Comparing The Last Of Us: Which Told the Story Better, the TV Show or the Video Game?

Naughty Dog's beloved property has been put into live-action and nominated for its greatness. But is the game better? Find out The Outerhaven's The Last Of Us Comparison!

[isarai]

Game, easy

[-Foxtrot]

Yup

The show literally rushed to the end and skipped out so many things for the sake of finishing the first game in 9 episodes.

Tendrils to spores, Tess having a weird new death with a kiss, Bill and Franks relationship not turning sour, Bills town with Joel hanging upside down as the Bloater attacks was cut, Kathleen's group as the shows "Hunters", Kathleen as a character in general with her stupid decisions. Just seemed like changes for the sake of change.

It's like for every scene they kept the same from the game, there was like 3-4 changes which didn't really needed to be changed.

The funny thing is, because video game adaptations are such a low bar, it's still one of the better ones on screen.

[SonyStyled]

I really liked how they fleshed out the winter scene in the show so we know more about the hunter group at the ski resort in the game, but I didn’t like how the deer and rabbit chapters from the game didn’t carry over to the show

[Tapani]

You are a professional complainer.

I liked both the show and game, they are different things and can be appreciated in different ways. I'm also pretty sure the showrunners (including game director) know the best what makes sense for a TV audience. After all, the show stands at 96/100 at Rotten Tomatoes based on 153 reviews, pretty much a perfect score.

[-Foxtrot]

Tapani

Ahhhh the same old

“Call me a complainer, personally attacking me, the user, but don’t actually give any sound counter points to why it wrong”

It’s boring, come up with something, anything

Oh and talking about the scores

Come on, like I said it’s the better adaptation out of them all but it’s a low bar…also it’s HBO which give it a boost with their track record along with people adoring Pedro Pascal. I could bring up plenty of highly scored shows which are now overrated looking back on them.

[S2Killinit]

The game of course. Its like saying which told the story better, the book or the movie.

Ps: really liking the show so far, but yeah its not a comparison to the game.

[darthv72]

The show was entertaining, but it missed its chance to really flesh out more of the characters. It felt too condensed as they tried to fit the entirety of the first game into one season. They should have stretched things out over two seasons before going into the 2nd game.

[mandf]

First ends when joel and el leave the college wounded cliffhanger end scene. Second season plays out. I feel the second game is to long for one season. Saying that the first one deserves seasons. If the second one gets. Just high pondering

[arkard]

Second game was already confirmed to be at least 2 seasons

[Inverno]

The show since it focused entirely on the story

[mgszelda1]

The game focused on Joel and ellie. The show lost the core focus entirely

[Inverno]

Joel and Ellie are better fleshed out in the show. They have actual chemistry unlike in the game where Joel is emotionally distant the entire time. They share more lighthearted moments, we actually see Joel slowly retaining his humanity. Joel's relationship with his brother is better fleshed out rather than them simply cutting all communication, him and Tess are actually a couple. Ellie being a lesbian is better handled in the show, where in the game it feels like an after thought for dlc.
Then you have all the supporting characters that barely had any development in the game, they get so better flashed out and Joel and Ellie are in one way or another present in those episodes. Dood the show does it better in every single way

[-Foxtrot]

@Inverno

What are you talking about?

Joel and Ellie in the show have no emotional bound at all, they barely connect as they rush through the game.

Also Troy and Ashley managed to be more emotional with their characters and have more chemistry with each other despite the fact they were in a mo-cap studio, with no real surroundings, in a silly mo-cap suit and aren't big Hollywood actors.

The way Pedro said "Unhook her" and "You'd just come after us" in the Hospital scene, he just sounded so bored, like he was ready to leave work for the day. Troy had so much more emotion in his scenes.

Also characters like Tess were done so dirty in the show.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Did you snooze during the cutscenes? Your second comment makes no sense if you paid attention to the story and dialogue in the game.

[Crows90]

Either he skipped the cutscenes or he didn't play the game

[mgszelda1]

This dude is out of his mind. The show is mediocre on its own. Compared to the game it's a lesser version in literally every way possible.

[Crows90]

You didn't play the game.

[Inverno]

"you didn't play the game" won't work on me homie, cause I played the game. Perhaps I need a refresher but I stand by what I said. The show tells the story in a much better way.

