Part of what makes the Horizon franchise intriguing is how much world-building is available when creating a new landscape. Horizon Zero Dawn sees Aloy trying to learn more about herself for almost the entire narrative, and in the process she ends up discovering what happened to the world players are familiar with. Meanwhile, Horizon Forbidden West sees Aloy journey further into an unfamiliar part of the world where she meets more supplementary characters that build up the Horizon franchise. This is also echoed in The Last of Us 2, when Ellie decides to make her way through Seattle in search of Abby.
The Last of Us is never as solitary as the Horizon games due to players almost always having an NPC companion that aids in combat and environmental exploration, but Part 2 gradually begins to separate Ellie from those closest to her as the pursuit of Abby becomes an agonizing conflict. In this way, a potential Part 3 would be fantastic if it introduced Ellie to new characters and built up her connections again.
Horizon and The Last of Us’ Dystopias Offer a Wealth of World-Building
Horizon’s Aloy is a fairly stoic character without nearly as many direct hardships or tragedies in her life as Ellie has in The Last of Us, so a comparison of the two protagonists is impractical. Rather, the adventure that Aloy embarks upon in Horizon Forbidden West would make a great template for how The Last of Us’ Ellie can ingratiate herself into a new group, or ideally her former group in Jackson.
The Last of Us has only covered a small amount of the United States across two games, and while The Last of Us’ multiplayer spin-off is set in San Francisco, it would be great to see Ellie out and about in a completely different state again. This way, fans would have no prior assumptions about who she might bump into, and there could be new infected types roaming about to bolster gameplay.
This is the same world-building advantage that Horizon has, with the ruins of San Francisco being featured in Horizon Forbidden West and the ruins of Los Angeles appearing in Forbidden West’s upcoming Burning Shores DLC. The possibilities are legitimately endless with this formula, and The Last of Us 3 could be incredibly fulfilling for Ellie as a result.
The Last of Us’ Ellie is in Desperate Need of a Redemption Arc
If The Last of Us 3 is indeed happening at some point and features Ellie, it will be interesting to see which direction her character is taken. If Part 3 was to take inspiration from Horizon Forbidden West, Ellie could slowly recompose herself after the devastating conclusion to Part 2 with the help of new characters.
The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2 are low on characters who are redeemable in any sense, and it would likely be foolish for Ellie to immediately trust anyone new. But it would be a relief to see her welcomed with open arms and forgiven for her past transgressions at some point in the narrative. Likewise, Tommy is also in need of proper closure or respite.
Otherwise, Ellie could have been written this way to ensure her future would be decidedly lonesome and unhappy. It seems impossible that Ellie’s narrative could get any more tragic than it already is, but because The Last of Us is rarely merciful to any character, Ellie getting the happy ending that many fans want for her might just be the most subversive choice.
The Last of Us 2 is available now on PS4.