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Long before The Last of Us was the generational achievement in video game storytelling that it is today, there was an internal struggle at developer Naughty Dog to ensure it wasn't "just another zombie game."
The Last of Us firmly establishes itself as a story-led adventure with extreme emotional stakes in its opening scene, potentially the most devastating 20 minutes in the entire medium. And while the survival horror gameplay is expertly interwoven between story beats and morally gray character moments, there's no doubt that Joel and Ellie's relationship as surrogate father and daughter takes center stage. But apparently, that wasn't a guarantee during the early stages of development.
"I remember during The Last of Us, we had this internal fight where we had to tell the team 'it's not just another zombie game. It's going to have heart, emotion, and character. That's what this thing's all about,'" game director Bruce Straley tells GamesRadar+ at GDC 2026, adding that the development team actually built out cutscenes to convince the higher ups at Naughty Dog of the game's emotionality.
"We were trying to fight internal, almost pitch internally, 'no, it's gonna be cool, it's gonna be different.' So we did these little story vignettes - there were different scenarios where you see Joel and Ellie expressing emotion," says Straley. "In this case, Joel just told a joke over the campfire while they're chilling out. And these were the things that started being really exciting - we felt like we could shape out an emotive, emotional arc for these characters."
Of course, 13 years, a GOTY sequel, and an award-winning HBO TV adaptation later, it's hard to imagine a Last of Us without a deep story and emotionally complex characters. We might've gotten something like that had The Last of Us 2 Factions ever come to light, but Naughty Dog has long since abandoned its live-service aspirations and committed to "story-driven, character-based games" as we await Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the studio's upcoming Cowboy Bebop-inspired space adventure.
