Highlights

  • HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us offers a smart take on the infected, with a hivemind concept adding a new layer of realism to the mix.
  • The Last of Us 3 will need to introduce new enemy types to keep combat encounters fresh and differentiate itself from its predecessors.
  • The mycelium strands, which essentially work like tripmines, could be borrowed from the HBO series. If players step on them, they could be spotted by all the infected in an area, or trigger a new infected type that is harder to deal with.

The Last of Us is one of the most critically acclaimed properties in recent years, with tremendous success in both the game space and the realm of television showing just how much the franchise has resonated with both hardcore and casual audiences. The 2013 game was a beautiful, near-perfect example of developer Naughty Dog's ability to conjure great characters and send them on a truly emotional journey.

HBO replicated the first game in a way that few game adaptations have been able to achieve. On one hand, it was faithful to what The Last of Us did over a decade ago, but on another, it found smart ways to add to its world, setting, and lore, changing the story in ways that few fans took issue with, despite some alterations being quite large. A third game is likely, and this excellent TV series could provide the perfect basis for a fresh idea when it comes to infected enemy encounters.

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The Last of Us 3 Will Need New Enemy Types

EllieFightsRatKingTLOU2 (1)

While there is a decent amount of variety in The Last of Us' enemy types, as runners, clickers, and bloaters each require unique methods to be taken down, The Last of Us 2 felt the need to expand on this with the introduction of new adversaries to keep the combat encounters fresh for returning fans. It's a necessary evolution, and one that helps to differentiate the pair of Sony exclusives, showing a gameplay progression alongside the strides that The Last of Us 2 makes in storytelling, level design, presentation, and character development.

Season 2 of HBO's The Last of Us has been confirmed, but currently no release date has been set.

The Last of Us 3 will have to do the same to stand out in a sea of exceptional AAA offerings. Finding new ways to implement different enemy types will be tough, seeing as the rumored third game will establish itself in a developed universe, but that's not to say it can't find a creative way to conjure a threatening presence using other means. The HBO series changed the way the infected operate in one distinctive way, and emulating that change in the gaming space could lead to an interesting twist on combat.

HBO's Hivemind Infected are a Stroke of Genius

horde of infected in hbo's the last of us

HBO's TV adaptation of The Last of Us smartly explains the presence of the infected by implying that they're all connected by a network that can be disrupted by the most subtle of disturbances. Instead of just roaming the land, the infected work as a hivemind, connected by cordyceps fungus that is spread all over and effectively works as a tripwire to alert the infected of the presence of survivors. It's a change that showrunners felt they needed to make to ensure the TV adaptation was still somewhat realistic, as the spreading of the infection via spores works for gameplay, but not necessarily for television.

In the 'Inside the episode' video for Episode 2 of The Last of Us on the Max YouTube channel, showrunner Craig Mazin said:

We started looking at something called mycelium, which are these threads that make up fungus. In the game, it spreads through biting and saliva, but it also can spread through the air and through spores. While that works in a video game environment, in real life spores move around everywhere. It's just harder to put into the notion that spores localize and don't spread.

These tripmines would be a smart way to keep the challenge high, and could be introduced via a special evolution of the infected that starts to appear after another time skip. Instead of stumbling into a combat encounter in The Last of Us 3 with infected and finding new ways to take them out, this hivemind could present the puzzle before a fight is even initiated, with players having to find a clever way to circumvent the encounter entirely, or clear out weaker enemies without stepping on the tripmines and alerting a tougher foe.