The Last of Us brings back true survival horror via scarcity and sound design (2D-X)

Sony brought a thirty-minute demo of The Last of Us to PAX East. There wasn't a single moment when the line for this survival horror/action game wasn’t capped, and there was a damn good reason for it. The Last of Us is a damn fine game.

[jc48573]

I'm going to be honest with you people. I actually didn't like Dead Space and this is coming from a guy that loves survival horror games. As for Last of Us, it looks very interesting. I just don't like the way Visceral designs their games. I like Naughty Dog's approach because it feels like a lot of detail is concentrated on the characters.

[user7693958]

you are not alone.. i lol when people say DS is horror hahaha plus the game play is just i don't know how to say it.. i guess people see it as a good game because they are not any or many survival horror games..
the last one i play was SIREN, know that is a good survival horror game.

but TLOU seem to reinvent the formula and take it to a new whole level.. I hope others learn from it and we see more games like it.. or RE and SH coming back to what they where, really unique well made survival horror games.
I will like to see Extermination from Sony Japon back for next gen.. or a new IP from Siren team

[jc48573]

I really tried, but I just don't connect with the game as well as I did with older games. Silent Hill 1-3 still haunts me till this date. Fatal Frame was also good, so I never really quite understood why people were giving DS so much praise. I am simply not a big fan of its design either. Characters always looked a bit odd to me.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

I don't even consider Dead Space to be survival horror. Just because you are in a dark place and there's monsters jumping at you out of nowhere doesn't mean it's SURVIVAL horror, if it were, Bioshock and Doom (and many other older shooters) would also be listed within the genre.

It's just marketed as an horror game because it stray far from what most shooters focus today (fast military like multiplayer combat instead of slow paced dark single player), but it has no survival element at all (unless you consider killing waves of enemies surviving, in which case almost every action game out now is survival).

[JoGam]

Honestly DS3 isnt all that bad. I played worse. I was enjoying the game but my 250 hard drive broke on my PS3. This was my excuse to buy a 500 gig hard drive. Shhhh don't tell my wife. Thank god for Playstation Plus. Game save backup is amazing. Guys trust me, get Playstation Plus. Well worth it.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

I would... If were available in my region. There are days when I want to punch someone at Sony Brasil in the face.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Well I love survival horror, and the first Dead Space is one of my favorite new IPs this generation.

[Haules]

How can it bring back survival horror if Joel can see through walls for absolutely no reason at all? Don't give me that 'B-b-b-but you d-don't have t-to use it!11!!11' crap, if the devs want people to take the game seriously, they should remove it and stop pandering to the casuals.

[PinkFunk]

I see what you mean. I was fairly skeptical when I first heard about it.

I'm still holding judgement for now as i've not experienced it yet. It SEEMS as though it is mostly an option for those that don't have a good stereo system...

I do know that I WILL play with headphones, and will play with it turned off.

But like you said, it seems like they've made it a pretty core aspect of the gameplay. I need to see more of it to make judgement though!

[danthegardner]

If you feel like Joel shouldn't be able to see through walls, turn off listen mode and then he can't. It's no different than not having the feature. You won't have it while playing and that's all that should matter.

[Haules]

@PinkFunk: I haven't played it myself either, but I have seen the PAX vids and I own GoW: A, too, so I'll be playing the demo when it unlocks. The fact that it's in there just annoys me to no end. I was hyped for the game up until the mechanic was revealed, but it died down a lot when I actually saw it in the videos.

@danthegardner: That's not the point, the point is that the devs talk about the game being realistic, about survival and whatnot, then go and give the main guy a wallhack ability. It makes no goddamn sense at all! He's not Batman, he doesn't have a mask or goggles that lets him see things through walls. It's ridiculous and it shouldn't be in the game.

Edit: I never said the game was realistic, the devs did. Also, if turning it off represents what the devs are talking about, why did they include it in the first place? Why WOULD they include it if they wanted the game to be realisetic and be taken seriously?

