On the night of Monday 28th July, 2014, Sony and Naughty Dog arranged for a dramatic showing of key scenes from The Last of Us. Featuring the full key cast directed by Game Director Neil Druckmann, with live musical performances by composer Gustavo Santaolalla, the night was the first time anything like it has been attempted in the world of video games.
You can watch the (almost) full performance here [skip to 30mins in].
As an added bonus for the theater-goers, Druckmann introduce a special never-before-seen scene that serves as an epilogue to the game's story. It was not caught on camera, and he told the audience it would not be repeated ever again, in any format. From reports, this is what the scene entails:
Some time after the end of the game, Joel and Ellie are living out their lives at Tommy's Dam.
Ellie sits alone in her room, listening to music.
Joel enters, complaining to Ellie that his brother is trying to set him up with a woman named Esther. Ellie acknowledges him but only barely. She is distant towards him, presumably conflicted over her relationship with him after the events in the game's finale.
Noticing her dismissive attitude, Joel tells her he has a surprise for her. He reveals a guitar. Ellie still shrugs him off, so he proceeds to play and sing a song especially for her.
Ellie noticeably lightens up, and Joel seals the deal by telling her a joke he shared with Esther earlier; "What's the worst thing about eating a clock? ...It's time consuming."
They laugh, and Joel leaves.
Ellie picks up the guitar, pauses for a moment, then strikes a chord.
Good stuff. Druckmann said it was meant to be seen as a "fairwell" to these characters, and I think it provides a nice character moment to somewhat resolve the ambiguity of the ending (not that it needed resolving, of course - I still maintain that ending is perfect).
I think it's great that we've come to a point where we can do this sort of thing for games. We could get into the whole "games as art" debate about the whole thing, but it's been done to death. It's fantastic that we can take these stories and explore them in new and exciting ways. This was all a bit of a bizarre experiment, but I think it worked. I wonder what's next...
Also, I'm so happy they performed the "alternate ending" of the game. Hilarious!
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