The Last Of Us Episode 1 Review - 9 Ups & 1 Down
9. Up - Unflinching Faithfulness To The Video Game
The question on everybody's lips when The Last of Us was announced was how faithful the show would remain to its source material.
While the apocalyptic epic presents a uniquely immersive story, a degree of artistic license has to be taken with every live-action adaptation - particularly when one considers that the bulk of the gaming experience is spent alternating between sneaking through the wasteland and beating various antagonists to death.
Accordingly, HBO's unerring faithfulness to the original was legitimately jarring - in the best way possible - as several shots and snippets of dialogue from the game were replicated in their entirety across the course of the episode.
In addition to the instantly recognizable iconic score, another sign of the show's inherent quality was how engrossing these events remained for viewers who are intimately familiar with how events of the episode unfold.
It was reassuring to note that despite a few minor tweaks to the narrative - including an intriguing hint at Joel's struggles with addiction - the show does not veer away or alter any integral aspect of Naughty Dog's opening. It is hard to conceive how Druckmann and Mazin could have produced an adaptation more faithful to the original; they truly have kept their word to fans.