[danthegardner]

If you turn off listen mode it will be what you call realistic. If you turn it off he will not have Batman like capabilities. If you turn it off it will represent what the devs were talking about.

[Ragnaarock]

Don't tell me you have never put your ear up against a wall to find out what people were trying to talk about or if something is even in the other room. I think the devs are just trying to visualize that concept since giving audio cues can be a lot more troublesome that giving visual cues.

[Haules]

Yeah because putting your ear up against a wall is the exact same as being able to see through it, right? Right.

Edit:

@Riderz: It's not about how good you are at the game, it's about the ridiculousness of the mechanic when the devs are going on about how they want to make it as realistic as possible.

@MysticStrummer: Tell that to the devs/writers of the game. Also, yeah, you can hear things through walls but you can't see through them.

@Ragnaarock: "and you only see outlines of thing that are making sounds."...through the wall. Yeah, I've seen the gameplay videos, I know what it looks like.

[MysticStrummer]

The realistic game about the end of the world as we know it, featuring infected zombie/maniacs? lol

"Yeah because putting you ear up against a wall is the same as being able to see through it, right? Right."

You can tell generally where people are in the next room that way.

[Ragnaarock]

And you don't actually just "see through walls" everything goes black and white and you only see outlines of thing that are making sounds.

[adorie]

"The fact that it's in there just annoys me to no end."

Would you dock this game points for that, if the game was generally favorable in your eyes?

[G20WLY]

Are you serious? Are you really this angry about a feature you can completely turn off and ignore? If you find it breaks immersion, don't use it. Some will like it. Some will need it. Choice is good, lol don't be such a whining manchild.

You know that bicycle you got for Christmas? You can take the stablisers off if it's not challenging enough... Choices, see? :P

[Riderz1337]

It's called increasing the difficulty and choosing not to use it. The reason it's there is for newer players. They go through the game once using that ability to learn where the enemies are and then they go through the game again, except this time they don't use the ability so that it's more challenging. Don't be selfish. Not everyone will be as good as you at the game the first time they play it, some people require a little more help.

[Ezz2013]

From "Arne Meyer" who work on The last Of Us
this is his comment in Neogaf

**>>><<<if you treat this game as an action game or a survival horror game, rather than let the game teach you the "new" mechanics of this "new" genre, it game will be more difficult in an unsatisfying way. The game will teach you to think about combat differently, hard to do in a 30min+ demo, but that's a lot of what you see with the repeated deaths. The moment I tell someone - dont fall back to genre conventions for gameplay mechnaics, people start being far more successful in combat for this demo.

Listen mode is mapped to a button. DON"T USE IT IF YOU HATE IT, but it's not a massive advantage. You can't see things from across the map, only if they are making some sound, slows you down, etc. It will be a give and take. But if you hate it, and you want to be all hardcore, don't hit the button. You do have some self control right? :p >>><<<***
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

you can play the whole game without using it
so the game don't need at all ..it's all up to you
and in fact every one who played the game at PAX and used that Listen mod confirm what Arne Meyer said
this Listen Mod put you in HUGE disadvantge
it slow you down by alot
you can't see any thing other than what only 2 feet away from you and they have to male a sound too or else you won't see anything at all
and you can't use craft menu and you can't use any weapon

so again if you don't like it ...don't use it
very very simple here

[Derekvinyard13]

Nice

[fracturedrich]

This is why ive added a ps3 to my collection,my main play is 360 but sony rocks when it comes to exclusives.Not to good at shooters mind.

[pr0t0typeknuckles]

im not really suprised it always looked like a survival horror game,especially with the e3 showing,naughty dogs just doing capcoms job for them (resident evil)

[StrongMan]

Can't wait. This is my anticipated game this year.

[ps3_pwns]

is this on the x360? if not then i need to go buy a ps3.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Is Uncharted on the 360? If not, then stop being so obvious, ps3_pwns.