9 Smartest Video Game Decisions (That Still Got People Killed)

8. Using Ellie To Create A Vaccine - The Last Of Us

The Last of Us' Marlene is one of the most sympathetic and relatable "villains" in video game history, given her totally understandable desire to synthesise a vaccine to Cordyceps by any means necessary.

Marlene's goal throughout the game is to gain custody of Ellie so that her immune brain can be experimented upon in the hope of creating a vaccine, but killing Ellie in the process.

Given that it's stated that 60% of the world's population has been killed or infected by Cordyceps, Marlene's willingness to sacrifice a single human life for the sake of billions is completely logical.

Unfortunately experimenting on Ellie wasn't so easy in practise, due to a hot-headed Joel deciding he couldn't continue his journey alone after having previously lost his daughter, instead violently "rescuing" Ellie by murdering any Fireflies who get in his way, including eventually Marlene herself.

Marlene's only misstep, clearly, was not killing Joel the second he showed up, as her fellow Fireflies recommended.

But her plan was completely sound otherwise: sacrificing a single human life to save billions makes all the sense in the world, and Joel threw it all away for his own selfish (if also understandable) ends.