The Last of Us HBO trailer (Gaming)

by Cody Miller , Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Monday, September 26, 2022, 12:20 (788 days ago) @ Korny

Games by design lock you into a narrow perspective (games that divert from this usually have the ability to play as multiple characters as the while "gimmick" of the game itself, and rarely is it in a narrative sense*), you are kind of "in the shoes" of a single person, rarely as more than one at a time. With a show, we can get to know characters like Tess, Marlene, Tommy + Maria, and even David. We're already going to get moments between Bill and Frank, which the game had none of (Bill will reportedly be in nine out of the ten episodes, but no telling if this was an accurate report), and I'm eager to see how they can make us care more about the ancillary characters, since outside of the segments with Sam and Henry, TLoU was a fairly lonely affair throughout.

I think they need to be careful, because too much and it goes down the hole of superfluousness that harms the story. Time is rarely what prevents us from knowing or feeling for characters, and honestly I felt and understood them quite well in the game. If they don't tie back into the narrative in a more meaningful way (that is, unless they change it), it can derail the narrative and feel like wheel spinning.

What are they adding to compensate?

Flashbacks! Extended moments with characters we might not have cared much for otherwise! They do have ten episodes to cover, and Craig Mazin did an amazing job at handling an ensemble cast across five episodes with Chernobyl, so I'm pretty eager to see the world outside of the relationship between Joel and Ellie (which is what I wanted in the first place).

Interesting idea. But I can't help but feel that say, flashbacks with Joel and his daughter wouldn't just be unnecessary. We got it 100% from just a brief set of sequences in the game. It could be interesting if handled correctly and focused on appropriate moments.