There are no shortage of zombie games out there — but outstanding ones have come out in the last year. At first glance, aside from the zombies, these games might seem like they don’t have much in common. The Walking Dead is an adventure game about moral choices! The Last of Us is a cinematic survival horror game! Apples to oranges, right?
Not exactly. Comparing the two reveals some huge differences, sure, but also some illuminates some fascinating things about the games and storytelling in general.
Might as well shoot this in the head while we’re here, no? Let’s dig in.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE LAST OF US AND THE WALKING DEAD AWAIT AHEAD.
THE “HERO”
The Last of Us: Joel is a man with a past. The start of the game has him watching his baby girl die in his arms. Something like that changes a man — and while the prologue characterises him as kind of on the stern and distant side, it’s nothing compared to how hardened he seems after the outbreak. Granted, the world seems to necessitate it: it’s the sentimental and the weak at heart that die. Joel wants to survive. “Survival,” of course, doesn’t explain some of the more unsavory parts of his past that the game hints at — but nobody said Joel was a good guy. Not in the traditional sense of the word, anyway.
The Walking Dead: Lee was on his way to jail for murder at the start of the first episode, but “luck” would have it that the outbreak happened instead. While he escapes the prison cell, he gets thrust into a new type of hell — one where the demons are zombies and humans alike. That reality means Lee has to make choices, lots of choices. Those choices have consequences; people in your group live and die depending on what Lee does.
Edge: The Last of Us. While both games feature men who aren’t quite “heroes,” Lee is mostly a stand-in for the player. You get to dictate what kind of Lee emerges from the cop car — but whatever you choose isn’t nearly as interesting as Joel’s characterization. That’s because Joel is deeply, deeply flawed. You get to see Joel grow as you play, but the ending is still a good example of how selfish Joel can be. Maybe you don’t agree with the decision — but it still seems like something a real person would do. Not a hero, not a video game character. A flawed, but real person. I can appreciate that.
THE GIRL
The Last of Us: Ellie is a curious teen, and not just because she’s somehow immune to the spores that turn everyone into zombies. Sure, she’s tough and savagely stab a man in the neck if he get too close — heck, when the game lets you play as Ellie, you can’t help but wish the entire game was from her viewpoint. But there’s a spark to her, too; a certain liveliness that stands out in TLOU’s bleak world. More importantly, she brings out a more humane Joel.
The Walking Dead: Clementine is just a kid. She wants to see her parents, she puts bugs in boy’s beds — you know, that sort of thing. You have to protect her and teach her how to survive in a world that’s too dark for such a precious soul. Typically, that sort of responsibility is a burden. Not here though. Clem becomes an anchor for Lee; a light that brings joy and warmth to a player’s heart.
EDGE: Toss-up. Both Clem and Ellie are wonderful characters that are brought to life by fantastic voice acting. They’ll make you laugh. They’ll met your heart. They might even make you cry. The daddening of games has never been more heartfelt. Now if only we could get some games starring characters like these — zombie games, nay, games in general could use characters like these outside of the supporting cast. That is, if the games are really serious about exploring the question of what our children will inherit after the world goes to shit!
THE ZOMBIES
The Last of Us: A pedant might say that the things that attack you in TLOU aren’t “really” zombies. Technically, they’re fungus-people that have had Cordyceps take over their body. It’s entirely possible that the ‘real person’ is still in there, but who knows? What’s for certain is that you have to deal with a handful of different zombie-like enemies which can eff you up if you’re not careful. To get infected, you must either breathe in spores, or the fungus has to enter your body somehow — likely a bite or a scratch.
The Walking Dead: As far as I can tell, The Walking Dead has your run of the mill undead; slow but deadly. That’s how it was in the comics and in the show, that’s how it is in the game. As for what caused the outbreak — it’s a mystery! Just know that turning happens no matter how you die, as the infection is in the air.
EDGE: The Last of Us. Not only are the zombies (kind of) novel here, they’re genuinely terrifying. You can thank the game’s emphasis on scarcity, along with a few zombie types that can one-shot you if you’re not careful. The zombies in The Walking Dead, meanwhile, are mostly catalysts for gruelling moral situations. You’re never scared of them inasmuch as you are scared of the situations they cause.
