The Last of Us - The game that made me its needy bitch. PART I

I have been meaning to write this post for some time now. However, I Just couldn't figure out how to form the words that would successfully portray my feelings towards this game. I still am not entirely sure how this post will turn out, but i'm hoping the words will just materialise in front of me. Somehow.

At the time of writing this, it has been well over two weeks since I placed that Playstation pad back on the floor, turned off my console and sat back to consider what I had just experienced. Yes, experienced, because that is the key word. The Last of Us is an experience, and one that I can safely say is unlike any other.
  I think we can all safely agree, that the post-apocalyptic genre or setting, environment (whatever you want to call it) has become a mainstay in the video games, literature and movies of today. It's been around a long time, but it feels more and more predominant as time goes on. I guess the longer humanity lasts, the greater the fear is it might just all end... or at least come very close.

Personally I have a fascination with the notion of the end of the world, or shall we say the end of the world as WE know it. So The Last of Us was always going to be a game I couldn't ever... EVER avoid playing. This was inevitable. And honestly after months of anticipation I literally couldn't imagine a scenario in which I played this game and thought, what the F*** was that pile of balls!? No, that wasn't going to happen, and it didn't. Far from it.

Joel is a man that gave up the moral high-ground a long time ago, the only thing that matters now... is surviving.

This game is my Breaking Bad. By that, I mean that Breaking Bad is so good that it has completely redefined how I look at television dramas as a whole. It's like when people tell you to watch The Wire. I have not yet done so, but I know when I do, I probably won't know what to do with myself. 

Actually, that is exactly how I felt after finishing The Last of Us. When that final cut scene came to an abrupt halt and the end credits rolled whilst that hauntingly perfect theme by Gustavo Santaolalla creaked for one last time, I was stunned, I was sad, I was shocked, I was angry, and I was so many more things.

Honestly, it's really hard to describe, but think of it like this. You meet the girl or guy of your dreams, they tick all the boxes, they make you believe in something greater than what you already know, they even tell you they love you, and you spend a significant and concentrated amount of time with them. It's perfect. It really is. But then you wake up one day and they're gone. No note. No goodbye. Nothing. Just the memories of that first special play-through.

This GAME, as i'm sure you can all tell, successfully drew me into it's slick, sexy post-apocalyptic convertible and then threw me out the passenger door with nothing but the bus fair home. But like the needy bitch it made me, I can't blame The Last of Us. It did everything it was supposed to. Everything that I asked of it. But can I really be blamed for just wanting more?

This is more than just a game, I genuinely believe that. This is emotional and dramatic storytelling at it's very best, and the best part is you get to be a part of it. Play The Last of Us, and I promise... I guarantee you will come away with a new perspective of what video games are truly capable of.

I hope this post has shed some light on how much this game means to me, and I have so much more to say about the actual game itself and the specifics that make it great, so I will post further about the actual gameplay soon, but for now I just wanted to express how it made me feel.