The Last of Us developers, HBO creators on building the world around Joel and Ellie

blog.playstation.com:

The Last of Us revolves around the story of Joel and Ellie, but their story is a constantly moving one. From one location to the next, the pair learns how many parts of the United States have weathered the Cordyceps outbreak while coming into contact with survivors and their encampments, from those squatting in the ruins of major cities while others have built up new communities in suburban areas or even out in nature.

The world they, and players, explore can be a cruel and unforgiving one, but also a world filled with beauty and light amidst the struggle for survival. Players are met with two distinct but clear examples of how life has transformed in this post-pandemic world early in the adventure of The Last of Us Part I – the Boston Quarantine Zone and Bill’s Town. The dichotomy of these locations demonstrates the human and natural threats around every corner, as well as the bright spots of humanity struggling to survive in this world. With both locations recently featured on The Last of Us on HBO, as well as recently remade in The Last of Us Part I on PlayStation 5 console and available March 28 on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, let’s dive into what makes these locations so essential to Joel and Ellie’s journey, and how the HBO adaptation tackled Joel and Ellie’s viewpoint of the world around them.

On the note of viewpoint, when playing The Last of Us, despite wherever the adventure takes you or the characters you meet, the team endeavored to tell this story quite specifically.

“We gave ourselves this rule when we were making it, everything is either seen through Joel’s perspective or Ellie’s perspective, and that’s it, because we want you to spend a lot of time with them moving from space to space in real