**SPOILER ALERT**
Details regarding the alternate ending were teased only two days ago, but can anyone in love with The Last of Us say the wait isn’t worth it?
Courtesy of Videogamer and a featured article on Game Informer a full synopsis was laid out by Neil Druckmann as to what was going to happen throughout the course of the game. Apparently, instead of Tess performing her martyrs act to save and instill a sense of belief in Joel, she is actually betrayed by him and seeks to exact her revenge in a hunt across the country. If for some reason this is hard to take in, just know that the game developers thought the same way as said by Druckmann as he further explains the thought processes to make it all play out:
We had a tough time understanding why Joel would take this journey – we weren’t buying it, We also had a hard time buying that Tess would go on a vendetta. We could understand her pursuing Joel a little bit, but why would she go for a year around the country? Those things were solved by saying that Tess is going to die when she gets bitten, but her dying wish to Joel is to do this one good thing – help me do this one good thing so my soul can rest because I’ve done all these horrible things.
A bit of a paradigm shift in gameplay, but that isn’t all that was set to happen. Once Tess finally caught up to Joel she would begin torturing him, and just before she killed him Ellie would intervene to save him along with gaining her first kill. However, this would have happened way too late in the game, meaning Ellie would have been another one of those useless sidekicks that shadowed you through the majority of the game. Naughty Dog couldn’t allow this so it made it so it hit her sooner, that way we the gamers could see her tolerance of brutal head smashing violence grow, just like the trail of bodies she would leave behind at the hospital.
After all of this, the biggest dilemma that lurched over the heads of the team was the ending as described further from Neil:
The original ending when we pitched the game was a much more hopeful ending, where Joel and Ellie make it to San Francisco and that is a town run by people who are trying to restore society, Joel has killed all these doctors and lied to Ellie, and Ellie just fully buys into the lie. So, you’re left with the idea that they are going to live the rest of their lives in this town. The camera pulls back and maybe everything is going to be alright for these two. I was working on writing, and it didn’t feel honest anymore. After everything they’ve done and everything they’ve been through, that was letting them off a little too easy – especially for Joel
Not shortly after this ending was put through the trials, the team refined the game to have the ending we already know and love. Feedback initial testing the alternate ending wasn’t positive. Overall, the changes made may have been for the best. It made many of us think about one of the biggest questions in faith and love, how far will you go and just how much are you willing to do for what you treasure most.
