I know we’re all really just scraping by until The Last of Us: Part II — but it got me replaying The Last of Us pretty avidly. Naughty Dog’s story about the end of life as we know it and the lengths we’d go to save the world had touched so many. Let’s find out more about it!
1. Joel was actually named after Joel Coen of The Coen Brothers fame. Seems Naughty Dog has quite the penchant for them Coen Brothers and we get it!
2. Neil Druckmann actually researched the heck out of pandemics and sought out the help of a Professor from Penn State in order to get things as close to a realistic future plague for the game.
3. The infected Clickers, whom can’t see, were coded and developed in a way that took from studies of blind people and how their other senses are heightened through time. This makes the Clickers hear and sense even the stealthiest of Joels if you’re not careful.
(Naughty Dog, Sony Entertainment)
4. Sam Raimi really truly wanted to make a film version of The Last of Us but claimed it was drowning in developmental swamps. I mean, perhaps it’s for the best, I trust Neil far more, I think! I still remember Spider-Man, Sam!
5. And array of items were used to perfect the sounds of the Clickers, but the most interesting one is rather simple: A Snapple bottlecap. Clicking that and warping the sound, sometimes even speeding it up, helped give a baseline for the Clickers and their notorious croaks.
6. Upon the the first teaser of The Last of Us, the similarities in design of Ellie lead people to believe Ellen Page was playing the role. After being swarmed during the week of E3 2012, where it was debuted, Page eventually had to politely point out she wasn’t the Ellie. Our Ellie, that we know and love, is Ashley Johnson.
(Naughty Dog, Sony Entertainment)
7. You can find SO many Naughty Dog easter eggs of games all over The Last of Us. From Uncharted to Jax and Daxter – keep an eye out for those little nuggets of fun.
8. Naughty Dog hit a temporary snag with some push back when Sony execs said they wanted to have Ellie take point in the box art for The Last of Us. However, they persisted and Ellie stayed right where she was supposed to be. As they saw it, there was simply no other way.
9. September 26th is known as Outbreak Day and fans of the game consider it the proper day of celebrating their love of this title and build the hype for the upcoming sequel. As it happens, if you’re paying attention — Outbreak Day is also Joel’s birthday. Rough.
(Naughty Dog, Sony Entertainment)
10. That adorable scene with Ellie petting a Giraffe? It was inspired by Jurassic Park and the scene of Dr. Grant letting the kids pet a sweet lil’ tame dino. I still sniffle when I think about it.
