Stepping out of the game experience pod, Li Yue took a deep, profound breath.
As a thread-based game, The Last of Us wasn't particularly long, but neither was it short.
On normal difficulty, without getting stuck on a level/quest or deliberately focusing on collecting, it would take about ten hours to clear the game.
Within the three-day trial period, he had spent a day and a half.
He wasn't alone; other media reporters from different outlets had done the same.
Li Yue glanced around. Many were still inside the experience pods, but others had clearly finished and emerged.
After all, everyone's progress was roughly the same.
"It's just... absolutely incredible!" Li Yue walked towards two reporters chatting near the window and overheard one of them, a young black man, exclaim in awe.
"Exactly. The combat system isn't outstanding, the post-apocalyptic setting is quite clichĂŠ, and even though the story is excellent, it doesn't have any shocking twists. Yet, it gave me this deep sense of emotion. The game's interactive performance and atmosphere creation can only be described as divine," added a blonde young white man, sincerely impressed.
"And the time spanâfrom the Boston quarantine zone all the way to Salt Lake Cityâthe scenes and the passage of time are vast, filled with countless details that constantly hint at the relationship between Joel and Ellie," Li Yue chimed in, joining the conversation.
Hearing Li Yue's words, the other two didn't mind; instead, they nodded in strong agreement. "Absolutely! The interactive storytellingâthis game truly used magic!"
"From the very beginning, we've been caught in Mr. Chen's trap. The death of Sarah at the start, Tess, Bill, Henry, and Samâeveryone feels like part of a vast net, steadily tightening our emotions. Then, in that cabin, it all erupts for the first time through Ellie, followed by the tension when encountering David, making Joel and Ellie's bond inseparable. This perfectly sets up the final, profound question: who matters more, Ellie or the world?"
The three discussed various designs in the game, along with deeper symbolic meanings.
Until another person joined them, uttering a sentence that left all three silent for a moment.
"But don't you think the most perfect part is that Mr. Chen didn't stab us in the back?" a brown-haired female reporter interjected.
Hmm. There might be some truth to that.
So, was the most perfect aspect truly Mr. Chen's mercy?
Li Yue and the other two exchanged glances.
While playing, their emotions had been on a roller coaster.
Especially during the period when Joel was severely injured, Li Yue genuinely feared that Mr. Chen's Great Machete would 'whoosh' right in.
Similarly, when Ellie was placed on the operating table at the end, he was filled with immense anxiety.
Only when Joel carried Ellie and escaped from the Fireflies did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"But Mr. Chen's mercy only applies to this one ending!"
"Right. The fate of Sam and Henry, those two brothersâutterly hopeless."
The other two snapped back to reality, sighing with emotion.
As they were talking, other reviewers who had finished the game gradually joined the discussion.
After over ten hours of gameplay, all of them had accompanied Joel and Ellie through everything.
From the Boston quarantine zone to Salt Lake City at the end.
They had experienced the changing seasonsâspring, summer, autumn, and winter.
From urban areas to the wilderness, from schools to hospitals.
Different scenes, different seasons, different enemies, and different companions.
The game had encompassed so much, and they had lost so much.
Especially the scene where Joel carried Ellie away from St. Mary's Hospital.
That moment brought all of them, who had played through it, back to that night twenty years ago when the Cordyceps fungus infection crisis first erupted.
Back then, Joel had carried his daughter, Sarah, just like that, fleeing for their lives. But the difference was, twenty years ago, Joel had failed to protect his daughter.
Twenty years later, Joel would never let anyone take Ellie away from him again.
An extremely controversial theme: which is more important, the world or Ellie?
Everyone who had experienced the game firsthand had fully immersed themselves in Joel and Ellie's emotions.
And their final answer was unanimous: To hell with the worldâI just want Ellie to live.
............
In short, The Last of Us's performance completely conquered all the media reviewers.
And upon deeper reflection, there were actually many thought-provoking elements within the game.
First, the protagonists, Joel and Ellie, finally reached Tommy's townâbut can they truly survive there in peace?
In the world of the game, did humanity eventually rebuild civilization?
These were broader, overarching questions.
There were also smaller, finer detailsâlike Bill, the man who gave Joel a car during their journey. What was his ultimate fate?
Such subtle details were abundant throughout the game.
It was precisely because of these details that the story of The Last of Us was able to touch hearts so deeply.
In this hopeless world, every character felt vivid and real.
Some, like the couple Joel and Ellie found dead by suicide in the inn, chose to escape from this cruel world.
Others, like David and his band of Hunters, had completely abandoned their humanity's conscience. Though they still had human forms, having forsaken their humanity, they could no longer truly be called human.
How different were they, really, from the Runners and Clickers?
Yet, there were also those who, in this despairing and cruel world, still held onto their own perseverance and beliefs.
Like Tommy and his community, building a beautiful home base in the midst of this harsh apocalypse.
The game contained far too much content worth discussing.
................
While these media reviewers were savoring The Last of Us or rushing to dig deeper into its content for their evaluations,
Online, the players were already embroiled in heated arguments.
The main reason was that after The Last of Us announced its launch date, it had released no further news.
Of course, that alone wouldn't have caused much of a stir.
The key issue was that during this time, FOW had made their move, announcing the trial play date for the A-round Test of Wasteland 1981.
Although it was just two days after The Last of Us, FOW's announcement had captured the attention of many players.
After all, the content previously showcased by this game was quite extensive.
In comparison, The Last of Us had been rather Riddler-like in its promotion and seemed to lack any obvious highlights.
Added to that, FOW and Nebula Games were direct competitors, and FOW, riding high on the success of its previous title Wasteland 1978, had a solid fanbase.
For a time, fans of Nebula Games and FOW were locked in fierce online battles, with an even larger number of spectators watching the drama unfold.
However, just at this moment, Chen Xu finally took action.
On the eve of The Last of Us's launch, Chen Xu and Nebula Games simultaneously posted on their official Weibo account.
No text. Just one simple, clear image.
(End of Chapter) <