The original Last of Us was created as the "opposite" of Resident Evil, Naughty Dog has revealed. When thinking about how to refresh the popular zombie formula back in the day, the creators decided to ground the story in intimate relationships, which proved to be a wise move.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently, studio's creative director Neil Druckmann said he certainly enjoys Resident Evil and all the series' excessive horrors with unparalleled enemy design. But when shaping The Last of Us core pillars and setting, he decided to stir towards a more realistic and grounded appeal within the same genre.
"We wanted to do the opposite of Resident Evil — which I love, but it's so over-the-top and you're fighting giant spiders and it's all about enemy variety," Druckmann explained. "What if it's about intimate relationships — an exploration of the unconditional love a parent feels for their child and the beautiful things that could come out of that and the really horrible things that could come out of that?"
At first, however, the refreshed formula failed to impress some early reviewers, who tried the beta version of the game prior to its release. As Druckmann recalled, there were many questions about why The Last of Us feels so "underwhelming," offering barely any boss fights or exotic weapons for the players like other popular games have at that time. The thing is, that was always the point, and the controversial original vision proved to be a great success upon launch.
While there is obviously much less enemy variety in both TLOU games than perhaps in any single Resident Evil title to date, it's the story and characters that make Naughty Dog's series so meaningful and important to millions of players. Druckmann even said that "there's more story to tell" in this universe, possibly hinting at a potential third installment, — or at the importance of characters and choices in the untitled Factions sequel we'll be hearing more of sometime later in 2023.