20 Essential Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

8. The Last Of Us

A landmark game in many ways, The Last of Us broke new ground in terms of character development, story, subtext, visual design, sound and, perhaps most importantly, its depiction of female and LGBT characters.

Set in a post-apolocylptic America, the game charges the player with safely escorting a young girl through the wasteland, dodging and fighting off some zombie-like residents and otherwise unfriendly people along the way. Unlike other undead-shoot-em-ups, the last of us make the protagonists feel inherently vulnerable throughout the game and saw death as a last resort in most situations.

At the heart of the game's brilliance though is the relationships of the characters, and a new emphasis in games that prioritise the story at their heart over the action in your hands owes a lot to the brilliance of The Last of Us.