Naughty Dog Releases New The Last of Us Screenshots

Naughty Dog has just released a bunch of new screenshots for their upcoming post-apocalyptic, survival game, The Last of Us, and unsurprisingly they look fantastic. We’ve already heard that the team intends to share a lot more information about the game at next month’s E3, but they’ve been whetting our appetite prior to the event with an impressive cinematic and now 14 screenshots that finally show off some of the gameplay.

You can join me after the break as we take a look at each of the screenshots and try to figure out what’s going on in The Last of Us.

The two survivors, Joel and Ellie are looking a little worse for wear. The truck ambush cinematic that we saw last week gave us more of an insight into these two characters: Joel appears to be hardened from years of survival and understandably distrusting of others; whereas Ellie, although wise beyond her years, is still a child at heart and is much more hopeful than her counterpart.

The pair stand in an abandoned hallway that’s blocked by all sorts of junk. It will be interesting to see whether or not you can climb over obstacles such as this and whether any of these items can be scavenged. In two of the later screenshots we see both Joel and another survivor using a wooden beam as a weapon that’s not too dissimilar to the one shown on the left of this picture.

If you look at the big sign at the top of this screenshot you can make out the words “Quarantine: Military Checkpoint.” The sign is falling to pieces and we’ve seen no form of military presence in the trailers so far, and so it would appear that the military failed to contain whatever is causing the mutations.

Joel and Ellie stand over a corpse that’s been laid out across a desk – it’s hard to tell whether the dead body is that of a deformed survivor or a mutant. Strange-looking corpses aside, how cool does that lighting look?

This one is almost definitely a mutant and as you can see, Joel is about to beat it to death with a big wooden stick. This does seem to indicate that you’ll be able to pick up various objects and use them as makeshift weapons.

…and so can other survivors. Ouch. That truck in the background looks to be the same one that we saw in the latest cinematic and this screenshot probably shows the aftermath of their crash.

Never bring a brick to a gunfight. Wait a minute. Take a close look at the guy Joel is about to attack. Isn’t that the man that feigned injury during the truck ambush? I can’t imagine he’s very happy about the whole being run over thing.

Ellie also throws bricks at people armed with guns. How on earth has this pair managed to survive for so long? It’s worth pointing out that we still don’t know whether or not we’ll be able to control both characters, or if we’ll be playing as Joel and escorting Ellie to safety. This screenshot makes me think it could well be both characters.

If I had to guess, I’d say we’ll be able to switch between characters at will, which could allow us to flank enemies as we see here. Either way, I like this screenshot as it shows Ellie taking control and potentially saving Joel’s life (assuming she’s got a good throw). This screenshot is very clearly a follow-up to the truck ambush.

Joel seems to have found a gun once again. We already know from the first trailer that ammunition will be scare throughout The Last of Us and conservation will probably be very important. Did you guys play that PSN/XBLA game, I Am Alive? I really liked how you could threaten enemies with your gun regardless of whether or not you actually had ammunition. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar mechanic used in The Last of Us.

They’re on the run again. Will avoiding enemies be an option? Will it be a necessity? 

Look at that guy’s eyes! Wow, this game looks intense. In a lot of games approaching someone from behind and strangling them is considered a stealthy option and is used to avoid detection. This screenshot looks loud. I can almost hear the two of them struggling and growling with anger.

Ellie searches through a suitcase and finds what looks to be a box of ammunition. We don’t know how long the world has been in this state, although we do know that Ellie is too young to remember normality and Pittsburgh is looking pretty overgrown in the trailers so far. If it’s been 10 years since the mutation broke out; where do you find new supplies? 

Damn, this game looks pretty.

If you’d like to download these screenshots for yourself in higher quality, you can do so over at the game’s official website.