When it dropped back in 2023, HBO’sThe Last of Uswas quickly hailed as one of the best video game adaptations of all time. This shouldn’t exactly come as a surprise, asNaughty Dog’s revolutionary 2013 hitborrows quite a bit from the realms of passive media, with many likening it to an “interactive movie”—a phrase that has been leveled both in praise and in criticism. Ultimately, the HBO adaptation can be viewed as a reverse-engineering of the source material, stripping back its interactive elements to focus on its main selling point: the story.
The result is an adaptation that feels remarkably faithful, sometimes even to the point of being uncanny. There are definitely changes here and there, like the story of Frank and Bill, as well as explorations of other factions and side characters that didn’t receive such attention in the game, but it’s overall quite similar. This is exemplified at a number of points, such as during Joel and Sarah’s iconic couch conversation before the zombie outbreak, which is ripped word-for-word from its in-game equivalent. This is emblematic of not only theLast of UsTV show’s reverence for the source material, but also the inherently cinematic nature of the video game. It’s against this backdrop that theUntil Dawnfilm has been announced, showing a radically different approach to the task of adapting an iconic video game story.
Neil Druckmann, thecreator ofThe Last of Us, is heavily involved in the TV show’s production, which likely plays a role in its adherence to the source material.
If The Last of Us TV Show Is the Picture of Faithfulness, Then Until Dawn Is the Opposite
What the Until Dawn and Last of Us Adaptations Say About Their Source Material
At first glance, one might assume that anUntil Dawnmovie or show would be at least as faithfulto its source material asThe Last of Usis to its. After all,Until Dawnis arguably a much better fit for the “interactive movie” label, being almost entirely composed of cinematics, quicktime events, and mechanically simplistic walking simulation sections. There’s little need to account for extended gameplay passages like withThe Last of Us.
However,Until Dawnis trickier because of how player agency factors into the equation. To put it simply,The Last of Usis elevated by its interactive elements, butUntil Dawnrequires interactivity to work at all. The heart of the experience is the butterfly effect, the notion that any input from the player could have serious ramifications on the plot.There is no single canon storyline inUntil Dawn: players make their own adventures.
With this context, it can be seen as somewhat understandable that anUntil Dawnfilm would attempt to be as far removed from the gameas possible. If the movie were to adopt the same premise, setting, and cast of characters, it would be difficult to make it compelling, since anyone who has played the game will be going into the film with their own ideas about what the story should look like. There is one trueLast of Usstory; there is no one trueUntil Dawnstory.
What the Until Dawn and Last of Us Adaptations Say About Video Game Adaptations in General
There will likely be some that view the above interpretation asa bit too charitable to theUntil Dawnmovie, and for an understandable reason. There has certainly been a lot of fervent discussion about the adaptation since its reveal, with many arguing that theUntil Dawnname is simply being used as a marketing tactic, since the movie doesn’t really have anything in common with the game. Under this viewpoint, theUntil Dawnmovie can be seen as a cynical ploy to get gaming audiences into theaters, or to get an unrelated script off the ground. With video games being as popular as they are, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more of these sorts of disconnected adaptations, designed primarily for brand recognition, in the future.
The Last Of Us Part II Remastered
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EXPERIENCE ELLIE AND ABBY’S EMOTIONAL JOURNEYS, REMASTERED FOR PS5 Play the winner of over 300 Game of the Year awards, remastered for the PlayStation®5 console. Relive or play for the first time Ellie and Abby’s story, now with graphical enhancements, new gameplay modes like the roguelike survival experience No Return, full DualSense® wireless controller integration, and more. Five years after their dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have settled down in Jackson, Wyoming. Living amongst a thriving community of survivors has allowed them peace and stability, despite the constant threat of the infected and other, more desperate survivors. When a violent event disrupts that peace, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey to carry out justice and find closure.
