After slogging through endless virtual gaming worlds, each offering an endless amount of content with no end of sight, in a landscape where hours played seems to be an important metric of value, I stopped and wondered what would have happened if a game studio decided to put in all of their efforts in delivering a focused experience telling a cohesive story regardless of its intended length - the answer is The Last of Us.

Don't get me wrong, with an ever inflating cost of goods and games, it is important that a player feels justified in their purchasing decision, and it is a tall order to ask someone to shell out 60 € for a 9 year old game, but I hope my review convinces you that this game can provide such value if you know what to expect. Besides the main campaign, the game also features a ton of customisation options, challenge modes, and NG+ which might be enough for some players who want a little bit more than just the main story, but I invite you to try and set your prejudice aside and allow a 15 hour game to impress you on the merit of its quality, not quantity.

A lot of people might have found out about this game by hearing about the television show, and while that might be the perfect way to consume the story for you, if you're an experienced gamer, I believe that playing the game and choosing the Survivor difficulty is the definitive way to immerse yourself into the cruel world of The Last of Us. If you are a little scared to press that button, I believe that is a good sign that you are about to have an unforgettable experience.

From the first scene, you will be treated to a visual and aural feast. Each step, bullet sound, or a clicker's groan is delivered in the highest fidelity. Combined with some of the best facial animations, it is easy to forget that you're just playing a game and not watching a show, with transitions smoothly going from cutscene to gameplay. The most jarring tell that I was playing a game was whenever I'd experience any kind of glitch, as it would momentarily remind me that we are playing a simulated world, not a real one. Sadly, I have to report, that the game, in its current state, presented a lot of such moments, and despite a powerful PC, there were many times where it struggled to run it, which felt particularly damning here as the game favours realism over many of its other aspects. There's a certain smoothness that permeates the game, and once the illusion of it is lacerated, a very unpleasant dissonance is introduced.

The realism is also a bit dampened by the game's gratuitous nature, bordering on comical and even superhero-like at times. While there's some gameplay and narrative build-up behind this decision, it felt odd to engage with the more brutal nature of surviving in a zombie apocalypse. Even on Survivor, I still felt too powerful at times, and the times I didn't were an exercise in frustration as I kept replaying the same deterministic challenging scene over and over again until I eventually got lucky or I had figured out a way to take advantage of the game's mechanics. Despite them being fun to engage with, the most miserable time I had with the game was in those moments, when the illusion of reality is shattered and the game becomes more gamefied and reliant on its mechanical difficulty. Since the game oscillates between tense set-pieces and periods of relaxation, it feels hard to empathise with its most tender moments after you've just tried to pass the same obstacle of guards for the 14th time.

Despite these shortcomings, Naughty Dog excels in all other important areas. The world is meticulously detailed with each location feeling distinct. Every setting feels like stepping into a tangible place, marked by a passage of time that is consistent with the game's post-apocalyptic premise. The scattered posters and notes you stumble upon during your journey add character to the meta-narrative, particularly when Joel and Ellie both respond to them from their unique perspectives. Every footprint in the snow and each ray of meticulously placed light is an imprint of the soul that the game's developers poured into these amazing sceneries.

This is further bolstered by allowing the player to interact with the world in many different, logical ways. Often times, I've felt like games unnecessarily limited me to the option it wanted me to take. By a stroke of luck or because of how it was designed, I never felt this way here outside of a few occurrences. Choosing to fight, sneak, or run away all felt like legitimate options that I took advantage of depending on how the situation unfolded in front of me. Deliberating and picking the best one felt rational to me and I never felt like I should have handled it differently than how it played out. I simply did the best I could in any given situation and often, that was enough.

The goal of The Last of Us is to survive, to gather focus and make small steps forward. Each hardship was a reminder of our character's fates. To find the beauty and meaning in an otherwise ruined world. To me, The Last of Us is a game of hope, that no matter how fast the world may turn, there'll always be a moment to slow down and experience bliss. All we have to do is fight for it.