With the impending release of The Last of Us Part II, it seems like a good time to reflect on the original. For example, now would be a good time to replay it. On either platform, it stills holds up and isn’t too terribly long. With not much else releasing, again, now is the perfect opportunity.
What about those that already did that? What other secrets does this game have hiding beneath it? Suffice it to say as their last PS3 game, Naughty Dog had some lofty ideals for the original release. That is to say there is a lot of cut content and some of that can be seen through concept art. Let’s piece through their discarded work and see what what secrets these drawings can reveal.
10 Tess Goes Rogue
Tess was originally planned to be a pursuing villain. There would have been a moment, like in the real game, where soldiers discover Ellie has been bit. In this alternate take Joel goes crazy, kills them all, and leaves Tess behind.
Tess then chases after them with a final confrontation ending with Ellie taking her first human life. This revelation was broken by Game Informer but the link for their story is broken so here is IGN’s coverage of it instead.
9 X/X The Last Woman
That title is a play off of the comic, Y The Last Man wherein an apocalypse happens and only one man is left in the world. Well, as it was divulged in this interview on The Verge, the original concept for The Last of Us was called Mankind.
The Cordyceps only infected women and Ellie was still the only immune one. This was changed due to feelings of misogyny being brought up at Naughty Dog.
8 The Last Of Dog
Ellie and Joel at one time had a dog. It is not known if this dog would have been a constant companion, or if it would function like the wolf in Resident Evil 4. For those unaware, if one rescued a wolf in the beginning of the game, it would then return to help Leon later.
Based on a few pieces of artwork the dog could have been a German Shepard, something that looked like a hunting hound, or what looks like a husky, or wolf.
7 The Zebra
The Giraffe scene is one of the most memorable sequences in the game. The Last of Us was not devoid of animals by any means. There were dogs, deer, horses, and even monkeys at the college.
Coming up on a herd of tall-necked giraffes was a different feeling altogether though. Based on this artwork, it seems like there were plans to add more escaped zoo animals like this Zebra.
6 Kumbaya
As it was previously mentioned, finding those giraffes was a high point. Ellie and Joel didn’t have too many chill moments together. They talked as they explored like Ellie telling jokes from her book, but there weren’t many quiet, sit down moments.
This scene depicting them around a campfire could have been an opening up moment for the two of them. As it stands, their revelations came through actions which might be more valuable in producing a touching story.
5 Cannibal City
This piece of art is labeled as “Cannibal City Art.” Based on that title one could assume this was David’s town, but that can’t be it as it looks nothing their snowy placement in the game. This might reveal two things.
One, the original idea was to have the duo encounter David and his cannibals not in winter. Two, this is a different location altogether. It also might suggest the cannibals could have played a bigger role in the game.
4 Flower Monster
Besides the random survivors they encounter, the Cordyceps are the other big villains of The Last of Us. There are only three types in the game: Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters.
This artwork reveals one of many scrapped concept pieces of other possible versions. This flower beast looks like something out of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
3 Cordyceps With Weapons
There are two scrapped ideas in this artwork. One, there is an infected human holding a piece of rebar meaning they might have been given weapons.
Two, the other Cordycep is fused with at least one other infected body. It actually looks similar to the flower monster as that thing looked like maybe four bodies fused together. Maybe this was an early form of it.
2 Character Changes
As is the case with many games, the characters went through many changes. Some art shows Joel as a slightly younger man and his daughter looked smaller as well.
Ellie, on the other hand, looked older by comparison besides looking like a different girl. Some pieces of art also depict her with a baseball bat suggesting that might have been her weapon of choice.
1 Attack On Tommy
There are multiple pieces showcasing Tommy’s settlement inside the walls. In the game, players only get to see it from a distance and instead interact with the dam.
However, based on this artwork, there might have been a scene where Joel and Ellie help stop an infected outbreak Within said walls. Also in the picture are another set of scrapped, hulking looking Cordyceps.