THE ACTION
The Last of Us: Combat is brutal, mirroring the climate of the world itself…but only if you get in close. Savvy players need to learn how to navigate areas without being seen, otherwise they risk using up too many resources to survive. This is true regardless of whether you face zombies or humans, although they react in different ways. Humans will try to sniff you out depending on your last known location, and they don’t give up until they find you. Zombies are deadlier and can appear when you least expect them. Either way, encounters are full of tension and anxiety, sometimes getting bad enough that you’ll run away rather than take enemies head-on.
The Walking Dead: Although you’ll have to defend yourself against zombies via QTEs and sometimes even cumbersome shooting sequences, most of the action in the game consists of simple puzzles and difficult moral choices. Will you cut a guy’s leg off to try to save him? Whom do you feed? Whom do you save? What do you say to other people? Sometimes, these choices happen so fast that they hardly feel like choices — which is not to say they won’t weigh on your mind well after you’re done playing.
EDGE: Toss-up. The games are wildly different in how they approach the action, ultimately giving us two potent, fresh takes on zombie games. Kind of crazy to think that could be true, but it is! Now, if a game could combine the action of The Last of Us with the moral choices of The Walking Dead — now that could be the ultimate zombie game.
THE SURVIVORS
The Last of Us: While things are far from normal 20 years after the outbreak, there are still many survivors. Most of the ones we see are in closed-off quarantine zones that are governed by the military, although seedier groups run rampant. It’s implied that the military has a force worth fearing, although in some cities, that wasn’t enough to fend zombies back. There are also the Fireflies, which are an anti-government militia who are still looking for a cure. Finally, you have outlier groups — some are opportunistic hunters, and some — like Joel’s brother — simply choose to live in their own separate communities. Although Joel initially lives in a quarantine zone, it’s clear that he mostly keeps to himself and prefers to be alone.
The Walking Dead: Groups are scattered about — families, bandits and couples — making most of the world in The Walking Dead seems fragmented. If there’s a body of government, you don’t come across it. Few outside your group seem to be doing well, with some communities resulting to cannibalism, stealing, and in some cases, inhumane edicts meant to ensure survival. The pack that travels with you all have their own needs and wants, often requiring Lee to diffuse tough situations and make impossible choices.
EDGE: The Walking Dead. While the survivors in The Walking Dead are a hot mess, the factions in The Last of Us seemed like excuses to give the player enemies that weren’t zombies. It’s noble that the Fireflies are still looking for a cure, though you don’t learn enough about them to be invested in their cause. You don’t see much of the military either. The Walking Dead, meanwhile, puts the survivors at the front and centre — it’s not really a game about zombies. It’s a game about people; people cause conflict and drive the game forward.
THE ENDING
The Last of Us: After the outbreak, Joel focused on survival at all costs. Thing is, there’s a difference between survival and living — but it took losing nearly everything for Joel to embrace life. This meant that after the sacrifices Tess made, and after all the ordeals he went through just to get Ellie to the fireflies, he chose to be selfish. He chose not to give Ellie up for a stash of guns and the mere possibility that a cure might be found for a world. And can you blame him, really? He’s angry at the world and what it’s taken away from him. Why would he choose to give something back to it? Couple that with the calculated decision to make you play as Ellie for that final bit, and….oof.
It’s not surprising that Ellie goes along with it, either. I mean…she must’ve known, eh?
The Walking Dead: It’s not obvious until the end, but the point of the entire game was for Lee to teach Clem how to survive. That’s why he teaches her how to shoot. That’s why they cut her hair. Survival, a lesson that continued up until Lee’s final moments. We might never know what it’s like to turn into a zombie, but having to watch Clem deal with losing Lee — potentially even shooting Lee — is painful enough.
EDGE: Toss-up. If both of these endings didn’t punch you in the gut, I don’t know what to say! The Walking Dead is more of a tragic story, since the central idea behind the series could be said to be “it never ends.” Heavy stuff. The Last of Us is more of a literary game, opting for an ending with complicated character motivations. Both leave you wondering what comes next — but hopefully the developers keep that a mystery. It’s better that way, even if it’s not as satisfying.
There you have it: two rather different games that, hey, maybe aren’t that different after all. If you’ve kept count, it’s nearly neck and neck — The Last of Us at 5, and The Walking Dead at 4 (these are including the toss-ups, though). I wouldn’t say The Last of Us “wins,” however, because really should should play both of the games. They’re both excellent, albeit for different reasons.
