Ah yes, remember back in 2013 when naughty dog blessed us with epic zombie apocalypse escort simulator The Last of Us. Man those were the days, when people were still on the fence of are video games art? And trying to pin every new problem on the latest video game that came out, well actually, they still do that, so strike that.
I say blessed us but I am pc gamer and hate console exclusives with a passion especially those pesky Sony Play Station Exclusives, especially back in 2013, when my strictly Asian parents didn't want me to deviate from studies and therefore never bought me something that essentially was just a time waste machine from their perspective.
So as a person whose only gaming experience was whatever he could sneak away from his parents on his home pc, I didn't play this game.
I did however, hear about its awesome story, and killer(quite literally) ending. And I was like, hmm... downer ending? Not my thing.
So what am I doing writing this article then? Well it's simple, the story of last of us reminds me of another game, A Plague Tale: Innocence, yes, THAT'S RIGHT! I BAITED YOU INTO READING AN ARTICLE ABOUT WHY I THINK THIS GAME SHOULD ALSO GET AN ADAPTATION! HAHAHA!
Seriously though I love the last of us Adaptation, and that's why I want to see this other game I like adapted as well. For those of you who don't know this game might find it confusing, but let me give you a rundown, Spoiler Alert, for A Plague Tale(Innocence and Requiem) and the Last of us(Part I and II), from here on out.
So The Last of Us, (I just noticed the last word is literally U.S., anyways) is a story about a sudden plague that travels through human bites and sends the world into understandable frenzy, the main character is someone who has lost his daughter and longs to fill that void, is tasked with taking a child from one place to another for their safety, the child is special in relation to the disease and can lead to a potential cure. The journey forces the player to fight through hordes of these biting folk and other humans who have taken to murdering and other f*cked up sh*t because man is the real monster etc.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is a story about a sudden Plague that travels through rat bites and sends the world into understandable frenzy, the main character is someone who has never met their brother and longs to fill that gap, is tasked with taking a child from one place to another for their safety, the child is special in relation to the disease and can lead to a potential cure. The journey forces the player to fight through hordes of these biting rodents and other humans who have taken to murdering and other F*cked up Sh*t because man is the real monster etc.
In other words Joel is Amicia, Zombies are Rats, Ellie is Hugo, Fedra is The Inquisition, Now go make an Adaptation.
Okay, I am oversimplifying, for one the kid that the main character is tasked to protect is actually related to the character and not a surrogate, both the characters are kids and Hugo isn't immune unlike Ellie, Hugo is kind of the source of the Plague, okay explaining that is a little complicated but in a sense "curing" Hugo, will stop the Plague, also the world is pretty drab but it isn't post apocalyptic. It's also set in 13 hundreds France, I think, But come on, any one who has played both games will see the similarities right away.
There is another reason that I want to see this adapted, yes I am not just Fanboying. Keeping aside the fact that Amicia De Rune isn't violent at the start, she becomes as such to save her brother, and her weapon of choice is a sling and a rock(I know), there is a point in the second Game when (Seriously, Super Spoilers go play the two games now, or watch a playthrough and then comeback) Amicia is presented with a similar choice as Joel is in the first game, Kill Hugo, stop the Plague or Try in Vain to somehow cure Hugo while trying to kill as few people as possible, well actually strike that, that's the whole story.
The entire two games go over method after method of the possibility of the chance of a cure, every time it looks like they made progress, the actions of humanity wanting to make gains for themselves and control the Plague itself for other nefarious reasons, push Hugo further and further away from any hope.
The game beats you over the head with the message of exactly how much death Hugo's Condition is Causing(yes, like I said, he is linked to the plague, the rats that spread it grow stronger as Hugo gets worse) by the fourth chapter, the Rats become powerful enough to destroy city walls, as they attack in hordes that grow bigger than ever, and honestly the solution was always straightforward and simple from the start, kill Hugo, and the Plague will stop, but obviously, we can't be having that.
Well until the end, when Hugo has had too much of other people's bullshit, and becomes one with the Plague, forming this sort of Tree-Nebula like structure around himself.
There is a large area around it beyond which nothing can be seen, what exactly happens here is up to interpretation, as Lucas(another character from the game) says, all physical laws end here.
In this region Amicia has to fight all manner of weirdness from massive waves of rats(yes you read that right) to self looping spaces, to straight up Aldrich horrors made of rats, and there is literally no way you can win, Hugo's voice literally keeps reminding you over and over, "we tried fighting, we tried the cure, it was all a lie, none of it worked, you have to show them you understand, that you understand how pointless this is" and the solution is to just extinguish the fire that's keeping you safe from the rats as that is the only thing that the rats fear.
And then? Then the game throws you right in front of Hugo who is stuck to this abomination of a tree, and you can't move, you can't leave, there is only one thing you can do, kill him, and the game wont do that for you. You have to press the button.
This, in my opinion is the same scenario from Last of us but turned upside down, if maybe a little too deep into the supernatural, but hey, it made for some great visuals.
My point is, both games have their similarities, enough that the successful adaptation of one justifies looking into an adaptation for the other, but different enough that it will still be a new and interesting avenue to explore, and unlike Naughty Dog, this is developed by Asobo, which is a small indie studio, they could use the extra publicity.
Also unlike Naughty Dog, this game released on PC along with consoles, no exclusion, so you can see why I would like this adaptation better.
So if you are someone who liked the Last of Us Season 1, then imagine that, but everyone is a kid, its set in1300s France, instead of Zombies you have Hordes of Rats that devour you and spread disease and it gets Supernatural every now and then.
But on a serious note though even the games soundtracks sometimes sound similar.
Sorry for this mess of an article I guess, I just wanted to get my thought out there.