Man, The Last of Us Could Have Been Really Different...

That header image looks like it belongs at the beginning of Family Ties or something.

Any way, the developers of The Last of Us, have started to let their hair down and tell-all about the early ideas for the game.

Originally, the game started as a premise pitched to none other then horror great, George Romero. If taken by the zombie master, the game would have been a cross between ICO's escort gameplay and a character with chronic heart conditions slowing him down.


After the idea was rejected, it was reworked a bunch till it became what it is today. One revision of the game seems to be seeing some controversy, as it saw all of the games monsters be comprised of only the female population of the world, having been infected by a mysterious virus that transformed them. Ellie would have been the only immune female on the planet. All of which leads to cries of misogyny from a lot of people.

But heres the thing; something about the original concept of the game reminds me of all the stories we have that crop up here and there where suddenly women can't have children, but one lone girl is the key to curing the world, or whatever.. Like Children of Men, or something..

The game didn't even have to have killing in it at all, and it sounds like people are jumping the gun and flinging out the knee jerks because it's the "in" thing right now to call out even the slightest idea of hate towards women in videogames (and not limited to videogames...). But, I mean, it says it right there that it was like ICO with cardiac issues.. That doesn't' sound all that violent to me... It sound more like my entire week, last week.

Its a sci-fi/horror story. Its a "last person on earth" scenario. It's like Water World without the Mr. Coffee machine. It is a social commentary: What would we do if something afflicted all the women around us, except for one little girl? People would want to control that girl, because that girls cells hold power. Some people would want to protect her, because she's their savior. I feel like it were the last boy on earth, we wouldn't be making a big deal over it.

Frankly, I think the game would have been a totally different experience from what was released, and it wouldn't have to do with killing a single woman. Plenty of men would squabble over the fate of this one girl. Enough to fill 50 games, if not more.