Today, Sony and Naughty Dog showed off the first gameplay for their upcoming survival action game, The Last of Us. The demo played out after the cutscene Naughty Dog released this morning. It was a short look at the cross-country journey of middle-aged Joel and teenage Ellie in a decimated world some 20 years in the future, but it gave us a solid idea of what we can expect. And I'm expecting really good things after seeing this.

The Last of Us (PlayStation 3)
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release: Fall 2012

With this being an early look, not all of the game's systems are in place right now. Naughty Dog says that we can expect gameplay focused on paralleling the player's emotions with those being felt by Joel and Ellie. They're trying to a create a reality where players will feel the same tension, instilling in them the survival instinct that the characters will rely on.

Even at this early stage, The Last of Us is gorgeous. A city overgrown with vines and weeds is as lush as you'd expect from the makers of Uncharted. They've beefed up the lighting, building on Uncharted's already stellar engine to include more ambient sources and softer lighting, making the world feel richer and more realistic. I saw gorgeous afternoon sunlight shimmer through windows in the ruined town, with just enough light bouncing off the floors to illuminate rooms in a world where electricity is no longer available.

The music of The Last of Us will also be approached from a different angle, a different context. In the demonstration, we only heard one song from Joel's truck, a country tune about how the world will end.

The game's focus on survival will bring about AI that goes beyond standard enemy fodder. Naughty Dog says that they want each enemy to feel real, and have realistic animations to match. Even in this short demo we could see that each encounter Joel and Ellie had to work through felt unique, with each attacker having their own behavior. The game's balance-of-power system will have enemies reacting appropriately to how Joel and Ellie are armed. A group encounter would have enemies behaving differently from a lone attacker, for example, and a gun in hand will see an attacker react in a much different way than a brick might.

The demo starts out with Joel and Ellie riding in a truck on a highway, heading into piles of abandoned cars with busted windows. Joel contemplates turning back, but decides to press on. A disheveled man in a hoodie calls out for help, but Joel ignores him, telling Ellie that "he ain't even hurt." Joel suddenly runs him over with the truck, but quickly finds that other attackers have come out of the buildings of the abandoned city, throwing bricks and rocks at his vehicle.

A few of the attackers push a bus down a hill, plowing it directly into Joel's truck. After the crash, ambushers pull Ellie and Joel out of the truck and begin beating them up. Joel fights back and acquires a gun, at which point the cutscene transitions seamlessly into a gunfight. That ends quickly as Joel runs out of ammo, defending himself behind the counter of an abandoned store. Ellie saves the bullet-less Joel after he tries to fire a shot (click!) by calling an attacker to distract him ("Hey, fuckface!") and then throwing a brick at his head. Joel takes his opportunity to jump out and punch the attacker, narrowly escaping.

Joel and Ellie continue to fight their way out of abandoned buildings, hiding from these organized attackers, taking each of them out individually in very brutal, cinematic fights. All of the encounters seem to use tools found around the environment, like bricks, boards, and spare ammo, and all of them appear to be quite the struggle. They're violent, with face bashing, glass slashing, and forceful fistfights. And between bouts, Joel and Ellie work to find supplies that will help them survive another battle.

Eventually, Ellie finds a way out of the area through a garage door. The building itself looks to be a temporary home for squatters, which the two call "hunters." They loot the building for supplies as they make their way to the roof of the building, moving past several rotting bodies. "I knew I should have turned the damned truck around," Joel mumbles as they leave.

The serious tone and high tension of the stage break for a brief moment when Joel scolds Ellie for moving too far ahead of him. He warns her to stay behind and keep her voice down, but she responds by saying "OK!" in a voice that seems to mock Joel's gruff, scratchy tone.

A glimpse of backstory is revealed when Ellie asks Joel how he knew about the ambush. He tells her that he has been on both sides of the situation. Later, Ellie asks Joel how many innocent people he has killed in the past. He brushes her off, replying, "Just search the place."

The two make their way out into the open, moving past a permanent traffic jam of cars, each filled with dead people.

Ellie: "What happened here? Hunters do this?"

"My money is on the military," says Joel. "Can't let everyone in. Sacrifice the few to save the many."

Ellie: "That's kind of shitty."

All of the cars seem to have been pointed in the same direction, headed toward a gate labeled Military Security Zone Checkpoint. Looks like they never made it. Hopefully Joel and Ellie will.

---------------

After seeing this, I hope Naughty Dog fans are not expecting anything like Uncharted, as this is completely different. Forget platforming and rock climbing to pretty locales so that you can shoot enemies from a distance. This is violent, close-quarters combat in a tense world where you're forced to creep around to survive. This game may be just as beautiful as Uncharted, but you'll be too busy striving to survive to stop and enjoy the scenery. That said, it's already clear that we can count on more of Naughty Dog's impeccable storytelling and deep characters.