I’m curious, though: What do you think of these two games’ similarities and differences? Share your own comparisons in the comments.
Comments
32 responses to “The Last Of Us Vs. The Walking Dead: The Comparison We Had To Make”
I don’ t think either game ‘wins’ honestly. I think both games present us with genius, harrowing situations and magnificently developed characters. Neither game is better than the other, The Walking Dead is a slow burn, a slowly developing character piece like a fine meal you savour over time, The Last of Us, is the same meal but digested at a faster rate at a more focused pace. Both are fantastic, both have the same sustenance and both are just great. You’ll have a magnificent experience either way you go and you won’t truly miss out with either one.
The action in Last of Us is the very thing putting me off playing. If the shooting is anything like Uncharted I am just too crap to play…even on easy 🙁
The shooting in THE LAST OF US is actually quite splendid. It’s very well done and feels very ‘heavy’. Uncharted felt ‘too light’. By ‘heavy’ I mean that it feels like it actually has impact and effect, when you hit someone there’s actual kick etc. It’s definitely well done.
My problem is not whether or not they did the shooting well, my problem is I’m a terrible aim. I can deal with Mass Effect because if you sit behind a crate nobody sneaks around behind you and shoots you in the back.
I got to a point, very early, in Uncharted where guys where coming from all sides and took me down.
After about ten retries I gave up because I wasn’t having fun and the game would only get harder.
It’s not the games problem, it’s mine, I except that and move on.
The Last of Us has a great ability, Joel has the ability to ‘hear’ everyone. Hold down R2 and you get a ‘radar’ vision that lets you ‘see’ everyone through walls, its Joels ability as a hunter. It really helps in combat a *lot*. Shooting is pretty forgiving, Shotguns have a wide spread, pistols have a decent forgiving zone and machineguns near the end do too, it’s well balanced. I would suggest honestly renting it overnight then or downloading the demo and seeing what you think first.
I’ll borrow it from @gutsoup when he’s done.
Maybe I’ll finally give back his copy of God of War III I’ve had for …years?
I was mega-keen to begin with, almost pre-ordered.
Listening mode is a visual representation of what the characters can hear. It is like when the artist in a comic shows wavy lines when spiderman is using his spidey sense so the reader knows he is geting a precognitivie warning. Everyone in the game uses it, it’s not a special ability used by Joel because he was a hunter. We still use the mechanic when we control Ellie. It only works when people are moving or making noise that is why it barely works against David when he is more cautious.
Really? You’re going to drag up a 3 month old post and get pissy about the fact he can listen like that?
you really do need to try it, i think a lot of it is people’s approach to it, personally i found shooting was always my last option, i guess i’ll spoilerise this cause people might get annoyed safe for @jimu no plot will be mentioned, just combat related stuff
there are a couple of “forced shooting” bits, but you get so much at your disposal you don’t have to, you can run away, once line of sight is broken the enemies all go back to looking around for you and sneaking becomes viable again, or you can do one of my favourites and hurl smoke bombs at everyone and while they’re bewildered run in and bludgeon them to death, you get bombs you can lay as traps, bricks/bottles to either throw as a distraction or just throw at dudes to stun em and run in for melee, also i don’t know why people are complaining about the stealth, I hate stealth usually but had a great time, the stealth stuff makes sense, people complained that you could sneak right past certain enemies, they’re blind that’s the point, they have exceptional hearing but no vision, another point people complained about was enemies suddenly knowing exactly where they were, I think they don’t realise that anything you bump into makes noise and alerts them you have to be aware of what’s around you, I dunno, I really enjoyed it and wasn’t frustrated by combat at all, if i ever had trouble I’d take a different approach. Found the whole thing to be a pleasure start to finish (I’m at 97% so almost finished) good acting, great animation, solid plot, enjoyable combat (contrary to popular belief). Shit that got outta hand, congrats if you make it to the end of thisI’m glad someone else has found the game nothing but pleasant, the shooting really is solid especially after you upgrade weapon sway. I’m actually already thinking about a second playthrough, which doesn’t happen often.
If you play it right, you can pretty much stealth through the whole game, either taking the enemies down silently or just avoiding them all together.
I’m terrible at stealth too. D:
oh no! I’m pretty terrible at these things too, but if a game’s story pulls me in, I persevere. It helps that I’m quite patient (I don’t think I’ve gotten past any combat bits without dying at least once). The combat bits tend to have options though as Dire Wolf pointed out, so I see it as a bit of problem solving. Or I get someone else to do it if I get stuck (like my 9 year old nephew, much to his mum’s chagrin).
