10 Times Gameplay Directly Informed The Narrative

So what's the single worst kind of mission in the universe? The one that's universally reviled - and that I got a frankly insane amount of flack for forgetting in another article? That's right: escort missions. So why in the name of hell would Naughty Dog choose to make an entire game one? Well, it's in the title of this article. So that reason.

At the start of The Last Of Us, Joel has lost his daughter and... look you know the plot and I have a word limit.

Joel is, of course, wary of his mission to escort Ellie across the country for a number of reasons. We the player are also resistant to the idea of an escort mission too, but we quickly realise that Ellie can't be harmed - even in PLAIN GODDAMN SIGHT - which eases the tension a hell of a lot. Later on it also becomes apparent that Ellie also isn't utterly useless in a combat situation either - go to hell Ashley - and even further on we grow emotionally attached to Ellie, to the point where many of us forgave Joel sacrificing humanity's future to save her.

All of this beautifully informs the key theme of the entire game: learning to love again, perhaps to a fault.