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Has The Last of Us Set a New Standard for Video Game Adaptations?

The Last of Us TV series has raised the standard and if more creators follow through, then the history of patchy video game adaptations will come to an end

Shelly Green - Mon, 27 Mar 2023 13:56:44 +0100 1851 Views
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The Last of Us is a 2013 video game that was developed by Naughty Dog and then became a TV adaptation in 2023. With a budget exceeding that of Game of Thrones, the creators of this post-apocalyptic drama surely aimed to start a new era of video game adaptations. 


When there’s an upcoming book or video game adaptation, we all become worried that its creators won’t live up to what we’ve read or experienced while playing. The Last of Us has given us hope that small and careless mistakes can be eliminated. 


If you haven’t watched the TV series with fear they’ll ruin the video game for you, then maybe we can give you reasons to reconsider.


How The Last of Us TV Series Came About


The Last of Us TV series is inspired by the video game that was released by Naughty Dog in 2013. A decade later, season one of this video game was released on HBO and it has been the talk of the town since. It has gained millions of views in the US alone through word of mouth.


What makes it stand out from other video game adaptations is that it took the video game setting and storyline seriously. It focuses more on the complex scenarios of the characters and less on the zombies. 


The closeness of the two main characters, an emotionally scarred father and his daughter, seems to resonate and relate to many. As a result, the TV series has been able to attract the younger generation who’re into video games.


Reasons It Has Set A New Standard for Video Game Adaptations

 

There are a couple of reasons The Last of Us didn’t join the patchy history of video game adaptations. Below we explore some of these reasons, from the source material to the picking of characters. Upcoming video game adaptations can learn from the following:


Why Gamble With A Critically Acclaimed Story


Creators of video game adaptations have a tendency not to trust the story told in the game. They make a couple of changes that sometimes contradict the original storyline. Besides, when we’ve played a video game and love every part of it including the background story, why change it?


It’s like finding a good online casino where you can play the best casino games, partake in hefty bonuses and use convenient payment options. If it doesn’t give you a reason to leave, then why change it? 


This is the one thing The Last of Us TV series creators didn’t make a mistake on. They used the critically acclaimed story as is. This has made the TV version maintain the success of the video game. The same great story remains great.


Improve Where Needed


Though staying faithful to the original storyline and depiction of characters, the video game and TV series world can never be the same. TV series audiences need more engagement while video games are all about the action.


This is the reason The Last of Us creators engage us in the first two episodes of the series by going deeper into the stories of Sara, Bill, and Frank before the outbreak. This way, you get to understand more of their reasoning and influence on the way they make decisions.


Character Matching Actors


Book and video game adaptations become tricky when it comes to choosing the right actors. With books, readers are already imagining the kind of person each character is and expect to find someone as close to them as possible on the TV show. 


With games, the actors are already there with avatars, names, and voices attached to them. All that’s needed when converting to a TV show is that the actors to step into the shoes of the game characters and not try to change them. 


That’s what Pedro Pascal and Nick Offerman have done for us in The Last of Us TV show. They’re well-known actors but were able to put their egos aside and use their acting skills to depict the game’s characters as we loved them.


Our Conclusion


The Last of Us TV series has changed the way video game adaptations are made. It has raised the standard and if more creators follow through, then the history of patchy video game adaptations has come to an end.


It took its directors to respect and be faithful to the work already done by the game creators. Ensuring that the great story players came across on PlayStation is maintained on the TV screen, has kept millions of its audience happy. 


They continue to stay loyal to the franchise also because of the improvement of certain scenes and adding more content where needed so that the story makes sense and is more relatable. Also, nothing keeps one glued to the screen like believable actors who fit exceedingly well into character shoes.

 

 

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