Chapter 599: This Is More of an Assassin Than the Assassin! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chapter 599: This Is More of an Assassin Than the Assassin! (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

As the game progressed, Li Yue began to experience more of the existing gameplay content.

First was the resources.

In the original game, Joel planned to leave the quarantine zone with Tess by crossing the blockade line.

But they coincidentally encountered the resistance group, the Fireflies, launching an attack, triggering a full lockdown across the entire quarantine zone.

As a result, Tess and Joel had no choice but to take an alternate route—a secret hideout used by smugglers.

Here, players unlock the inventory and resource system, though Li Yue could clearly sense that this system was designed more for enhancing the sense of immersion rather than practical gameplay benefit.

The resources provided were simply too scarce.

A backpack, a handgun, a gas mask, and a pitiful four bullets.

Resources were extremely limited—far worse than the starting conditions in earlier games like Resident Evil.

Clearly, resource management would be a core mechanic in The Last of Us.

If players didn't actively scavenge for bullets and other supplies, ammunition would barely suffice.

This reinforced Li Yue’s earlier thoughts.

Scarce resources weren’t just a gameplay mechanic for resource management—they also served a deeper purpose: immersing players in the game’s setting.

With such minimal supplies and a post-apocalyptic backdrop, what kind of story was this game trying to tell?

And what was the significance of Sarah’s death in the Prologue?

If Sarah wasn’t the girl featured in the promotional trailers, how did Joel meet the girl named Ellie?

With these questions in mind, Li Yue guided Joel and Tess forward.

The journey ahead continued to function as part of the new player tutorial.

Finding a way forward was akin to solving environmental puzzles, similar to Uncharted, or indeed, many other games.

Within a scene, players needed to locate items that helped them reach the next area—sometimes cooperating with Tess to climb to higher ground.

Along the way, players could also collect resources to craft tools or upgrade firearms.

Gameplay-wise, it was quite traditional. For any player familiar with the genre, there was no risk of confusion or misunderstanding.

And this had both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was that players didn’t need to spend much effort grasping the mechanics, allowing them to focus more on the story.

The disadvantage was that if the narrative experience wasn’t compelling, the gameplay would become a weak point.

Since this was a game review, Li Yue played while simultaneously analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, and reasoning behind various game design choices.

Though the gameplay leaned toward tradition, the character development—especially of Tess, Joel’s companion—left a strong first impression.

Tess’s past remained unclear, but her personality was already revealed through these puzzle-solving segments.

A reliable, tough woman, she could even lift Joel up a flight of stairs with one hand—her strength was undeniable.

Meanwhile, conversations with Tess during their journey gradually unveiled the game’s setting.

In The Last of Us, the virus was a parasitic organism known as the Cordyceps fungus.

A spore-based infection, it took over the human host, enhancing physical abilities and eventually mutating infected individuals into Clickers—blind but with heightened hearing.

Infection was excruciating and incurable, so many chose to end their lives before turning.

Moreover, when an infected body died and decomposed to a certain point, it released spores into the air.

If uninfected people inhaled too many spores, they would become infected as well—hence the need for gas masks in contaminated areas.

While traversing the smugglers’ secret passage, Joel and Tess encountered another smuggler.

His situation was grim—his gas mask was broken, and a metal cabinet pinned him to the ground, rendering him immobile.

Seeing Joel and Tess, the man begged for help.

But with his gas mask destroyed, his fate was sealed.

He would inevitably turn into an infected.

At this point, the player had only two choices: leave him to suffer, or grant him a merciful end with a single bullet.

A quicker, more compassionate release.

Shortly after, they faced their first combat level.

However, the combat system in The Last of Us was different from what Li Yue had expected.

It was more realistic, more intense.

The initial infected were called Runners.

True to their name, they were fast and agile, often appearing in groups. Once alerted, they would swarm the player all at once.

This required players to use stealth walk to avoid detection, or silently assassinate them.

Of course, the infected came in both Regular and special types.

Regular infected could be eliminated with a stealth kill.

But certain elite monsters required crafted switchblades, made using the equipment crafting system, to be taken down.

Additionally, items like bricks, bottles, and steel pipes could be picked up and used as improvised weapons.

This was somewhat reminiscent of Zelda—where any weapon on the ground could be picked up and used.

But the most distinctive feature of the game was the Listen Mode.

When activated, Joel would crouch and, as if using wallhacks, perceive enemy positions based on sound.

Of course, this ability had a limited range.

Combined with the stealth assassination mechanics and the tension of scarce resources, the combat system clearly encouraged players to rely on stealth and assassination.

On second thought, it made perfect sense.

After all, this was a post-apocalyptic setting. Joel was just a slightly stronger smuggler, not an Assassin master like Ezio or Altaïr.

In gameplay, Li Yue experimented with both stealth and aggressive approaches.

The stealth method worked smoothly.

But when he tried charging in with a brick—playing on normal difficulty—he was swiftly taught a lesson by a group of Runners.

One or two might fall to a brick, but the moment other Runners heard the commotion, they rushed in as reinforcements.

If Joel couldn’t escape, death was inevitable.

“This feels more like an Assassin game than Assassin’s Creed!”

Li Yue whispered to himself, cautiously sneaking through a building crawling with infected, filled with emotion.

While Assassin’s Creed offered stylish assassinations, it still allowed players to go on rampage with hidden blades.

But in The Last of Us, at least at this stage, the idea of clearing the game with just a gun and a brick was pure fantasy.

Still, despite his感慨, the combat system itself wasn’t bad.

The Listen Mode, functioning like wallhacks, and the stealth assassination mechanics weren’t particularly novel.

But combined with the post-apocalyptic setting, scarce resources, and limited but accessible tools like bricks, they fully showcased a tense, nerve-wracking atmosphere of survival.

While playing, he hadn’t even thought about anything outside the game.

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