I was already quite excited for Naughty Dog's take on survival action, but after seeing this first gameplay demo, I'm practically vibrating with anticipation. They promise a brand-new look at the game at next month's E3, so stay tuned.

Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)

Themuad

Tho i wonder, will the characters be as unlikable as in uncharted?

tylerstravis

Now officially my most anticipated game! Also, thanks for no yorkis.

I Was A Cactus

My interest is definitely piqued. Though I'm sad to say that there's a split second every time I see that girl, there's a split second where I think of AMY. Leagues of difference there (hopefully), but I can't get that association out of my head.

I Was A Cactus

Yay for sentence structure. I rule.

WFMS

Wow. Just saw the new cinematic they released. I'm quite interested in the game now. Any clue on a release date?

SoundsLike

"Forget platforming and rock climbing to pretty locales so that you can shoot enemies from a distance. This is violent, close quarters combat in a tense world where you're forced to creep around to survive. "

mix

You just got me all excited Dale!

I am pumped for this game, go Naughty Dog!

CoruptAI125

Can't wait to (presumably) see this in action at E3!

Bammy J

I am excite... now if only I had a PS3 :(

ATBro

I love all the Xbot rage aimed at this game.

pedrovay2003

I'm so fucking excited for this. After Uncharted, I'm excited for anything Naughty Dog is involved with.

tekbunny

i am wet.

Primo

this is a definitely a day one purchase, take my money ND

BrowneyeWinkin

Sounds like this game may be a better tribute to survival horror than RE6.

Drakengard

Dat post apocalyptic Pittsburgh! Cannot wait.

AceFlibble

As long as it doesn't turn into too much of an escort mission, I'm sold already. Don't give two shits about Uncharted, but Enslaved delighted me with the whole bright, overgrown city look, and more of that with almost any kind of gameplay interests me.

Paul Stone

I'd pretty much trust Naughty Dog with any kind of game by this point. So keen to see more of TLOU; ND's blend of game play and storytelling is right up my alley.

Kyle MacGregor

Between this and I Am Alive, I'm pretty happy.

Humpty Dance

Buy both systems and STFU

Johnny Justice

So why exactly are people so eager for the next generation of consoles? I can see how things can be more detailed, but Naughty Dog and the like are still making impressive, awe-inspiring visuals with the current tech.

Artemus

Beyond excite!
Also, she does look like Amy! Oh, no. =/

Tremula Metacarpi

Can't wait!

Stigmeyer

I just want to see how many similarities there turn out to be between this and the Walking Dead (story, not game). I know it will look gorgeous and I know the action will be brilliant o I am thinking this will

Stigmeyer

...be an all-around great game. Jesus the lack of editing makes this look bad for me. :-\

KingSigy

As long as the difficulty is much harder than Uncharted, then I can forsee a clear winner. Otherwise, it's going to become as boring and cliched as Uncharted 3 was.

Scaryjim

This looks good but it NEEDS to be open world surely? If it's not it's illogical, I can't believe in a post apocalyptic future earth where I can only travel down one route.

LloydBraun

If that is actual in-game graphics...then wow. I think Quantic Dream just got some serious competition for lifelike human animation. Then again, I haven't seen this game in motion yet. It's easy to say the game looks good in a screenshot. Quite another thing to say it looks realistic in motion.

PhilKenSebben

Oh man this sounds sweet. Looks like something else besides Dishonored to look forward to during the last few months of the year.

Zepinephrine

@Themuad
You don't like Elena Fisher? 'Cause I'm in love with that gal.

EKGProd

Sounds incredible, although I wish they would stop taking super high resolution shots of their games to give to sites like Destructoid in an attempt to try and pass it off as real in-game shots. The game won't run at that high of a resolution, we all know it, and I wish devs would stop thinking we're all idiots.

Noir

My excitement for the game died down after not hearing about it for awhile, but not it's back stronger than ever. With Bioshock Infinite delayed, The Last of Us basically rules Q3 2012 for me. Can't wait for it, reminds me of The Walking Dead.

Jinx 01

@EKGProd:
Yeah, the bullshots get ridiculous. And they make me sad because that's what the game would look like on PC lol.

Zepinephrine

@Jinx
That doesn't make you sad... it gives you a chance to gloat. LOL GRAFIX PC RULZ!!! Is that what you meant to have said?

