Summary
- The Last of Us series offers a variety of experiences that cater to different types of fans, from stealth gameplay to complex emotional themes.
- The Last of Us is widely regarded as one of the best horror games due to its intense, realistic horror sequences and dark tone.
- Introducing a first-person mode in a potential Last of Us spin-off would heighten the horror experience, forcing players to confront enemies up close and making encounters more terrifying.
The Last of Us series means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. While some fans are happy to enjoy The Last of Us purely for its stealth gameplay and intense set pieces, other fans care more about the complex emotional themes at the series' core, and both parties are absolutely valid. The Last of Us has so many different facets that allow fans to take away whatever experience they want from the series. But while certain themes and elements of The Last of Us can be easily avoided, its strong association with the horror genre can't be.
There have been countless excellent horror games over the last few decades, and The Last of Us and its sequel are widely regarded as some of the best out there. Aiming for true realism, The Last of Us has some of the most viscerally brutal horror sequences in gaming, with a ton of gore and realistic sound design. Paired with its weighty combat and incredibly dark tone, The Last of Us' moment-to-moment gameplay can be truly savage, and a first-person spin-off could take the horror one big step further.
A First-Person Last of Us Spinoff Could Be An All-New Type of Horror
Though it definitely has its downtime and moments of levity, The Last of Us features horror elements from start to finish. The vast majority of each Last of Us game is spent in incredibly intense situations, whether it's sneaking around an environment trying to stealth-takedown human enemies that are actively hunting the player, trying to hide from Clickers, or attempting to desperately flee from Bloaters and Stalkers. All The Last of Us' gameplay encounters are designed to corner the player and evoke a feeling of overwhelming fear.
But while The Last of Us is already pretty terrifying enough, there's one change that could make it even more horrifying, and that's a first-person mode. It's a well-known fact that putting a horror game in first-person makes it objectively scarier. Rather than have a general awareness of their environment, a first-person mode forces players to keep their cone of vision forward, focusing on what threats lie ahead. And rather than have a layer of separation between the player and their character, players are forced to look through their eyes and come face-to-face with the game's enemies.
A great example of this theory in practice is the recent Resident Evil games. While the recent Resident Evil remakes are definitely scary experiences, there's a level of separation there that does lessen the impact of certain moments as players aren't forced to get up close and personal with them. In Resident Evil 7 and Village, however, players are forced into a first-person perspective, and suddenly even moving around a corner becomes a daunting task as players can't readily see what's behind it. Resident Evil Village eventually received a third-person mode and, by all accounts, it's much less scary than experiencing the game's combat encounters in the original first-person format.
A Last of Us first-person spin-off would inherently be the most terrifying entry in the series. An average Clicker encounter would go from something intense and difficult in third-person, to something nigh-on impossible in first-person, with players having to really use their ears and not just their eyes to locate the Clicker and move around them silently. If a Last of Us first-person spin-off wanted to take things to the extreme, then it could even add a VR mode, putting the action directly in the player's face.