous, abhorrent facets of human nature. Furthermore, even while playing, they immerse the player in every moment. Their artistic vision and execution are a testament to their ability to do it so well and maintain their level of acclaim.
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2 年@hi