The Last of Us Storyline Explained

Via PlayStation 3 News at IGN:

Make your great escape from the Quarantine Zone.

February 8, 2012

Ever since The Last of Us was revealed this past December, gamers have been flooded with questions. As a PlayStation 3-exclusive title from the Sony-owned studio Naughty Dog, expectations are exceptionally high. And like Naughty Dog's famous Uncharted series, The Last of Us seems to be character and plot-driven.

We've met the game's main characters, we know that a virus has mutated most of the world's population and destroyed the world as we know it, and we know that the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting. But now, thanks to a video posted on Game Informer, we have more detail than ever about the game's plot, how things begin, and what the situation is for both Joel and Ellie as your adventure unfolds.

"The story takes place 20 years after this apocalyptic event happens," Creative Director Neil Druckmann explains. He goes on to talk about what we already know and what we've already figured out; society is breaking down as a result of a deadly virus. Though the government is falling apart, the military has created quarantine zones that act as sparse safe havens for uninfected survivors. Druckmann goes on to note that even the quarantine zones begin to fall apart over time, however, as supplies run low, people start losing their minds, and the infected start infiltrating them, whether intentionally or otherwise.

Ellie's in trouble, and needs to escape the Quarantine Zone.

"Our story picks up in one of the last remaining quarantine zones," Druckmann goes on. Martial law rules the day, and any infraction -- even minor ones -- result in immediate execution. The quarantined city the game begins in is split up into various, heavily-guarded sections, and scanning for the infected happens constantly. "If you scan positive for infection," he notes, "you're taken off to the side and euthanized."

Joel is then touched upon by Naughty Dog. Described as being in his 40's, Joel knows what the world looked like before it was devastated. Over time, he's begun to become less bound by morality and more bound by doing whatever's necessary to survive. "What he wouldn't do in the past is almost a daily occurrence at this point," Bruce Straley, the game's director, notes.

A "black market" within the quarantine zone is what Joel calls home. And while there, he's tasked with a job. While he usually deals in "contraband," such as illicit drugs, illegal weapons and more, this job requires him to "smuggle" a young girl out of the city. That young girl is Ellie, who we were first introduced to when the game was revealed for the first time with that beautiful trailer. Why is she being smuggled out? "That's something we're not ready to talk about," Druckmann admits.

Joel's gotten more than he bargained for.

"All she knows is this one quarantine zone." That's a scary thought, but it's Ellie's reality. Having been born years after the devastation begins, she has no idea what the real world was like. She lives in a military-run orphanage within the confines of the quarantine zone, and has great interest in media from before the fall, such as comic books and music. The producers allude to the fact that the trouble she often gets into at the orphanage hastens the need for her to leave the city.

The thing is, when he and Ellie leave the city, things go badly. Joel is caught with Ellie outside of the city, and worse yet, it seems he'll be unable to return, as he's now wanted by the military. Having made a solemn oath to a friend within the city that he'd look after and protect Ellie, the two move on outside of the city as a team. Joel knows someone outside of the confines of the quarantine zone and looks initially to unload Ellie so he can move on alone.

"Being a Naughty Dog story," Druckmann teases, "things aren't always what they seem."