WARNING: This review contains spoilers to: The Last of Us, TloU: Left Behind & TloU: American Dreams
In 2013 The Last of Us took the world by storm with its high engrossing & emotional story of a man and a young girl learning how to become humans amidst a post-apocalyptic world. Winning more than a few Game of the Year awards and having been nominated multiple times in pretty much every awards ceremony, Naughty Dog had made a game that would show the world just how good games really are.
Now, just under a year later and the game gets its only singleplayer expansion, Left Behind, but does the DLC meet the high standards we have come to expect from it.
There is no way to talk about Left Behind without spoiling the original game or the prequel comic, American Dreams, due to the events it takes place during. Half of the story is set during the gap between the end of Autumn when Joel falls from a balcony & impales himself and the other half takes place somewhere between the end of American Dreams & the beginning of the main game.
The DLC opens with Joel falling from the balcony & Ellie needing to take control of the situation. She manages to get Joel to safety in a mall however without immediate tending to his wounds he will die, so Ellie must go in search of medical supplies in the mall which contains not only infected but members of antagonist David's survivors colony looking for them.
As Ellie travels through the mall you are periodically transported back in time to when she was still at a military boarding school with best friend Riley (Introduced in American Dreams). After having rescued a group of Fireflies and taken to rebellion leader Marlene at the end of the comic, Riley has been enlisted as a Firefly and so must leave the military school and subsequently leave Ellie.
Riley takes Ellie to the mall they visited in American Dreams and switch the power on to have a day of light hearted fun together before Riley must leave, however as players of The Last of Us know this is the story of how Ellie gets bitten, meaning if you connect the dots back to the powerful speech Ellie gave at the end of the main game, you realise this is also the story of how Riley dies.
And so begins the hour and a half of fun, frolics, mild frustration and inevitable heartbreak leading towards the ending.
Before I move onto gameplay, you may have just read me mention an hour and a half. That's right you pay £12 for a pitiful amount of content and despite this being a bit of a kick in the wallet, for fan of The Last of Us (so everyone on the planet right?) this is a near essential buy due to its yet again outstanding storytelling & just how necessary it is to the story of Ellie which for the most part was left unexplored in the main game.
But onwards to gameplay. Those who have played The Last of Us (please re-use last brackets joke here) know exactly what to expect from Left Behind because it plays no differently. Obviously you play as Ellie for the entire DLC so she doesn't take quite so many hits as Joel and yet again the upgrades system is absent much like in the Winter chapter of the main game where you also play as Ellie.
As you would expect its more of the stealth/action hybrid we came to love in the original game but with considerably less ammo laying around. Across the entire DLC I reckon I must have found about 40 bullets total for my pistol and I could count the amount of arrows on one hand. Its more of a stealth game this time round, requiring you to try and avoid fighting even more than you did in the main game due to the lack of resources and your lower health capacity. One section towards the end of the game requires you to fight a large number of enemies and this does become frustrating due to the significant difficulty increase however its by no means impossible and just requires you to have good skills with bottles/bricks & a steady aim when you sparingly use your bullets.
Though the DLC has very few combat scenarios and only a couple of puzzle sections its story is what you're there for, so though you may be disappointed by what you are given in the gameplay department, you will at least be challenged.
Left Behind has no graphical improvements over The Last of Us, but that doesn't stop it being something of wonder when you look at it. Yet again the high quality visuals, brilliant texture work and best animation standards in gaming are on display and they will no doubt amaze you as they did the first time round.
The audio standard is yet again the same, but it is too remarkable of course. With some great sound effects & another stellar performance from Ashley Johnson for the character of Ellie as well as a equally good performance by Yaani King as Riley provide a match of that provided by Ashley & Troy Baker (Joel) from the main game.
Left Behind is a yet again outstanding piece of work from the folks at Naughty Dog and the genius that is Neil Druckmann. With a story that despite being short hits all the right emotional highs and lows you would expect from The Last of Us as well as throwing in a few surprises along the way.
It may not have many fights or puzzles and it certainly isn't very long, but Left Behind is something all players of The Last of Us should experience regardless of the price because as long as you enjoyed the original game, you wont be let down by Left Behind.
The Last of Us: Left Behind – 9/10
+Well Paced, Funny & Ultimatley Heartbreaking
+Getting To See Ellie's Past
+Riley Is A Total Badass
+A/V Standard
-Short Length & High Price
