The “The Last Of Us” series follows 52-year-old Joel Miller and 14-year-old Ellie Williams in a post-apocalyptic world, where only Ellie is immune to zombies, otherwise known as the “Infected.” In the first game, the pair travel across the country in hopes of using Ellie to create a cure for the infection, and in the second game, the story follows an older, more vengeful, Ellie. There was a downloadable expansion pack in between the two, “The Last Of Us: Left Behind,” which told the backstory of Ellie, and gave a little more insight into her character. The game series is a favorite of sophomore Wyatt VanDenBrink, and with the recent remake of the first game, simply titled “The Last Of Us Part I,” his interest in the game has only deepened.

  “I love this game,” VanDenBrink said.

  However, the new game, while improved in terms of graphics and gameplay with no changes to the story, is currently rated lower than its 9-year-old predecessor. This is because haters of the second game purposely bomb the reviews. VanDenBrink thinks that the people writing the reviews likely haven’t even played the new game.

  “How are you gonna bash a game that looks better, feels better, [that is] more intense, more realistic, and stuff like that, and like it’s a lot better made,” VanDenBrink said. 

  “The Last Of Us Part II,” while well-made, took a controversial turn in terms of storyline, which split the fanbase, and many of the people who disliked the game also turned on Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann, the creators of the game. With the release of the remake, many of the people who hated Part II argued that the price was too steep, especially for a remake, or that Druckmann was overusing the series.

  “They’re not milking it, ‘cause it’s their most popular game series. Like, ever,” VanDenBrink said. 

  With the first game, the remaster, the downloadable content, “The Last Of Us Part II,” the remake of the first game, and the show, some people think that the series is being overused, and they use that as a source of hate. However, the “Uncharted” series is also incredibly popular, and with the sixth game currently in development, speculation that there will be a second movie, and desire for the first three games to be remade, the same reasoning could apply to that series. 

 “Uncharted 1, Uncharted 2, Uncharted 3, Uncharted 4, The Lost Legacy, and the movie?” VanDenBrink said. 

  While he personally hasn’t played the remade game, however, VanDenBrink agrees that the game’s gameplay additions and graphics were the right way to go on behalf of Naughty Dog. 

  “They look great, they almost look better than the second game and they look real, it looks like real life. Even if the game wasn’t good, you can still give props to the team [for] making it [look] amazing,” VanDenBrink said.

  With the software the PS5 can run, along with the functions that the controllers possess, the game was really made to the best of Naughty Dog’s ability, with minimal complaints from VanDenBrink. 

  “The PS3 and the PS4 don’t have the remaster with the controls aiming with L1 instead of L2. That’s kind of annoying. But now that they made it newer, the controls are smoother. And with the PS5, the vibrations, it makes it better,” VanDenBrink said.