Narrative
The main theme of the game appears to be survival, and how far one would go to survive. Despite nearly everyone being out to kill you, very few are actually truly evil people: like the protagonists, most of them are survivors like themselves who have forsaken their sense of humanity long ago for the sake of survival, while the rest are unfortunate people who have been taken over by infection and forced to attack anything that moves. What is interesting about this is that if you think about it, Joel and Ellie are not that different from the people they kill. Joel at one point admits that he has killed innocent people in the past, while Ellie, once she gets her hands on a gun, kills numerous enemies herself despite being only fourteen years old. However, what sets Joel and Ellie apart from the people they kill is that they still retain some compassion: despite everything she has witnessed and done, Ellie still remains focused on saving the human race, while Joel gradually regains his humanity through Ellie's influence. This underlying theme of humanity brings to mind the game's title: The Last of Us at first appears to mean 'the last of the human race', but now that I think about it, the title actually means 'the last of humanity'.
Gameplay
The gameplay itself reflects the theme of survival. Instead of the intense combat and exploration of the Uncharted series, also produced by Naughty Dog, the gameplay of The Last of Us focuses more on stealth, with the player either sneaking past enemies or killing them silently, with a shootout only occurring if the player is spotted. Exploration is more focused on scavenging for useful supplies throughout the game, similar to the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider, and said supplies can be used either for upgrading the player character and their weapons, or building items such as medkits and shivs. The gameplay also appears to take after the Silent Hill series, in that along with guns the player is able to wield a variety of melee weapons, from wooden planks to axes.
Final Thoughts
In my personal opinion, The Last of Us is very deserving of the critical acclaim it has received from every review I have ever read. Even though I have yet to complete the game, I have been very impressed with the compelling story and its characters, and the gameplay is very easy to master for beginners, which though I have played dozens of games myself I feel is a big plus in a game's accessibility. Overall I will continue to play The Last of Us, and from there I will have a go at the Uncharted series, which I hear is at its core a modern Indiana Jones. I will definitely be looking forward to that.