[Rocketisleague]

You're on a gaming site lad you'll get way less agrees and no critical thinking.

The pacing in the game is slow and you're right, the show tells it way better. It improved basically everything. Although I'm one of the few who liked Bill and Frank in the game way more. Felt the show forced that whole ep and liked the games version more. The backstory was handled waaay better too in the show

Either way every thing else is improved in the show. Coulda used more clicker action...but tbh it shows exactly where Neil drunkmans true passions lie and it is NOT gaming.

Just goes to show you the story was never anything special anyway, may aswell be a spinoff of the walking dead.

This is a problem.with gaming in general anyway, it's much tougher to keep a story going in a game as it also needs to be game. The show is just focused on one thing

[Inverno]

With how he handled the show I was thinking he'd be a much better fit as a film director than a game director. Show honestly changed my opinion on the guy somewhat and I'm curious on what he'll carry from that experience to whatever he makes next.

[JackBNimble]

Pretty sure he didn't direct the series but was a consultant .

[CrimsonWing69]

Game by miles. I actually rolled my eyes at how flat the show did some of the best moments. Pedro is no Joel, that’s for sure.

[JackBNimble]

That's for sure, I think Pedro was an ok Joel but just ok. I also didn't like how they portrayed Ellie, she just didn't resonate with me .

[-Foxtrot]

Yeah I think Pedro got more love because it's Pedro Pascal, he's a great guy, likable, got that "daddy" vibe everyone seems to swoon over.

However in reality he wasn't a good Joel especially when there was so many actors who could have done the role better. High Jackman, Jon Hamm, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Karl Urban, Jeffrey Dean Morgan so on.

Also Bella is awful as Ellie, she portrays her as some sort of sociopath in the show, playing with infected bodies, sniffing guns and the like.

[dnawesum]

Joel and Ellie - Game.
Supporting Characters - Show

[mastershredder]

Layers of cliche.

[CrimzonRaven]

Game without a second of a doubt, That girl playing Ellie in the Tv show was the worst pick ever.
Cant act for shit, Looks.... weird and not like Ellie what so ever. They could have shosen someone so much better, Imo only ofc.

[moomoo319]

I thought the same thing Ep 1 but she grew on me. Same with Kathleen.

[badboyz09]

Show was meh to me. It was watchable but not something I'd go back to.

[Charlieboy333]

Game

[jeromeface]

game and its not even close

[GamingSinceForever]

SMDH!!

The only thing the show did better was expound upon irrelevant situations that weren’t in the game like Bill’s love life.

[sadraiden]

The show was poorly crafted for someone uninitiated to the story. It moved way too quickly and assumed you knew key details in order for them to have the time to do HBO-y scenes like with Ashley Johnson and an entire episode devoted to Frank. Show's still good, just not if you haven't played the game.

[goldwyncq]

The game because it actually had Infected running around. The show only used them as a threat for what, three episodes?

[-Foxtrot]

I found it funny how in episode 2 they make this huge deal with the Tendril aspect that stepping on a Tendril can alert infected from miles away...YET, it's never used or brought up for the rest of the episodes.

Makes no sense at this point why they changed Spores to Tendrils since they've barely touched on it, at least spores could have been written off as "well they only spawn in dark, tight boxed in areas and we kept the characters here away from that or logical survival reasons".

[thorstein]

¿Porque no los dos?

[ThichQuangDuck]

The game its not close. When it comes to live action 28 days later and 28 weeks later nail the apocalyptic bonding emotional vibes infinitely better for me than the show. Leftovers tonally feels more last of us than the show to me. About nailing that visual style, darkness and comedic philosophical blends.

[kaos89]

The game because it did not shove down your throat, gays good, Christians bad.

[Kosic]

Game for sure. The TV show was too quick, and the actors were piss poor with Joel barely speaking throughout.

Only episode from the TV show that was great was the Bill one. Rest had been done much better in the game

[RPGer]

When they pick a whole episode for Bill, I knew this show won't deliver anything really good. Action less version with a lot of secondary characters to care about.

[CrashMania]

The game no doubt. The show was good but it felt rushed at points and like they splashed most of the infected budget by episode 5.

[LucidIllusion]

NGL this is a dumb article