Survive an apocalypse on Earth in The Last of Us, a PlayStation 3-exclusive title by Naughty Dog. Here, you will find abandoned cities reclaimed by nature. Here is a population decimated by a modern plague. Here, there are only survivors killing each other for food, weapons, or whatever they can get their hands on. Here, you find no hope.
Joel, a brutal survivor, and Ellie, a brave young teenage girl who is wise beyond her years, must work together if they hope to survive their journey across the US.
According to Game Informer (Issue 227, March 2012) It has been 20 years since a fungus has been on the loose, killing people and re-animating their corpses, turning them into one of The Infected. Nature has been reclaiming its land from abandoned cities. The military has the United States under martial law and is keeping everyone in quarantine zones to stay away from the infection. The quarantine zones have many checkpoints, giving body scans for any signs of fungi. Those found with even remote traces of the fungus are euthanized.
Joel is a black market dealer within a quarantine zone that sells weapons and drugs. An unknown event occurs where Joel promises a lifelong friend that he will take care of a young girl named Ellie as they escape from the quarantine zone. The two are traveling throughout the United States and are being chased by the military.
On the road, there are many scavengers, hunters or harmful people that are trying to look for provisions, and they see Joel and Ellie as an opportunity. The two are constantly trying to fight their way through these people to stay alive and away from the infected and the military.
Characters
Joel is the main protagonist in The Last of Us. A man in his late 40s, hardened by the atrocities and devastation left by the fungal infection, Joel works as a black market dealer within the quarantine zone, selling drugs and weapons of sorts.
According to Game Informer (Issue 227, March 2012), a traumatic event occurs within the quarantine zone that involves Ellie, Joel's companion. Joel makes a promise to a friend that he will take care of her. They become fugitives, having to deal with both dodging the military and surviving The Infected and scavengers, as they continue to travel west through the United States.
According to Naughty Dog, Joel's character is heavily influenced by Rooster Cogburn from True Grit. He is portrayed as a "violent character that has gone someplace dark. He is essentially dead inside." Teamed up with Ellie, "He gets a chance at redemption when they are introduced to this kid, this person who still has some innocence left."
Ellie is a 14-year-old female, who co-stars alongside Joel in this post-apocalyptic romp through the United States.
Having been born after the fungal infection had already collapsed modern civilization as we know it, Ellie doesn't know a life aside from the high walls of the quarantine zone she was raised in or even perpetual fear. This, of course, sparks within her an obsession with relics from the past culture, such as books and music. This, too, leads to troublesome times at the boarding house she resides in.
Something happens in her home that forces her to skip town with Joel. Together they trek west while hiding from the military and surviving other threats.
Ellie is shown to be capable, even aggressive, as she travels with Joel. At Naughty Dog's E3 2012 gameplay demo, she is seen picking up a brick and later throwing it at an enemy approaching Joel as he runs out of revolver ammo. At another point in that demo she stabs the back of another enemy who is wrestling with Joel.
According to Naughty Dog, Ellie's character is heavily influenced by Mattie Ross from True Grit. She is portrayed as a character who is "coming-of-age" and is under the protection of Joel. "When she is around Joel, she is slightly being corrupted, but in some ways being given the tools to become independent." Her attitude towards Joel is slightly sarcastic.
Bill (W. Earl Brown) is a fellow survivor in the post-apocalyptic wasteland United States and an acquaintance of Joel. It is known that Bill owes Joel "favors" due to a yet-unknown past interaction. Joel plans to cash out on the favor by asking Bill to help in constructing a vehicle from various parts around his property.
From the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con trailer it is seen that Bill likely lives alone in a well protected base and is extremely cautious of the infection. So cautious, in fact, that he forcibly searches Joel and Ellie for signs of the infection upon entering his home - going as far as to handcuff Ellie to the wall.
The Infected are the humans contaminated by the fungus known as Cordyceps. Humans are able to inhale the fungus, and it will kill that person eventually. Once that person is dead, the fungus will then mutate through their head and will take control of their body.
There is a real fungus called Cordyceps that can infect insects to climb to a certain height, kill it, and then grows out of its dead carcass, eventually releasing spores to infect other insects. One of Naughty Dog's teasers was a clip from BBC's Planet Earth showing this happen to an ant. Although this clip was surrounded by ants, it can infect other insects as well.
According to Game Informer (Issue 227, 2012 March) The fungus is spreads throughout the air and is very contagious. However, the fungus cannot successfully infect a human in a wide open space, it needs a confined room to effectively spread within the human body.
Seen in the debut trailer, the fungi infected victims are eating the dead body of the scavenger killed by Joel, which entails that they are seeking food, just as a zombie would. The infected do have some intelligence and they are able to run at a fast rate.
Survivors/Scavengers
While the majority of human life in The Last of Us is either contained in quarantine zones or infected by the cordyceps fungus, small bands of people still manage to survive in the harsh, post-apocalyptic plains of America. Neil Druckmann (Creative Director of The Last of Us) has told IGN that "Quarantine zones were set up by the military as outposts for survivors - a way to escape the ever-growing numbers of infected. Martial law, however, presents its own set of dangers. Citizens are constantly monitored, supplies are scarce and anyone caught breaking the law is executed. In the world of The Last of Us, safety is a relative term."
Clearly this "martial law" is unappealing to some, and has led to their disbandment from society (or what's left of it). These groups of survivors must be extreemly tough to deal not only with the scariciety of resources (food, ammunition, etc...) but also the imminent threat of being killed by the ever-increasing number of infected.
It is clear from the E3 2012 Gameplay Demo that many of these groups take the "kill or be killed" motto very seriously. If it takes them one bullet to kill you and you have three bullets on you, the decision is easy. Clearly, Joel is fully aware of this, and it has been hinted that he may have even been a part of such a gang at one time. Our two budding protagonists undoubtedly have their hands full in their travels to safety.
The Military
It is confirmed that the military - if you can still even call it that - is also tracking Joel and Ellie's progress through the post-apocolyptic United States. Under a new "martial law," the military aims to contain all un-infected life to various quarantine zones across the country. Life in these zones is a brutal existance, living in constant fear of the fungus and the outside world. There are regular checkpoints throughout these zones where the population is inspected for signs of the infection; if tested positive, the individual is immediately euthanized. All of this is run by the military.
Although exact details are not known at this time, it is certain that the military will play a large factor in the day-to-day life of our two protagonists. It is suspected that Joel has a previous history and some bad-blood with the military.