The Last of Us: Left Behind

 

The Last of Us Left Behind is the only major Singleplayer DLC for 2013's The Last of Us. Left Behind was released in 2014. The DLC is divided into 2 sections. A "past" section with Ellie and Riley that takes place around 3 weeks before the start of the main game where they explore a mall in Boston. This section is mostly story focused with very few gameplay challenges and obstacles the player has to overcome. There's not even a health meter for most of this. The second section is set "in the present" between the Fall and Winter Chapters of the main game where Ellie must search a Colorado Mall to find medical supplies to treat Joel. This section is more gameplay focussed given the player must fight more enemies and manage resources and has to retry segments if they fail or die. It plays like Ellie's sections from the Main game. The story here is much more minimal.

I'm going to discuss the Present Section first. The thing about its gameplay is that it's exactly like Ellie's sections from the main game. I wasn't that fond of playing Ellie's sections in the main game for a couple reasons. For one, TLOU's gameplay loop works by having the player spend some time collecting supplies, then having to do their best to manage them going forward. But Ellie's sections in both the main game and Left Behind are so brief that the loop doesn't really get a chance to shine. You already have most of the resources you'll have a short while in and it's not long enough to really test the player in being careful in managing those resources. Even on Grounded Mode, it's much easier than the main game because of this. The second issue is that Ellie lacks the moves and abilities Joel has in the main game. I understand it doesn't make sense for Ellie to be able to grab enemies and move them since she's not an adult but it does make the gameplay less interesting as a result. And add in that Ellie's switchblade can be an easy 1 hit kill even on Clickers and there's not a lot to really sink your teeth into. The one new gimmick is that Infected and Hunters will now interact with each other. In the main game, these 2 enemy types never came into contact. In Left Behind, the player, in certain rooms, can throw a bottle to get both groups into fighting each other to be able to make progress. It's a neat idea but really shallow. And it wouldn't be until TLOU2 where this concept really gets its due with how you can dynamically get humans and infected together in different ways, how you can grab a human/infected and feed them to another. Normally, I prefer it when DLC provide an experience I can't just get a better version of in the main game and Left Behind doesn't do that.

I understand this DLC probably was made on a deadline and not given a massive amount of resources. But in a hypothetical and magical example where that wasn't a problem, I think it would have been more interesting if this section was more of an open world/metroidvania type game. One of the Metro Last Light DLCs did something like this. Like, the player is dropped into this small mall map with a scant few resources. They need to find medical supplies. There can be a few different places where these supplies can be and the player just needs to reach 1 and then get back to the start and there are puzzles and enemies along the way. The Map is open in the sense the player can explore and it's not linear but still roughly the same size as the current mall. There are hunters and infected wandering around the player can either avoid or play around by having them fight each other. There can even be a time limit system where if the player takes too long or attracts too much attention to themselves, the enemy, be they Hunters or Infected, could find Joel and result in a game over. Now all of the negatives I listed about Left Behind turn into positives. The short runtime and map works as a way to put pressure on the player to move quickly but still be careful without becoming unmanageable like in a longer game. The shallow mechanics get more of a novelty on them as the player has to weigh the pros and cons of their actions. I understand this would certainly be a difficult undertaking for a DLC that came out a couple months after the main game with less than half the staff working on it that requires some significant tweaks that TLOU2 would eventually end up implementing. But it would still be an improvement over this current section and make it worth playing.

In terms of story, the current section is quite minimalist. Ellie explores this mall, gets the medical supplies from a military chopper that crashed into the place, fights a comical amount of hunters and infected and then treats Joel and prepares to set out. It's not a lot and there's not a lot of story beats in between that make it very interesting. The story with the military chopper and its crew is the same kind of fare that's already in the main game so it's not very novel. Ellie is 100% focussed on her mission so there's no nice character interactions. We know what happens next given so there's no real tension. It's very to the point. Which isn't why the main game's story is so adored. This also makes many of the combat sections with Hunters feel like padding when a comically large amount of guys come in to kill Ellie.

Initially, I was expecting this section to be more of a parallel of the past. Like there's a sequence in the past where Ellie and Riley have to power on the mall and a sequence in the present where Ellie needs to power on a gate. I was expecting the present to have more of this as a way of showing how far she's come and how much of a contrast there is. Like, Ellie in the present would need to chuck bricks at a car or ride a Merry-Go-Round or even turn on a bunch of TVs in different contexts from the past as a better way to connect the 2 sections. But no. Aside from Ellie being in a mall and needing to find power initially, the 2 sections are pretty much disconnected which I feel doesn't help the DLC.

Switching over the Past, this section is mostly story focussed. The banter between Ellie and Riley is quite charming, Seeing a younger Ellie that still has her innocence is a neat contrast. The way the girls see different parts of the old world can be quite funny. It even works as a prequel since the audience is aware that Ellie and Riley may not have a good ending so that builds anticipation and tension. It's good stuff. And the few gameplay sections that reframe existing mechanics, like the brick throwing race and the water gun fight, are neat but can feel boring on second playthroughs. Oh, and LGBTQ rep is good. Especially back in 2014 of all things.

But to be negative for a second, part of me wonders why the DLC is structured like this? You have a good story half with some arguably not that interesting gameplay. And you have a lacklustre gameplay half with no story backing it up. It seems more logical to double down on the story half since you'd have a DLC doing one thing right the entire time for longer. My main guess was that since this DLC was originally sold for around $15 upon release, Naughty Dog had to add something to justify it which resulted in the present section that feels more like padding. So I wonder, why make Left Behind a DLC instead of a movie? developing a 2 hour game is still harder than making a 2 hour movie given all the complexities that have to go into modelling and debugging areas, cutscenes etc whereas a movie just needs to have enough made that can be shown. I feel that the story of Left Behind would be better served with even a 40-60 minute movie of just the Past Section. You wouldn't have the expectation of gameplay bringing the experience down. A DLC generally needs to be released close to the original game in order to main interest but a movie can be released whenever.

To conclude, Ellie and Riley's story in Left Behind felt like it was worth my time. Everything else didn't. To the point where I feel a short film focussing on just the Ellie and Riley stuff would improve the experience. The gameplay is done better in the main game which makes an entire half of this DLC feel like filler at best. If this was 2014 and you asked if I'd recommend buying this DLC, I'd say no. Watch it on Youtube. There's not enough going on to make it worth buying as an interactive experience. If you have the remastered or complete edition of TLOU where Left Behind is bundled in, I'd say it's worth a playthrough then since it's already there and quite short.

 

Next up for me is probably the Final Fantasy 7 Remake or Battles of Prince of Persia. See you then