Vacuum Boogie

"You'll be too busy striving to survive to stop and enjoy the scenery", - okay, I heavily doubt that. Depends on what you mean by "survival". Did you mean watching a movie character "striving to survive" while guiding him through linear environments and watching scripted events occur every now and then? Because this is what it's going to be, essentially.

I'm pretty sure of that, because judging by Naughty Dog's design principles, they're not going to give player a sense of survival through gameplay mechanics. They've got actors, cut-scenes and voice acting to do that. You just have to relax, sit back and watch the story progress from point A to point B. You sit in a canoe that swims down the steep mountain river passing through checkpoints in case you'll smash into a rock. It may be an exciting ride, in terms of visuals, but so what? You can go and watch many adventure movies that a) require less amount of time to watch, b) have better dialogue and story and acting and photography, c) don't make you feel like you're on a leash and being constantly cheated.

That's how they design their games. There is a chance that with The Last Of Us they'll change some of their approaches to things, but abandoning their philosophy is not worth it for them because it's a risky move, but more importantly, they've got their creation process nailed down and they feel comfortable working that way.

In short, I'm not interested at all and I see nothing there to be excited about.

Vacuum Boogie

That looks like I just shat on Naughty Dog, I didn't mean to.
They're great at what they do, of course.

TXYeti

"That said, it's already clear that we can count on more of Naughty Dog's ... deep characters." Right, everyone certainly thinks of character depth when they think of Uncharted. LOLZ!

able to think

I hope it's good but I don't really trust Naughty Dog as much as everyone else does. They made one great game and a bunch of decent games. This will probably be good but after Uncharted 3 I now see that Naughty Dog couldn't capture the magic twice. Uncharted 2 was amazing but Uncharted 3 was Uncharted 2 with a worse story, worse characterization and worse level design. The only thing that was better were the graphics but good graphics don't make a good game.

I think as a developer Naughty Dog gets more credit then they deserve.

sofik88

"That said, it's already clear that we can count on more of Naughty Dog's impeccable storytelling and deep characters."
that was a sarcasm, right?
i would be interested if it was made by Ninja Theory as they did an incredible game no one played, Enslaved. sadly, it's made by Naughty Dog so i can expect 6-8 hour long ultra linear and scripted bore-fest where they will rip-off every single setpiece and cliche storyline from all good post-apocalyptic movies and games. plus i can bet that this game will be just another roller coaster - "look, but don't touch" just as Uncharted games were which immediately means that i will either pass on it or just wait for it to be 5$.

chiptoon

I find the girl a bit creepy. Its like they wanted her to be vulnerable, so they gave her the features of a 5 year old, but they wanted her to be able to run around and be sort of physically competant, so she's the size of a 10 year old. They also wanted her to be able to communicate emotions in a non-childish way so all her expressions are more like a 15 year old.


=creepy

Panzadolphin56

Definitely more interested after reading this, hope to see some gameplay soon!

EnricoThe Bulgarian WolfMezzatesta

do i get to run in a straight line for 8 hours and hide behind convenient chest hight walls

if so

PASS

Tin Man

One more reason I'm kicking myself for investing in a 360 =[.

It took a few years, and not to start a console fight, but I think the ps3 is finally the better option than a 360.

Megakrang

This game is going to smash my emotion with awesomesauce.

CalmGiant

It's you fuckets didn't even bother to read the article.

This is nothing like Uncharted. Nothing. It's a brand new IP with a brand new direction. Hell, the Uncharted team has nothing to do with this game, it's a brand new team!

Please, do your goddamb research, Christ. And I don't even own a PS3

AdamantiumHip

sooooooo kirby....you are so ''not interested'' you clicked on the article, read the article, and then wrote a mini novel about the game?

Yeah, ok. cool story bro!

Courtney Roberts

@ Kirby mcDope:
Uncharted was their only game that did that. The jak series was pretty sandbox based after the first one, and even the first one had some interesting non linear stuff. The way uncharted was built was a design decision, not the way naughty dog work. So considering that this is a new franchise, i'd give it the benefit of the doubt wouldnt you?

@Chiptoon:
Shes based on ellen page by all accounts (atleast thats what i've heard):


shes 25 !

Tristan77

Can't wait for E3!

Tristan77

Can't wait for E3! I want to know more about this game, it is looking very very good. Another good exclusive for the PS3.

fetusmilk

i came to read the article but i stayed waiting for a sofik88 comment. sadly he disappointed me again. not enough hate in his comment this time.

but this is sounding like what i am alive could be as a full disc release. i just hope the climbing(if there is any) to be more stressful. i never felt like i was in trouble while climbing in uncharted. no stamina etc made it to easy.

fetusmilk

also the actress playing Ellie is like 30. they couldnt find an actual child teenager to play the real kid? i mean come on.