^this guy gets it 😀
I’m the worst at stealth and I’m doing great in this,
There are definitely parts of the game that you have to fight through like times where you’re locked in a room waiting for someone to open it etc and there are definitely parts where you have to kill everyone before moving on since Joel will only tell Ellie and Tess it’s safe to come down when all targets are dispatched. There are many parts that can be tackled stealthily but not all of the game’s chapters.
The combat is somewhat similar to uncharted, although it controls much heavier… I would say its probably HARDER to aim and shoot in this game, however a lot of the time it is a lot less fast-paced, and if you really struggled with the shooting, there is always a stealth option.
I would DEFINITELY suggest playing it, as the story itself is incredible, and the stealth options are definitely viable enough that ‘bad aim’ shouldn’t be a reason not to play!
They’re both great games with compelling characters and narrative. I think The Last of Us would be my prefered of the two; I enjoyed its ending a lot more and gameplay wise it’s more the sort of game I’m into.
Also, Joel could probably kick the ass of every single character in The Walking Dead. Not that that really means anything, but that man is scaringly badass.
Oh I dunno, I think Clem would cute Joel into submission then blow his brains out lol
I was disappointed to see 3 of these 6 “categories” turn out as a draw. I understand they are very similar games, but why compare the two if you’re not going to make bold, opinionated decisions that can start debates?
And it’s all just a re-hash of “Children of Men” mixed with “The Road” mixed with “I am Legend”….
But according to the gaming community “OMG a MASTERPIECE never seen before!!! 111111”
Those things you mentioned…are not games.
The way I see it is that if it’s engaging and done well, I’ll forgive it some lack of originality. Although, the Cordyceps thing was pretty good.
And Citizen Kane is about a guy and his sled. Only an idiot would dumb everything down for himself. There’s this thing about people like you; through your arrogance and futile attempt at wit, we’ve all discovered that you’re actually just really stupid. You’re that guy who complains about things he doesn’t understand. It’s a pity. Had you just asked, someone probably would have explained to you what “story” actually is.
Narrative is narrative. Stop being such a fanboy and accept that it’s been done before both in gameplay and story. It has cherrypicked. Doesn’t make it a bad game at all, just not the second coming of Jesus Christ.
I’m sorry I made you cry.
Except the game never claimed originality, my friend, as a matter fact, it
s near impossible to make a totally original product and even if the slim chance arises and an original product is created, then it would be based on an old idea...the people said they drew inspirations from these stories. heck, the entire premise is a the most overdone one on the planet..."OMAGODZZ ZOMBIES" The game is being hailed as a masterpiece, because of its griping narrative and story telling..the game has a typical concept of simple stealth, combat and shooting mechanics. nothing elaborate, but its fun…its nothing new, but it does most of everything right...its not perfect, but it`s one of the best games I ever played…This is so true, everything is a derivative of a derivative.
Once you realise this and move past it, it’s easier to just enjoy things for what they are.
I beg to differ. The game still has an original take on the apocalyptic theme. Fungai has not been explored before as an apolyptic threat and it was handled in the game in a way that showed that such a thing could really happen if fungai evolved that way. Although the game was inspired by films like i am legend,the road etc it was still a fresh gaming experience since there isn’t anything quite like it in the gaming industry. The game probably deserves more credit than you are giving it.
The game still has an original take on the apocalyptic theme. Fungai has not been explored before as an apolyptic threat and it was handled in the game in a way that showed that such a thing could really happen if fungai evolved that way. Although the game was inspired by films like i am legend,the road etc it was still a fresh gaming experience since there isn’t anything quite like it in the gaming industry. The game probably deserves more credit than you are giving it.
The Walking Dead looks retarded in comparison if you ask me, at the very least in terms of art direction..
Pretty big call there.
They went with cel-shading to give it a comic book feel.
Actually the Fireflys are pro-government and anti martial law. I remember reading a note somewhere stating they fight for a return of all forms of government. Also – great article and an interesting read.
The Last of US is a long, grueling, arduous action game. Walking Dead is a long, tedious, boring, point & click then slowly walk until something which pretends to be harrowing and tense but is in actuality very very dull happens Adventure game.
Take your pick.