Celebrating gaming anniversaries is an important part of gaming culture for various reasons. Not the least is that when you hit a milestone of time after a game’s launch, you can easily look back at the time in between and see what its legacy is for better and for worse. Today is a very special day as it’s the 10th anniversary of the release of The Last of Us. Yes, we know the game has had many releases over the years, but we’re talking about the original launch on the PS3, which would change the face of gaming in many ways.
The team at Naughty Dog had already proven their gaming acumen via multiple franchises in the past. But with The Last of Us, Creative Director Neil Druckmann put everything he had into an idea that he had been building for years and was able to work with the Naughty Dog crew to make something special. It’s not an exaggeration to say that many people still feel that this game has the best video game story of all time.
The story of Joel and Ellie and their journey across an infected world still makes people emotional, and the final sequence, where Joel does everything to save Ellie, even though it dooms the world, is one of the best video game debates out there. Was Joel right to do what he did? Or was he being selfish and just trying not to lose another person he loves? To this day, people still talk about it.
Its legacy is compounded by those re-releases that we talked about earlier. The game got ported to the PS4 for a remaster that made the game look even better. Then, Naughty Dog decided to go for broke and basically remake the game visually so that it could take on the power of the PS5 and PC at their peaks, and the results were a visually stunning experience. Albeit one with plenty of bugs on PC, that’s another topic entirely.
But we’d be remiss in talking about the game without talking about the TV adaptation it got. HBO brought it to life alongside Neil Druckmann and was able to make not only a faithful adaptation but breathed even more beauty and life into the mix. The show is undoubtedly an Emmy contender, and many are eager to see the second season.
So while it may not feel like ten years since the game came out, its legacy has already been well secured.
