Welcome to the review of The Last Of Us: Left Behind. The original game was released in 2014 as downloadable content for the Last Of Us. In the same year, it was included in the Last Of Us Remastered with improved graphics at 1080p instead of 720p and a higher 60fps frame rate.
Before continuing any further, keep in mind this contains spoilers for the original Last Of Us game as you’re expected to complete that game before playing this.
Plot
There are two places the game takes place in, both in the past after completing the Last of Us. One part of the game takes place after Joel suffers his deadly injury and Ellie is forced to protect him and find medical supplies in a mall.
The other part takes place before Joel and Ellie meet. This part of the past focuses on Ellie while she’s still in her military school and her friend Riley meets her after a long absence. Riley was briefly mentioned in The Last Of Us as the last friend Ellie spent time with before getting bit and meeting Joel.
The mall parts focus more on independent gameplay and fighting enemies. The part in the past with Riley focuses more on the gamer getting a better understanding of Ellie’s character.
The combat parts in the mall were great and still includes letters from non-existent characters just like in the original Last Of Us game. These letters give a better insight into people’s struggle dealing with a chaotic world.
The parts in the past with Riley are slower paced but I found them more interesting. That’s because this part of the game focuses on greater character understanding of Ellie and how she interacted with a friend. After all, she’s a young teenager growing a post-apocalyptic world, so seeing her fascinated with mall lights, arcade games, costumes and more, it makes the gamer sympathetic to her and shows how many of us take the simplest things for granted.
Characters
Left behind focuses on two characters Ellie, and Riley.
Left Behind shows two contrasts to Ellie’s character. The part in the mall is what we’re familiar with. She’s a strong female lead with a tough determination to save Joel; fight enemies independently and still remain calm despite all her obstacles. Ellie further in the past with Riley, hasn’t seen real combat. In fact she’s rather reluctant to be too rebellious to her school’s rules. It’s fascinating to see Ellie with Riley and how she’s still rather innocent and behaves well, like a kid should. Seeing how much Ellie has grown after meeting Joel is one of the most fascinating parts of this game.
Riley is a great character. She’s more adventurous than Ellie in the past. She isn’t shy to enjoy life and break the rules. She knows there’s more to life than just being locked up in a military school and following rules. She’s also a kid and just wants to have fun. This is understandable as coming by simple items like watching a movie in this world is even tough. One of the best parts of Riley is how much of a friend she is to Ellie. It helps to show a softer side of Ellie, since in the Last Of Us, she’s unfortunately forced into many combat situations.
Game Play and Upgrade System
The combat system is pretty much the same as The Last Of Us. Ellie isn’t as tough as Joel, so you’ll have to be rather clever when fighting enemies. Of course, you can go straight into fighting enemies, but that’ll make things incredibly difficult and sometimes impossible. Your best bet is to do things subtly.
One of the main changes is that you can have enemies fight one another. Giving any more details might slightly spoil things so I’ll leave it at that, I’ll just say that this is a very welcomed addition to combat and something that happens more frequently in The Last Of Us Part II.
Unlike the Last of Us, this game doesn’t have a skill tree for you to upgrade. What you get in your surroundings and from enemies is all you have to use.
Because Ellie is limited with the number of skills and weapons that can be used, combat is tough. You’ll need to plan how to fight enemies and it’s very likely she’ll get killed and you’ll have to restart from a checkpoint. Of course, you can play on an easier difficulty.
In sequences with Riley, game play breaks regular combat mechanics and introduces more lighthearted items and game play. I won’t go into further detail as it would contain spoilers.
As mentioned earlier, this game was released as a downloadable content for the original The Last Of Us and was later bundled with the Remastered version, so not surprisingly this is a short game. It took me about 2 hours to complete.
Environment & Graphics
Whether the game takes place when Ellie finds supplies to help Joel or further into the past with Riley, both settings take place in a mall. Just like the original Last Of Us, the environment is a bit linear so you’ll follow a predefined path.
When fighting enemies, some areas are compact, so you’re forced into direct combat. Other areas allow you to manoeuvre around areas and take enemies out quietly.
Just like the Last of Us Remastered, it’s hard to believe this game was released in 2014. Even by today’s standards, the graphics and animation are incredible.
Details to the environment and characters are spectacular. Just like I mentioned in my review of The Last Of Us Remastered, one of the most important things is facial animations and Left Behind keeps that same great standard.
Sound
Left Behind retains the same strong soundtrack from The Last Of Us. Just like the original game, the soundtrack stops at just the right times and helps set an unsettling tone.
Aside from the soundtrack, one of the most important things about the game is the voice acting. Just like The Last Of Us, Left Behind knows that voice acting is pivotal to making the characters seem more realistic.
Ashley Johnson returns to voice Ellie and does a superb job once again. While side characters are scarce, Yaani Kang does excellent work to voice Riley. Riley’s performance is so well done along with the superb script that within this short game, you feel the deep bond between Ellie and Riley’s strong friendship.
Infected enemies once again sound great and are fantastic at creating an ominous environment for the gamer. Human enemies don’t have many lines but there are enough of them so that each of their voices sound unique and the same voices aren’t being reused.
Conclusion
The original price of $15 when it first released was a bit expensive for such a short game. But now that it’s included in The Last Of Us Remastered, there’s just about nothing to complain about.
There’s a great balance between a calmer setting with Ellie and Riley and then a more combat based setting with Ellie trying to help Joel. It doesn’t feel rushed, but surprisingly natural transition between the two settings.
In its very short game play, the most standout item is Ellie’s and Riley’s relationship. It’s amazing how the developers, creative team and actors helped show the strong bond between the two characters in such a short amount of time.
This is a must play content if you’ve completed The Last Of Us.
Score:
10/10
Pros:
-Great story
-Graphics
-Voice acting
-Control layout
-Combat mechanics
-Sound effects and soundtrack
-Tough enemies
-Suspenseful
-Riley relationship
-Smooth gameplay
Cons:
-None
