A strange clone of The Last of Us Part 1 called The Last Hope - Dead Zone Survival has appeared on the Nintendo Switch eShop, and the similarities are bordering on shameless. The Nintendo Switch eShop has plenty of great exclusive games, but this doesn't seem to be one of them.
In the gaming industry, it's totally normal for games to take elements from one game, and implement them in new and exciting ways. It's one of the reasons gaming is so popular as a medium - each game stands on the shoulders of giants, benefiting from the success and mistakes of games gone by. Despite this, every now and then a game comes along that flies a little too close to the sun in an attempt to capitalize on another game's success. For example, there are plenty of Super Smash Bros. clones, but seeing one released for The Last of Us is definitely unusual.
Redditor velvcoat posted the image online, which shows The Last Hope - Dead Zone Survival on the front page of the Nintendo Switch eShop, as well as a screenshot from the game. Everything, from the font of the title to the character design, is undeniably heavily inspired by The Last of Us. The screenshot of the game itself doesn't look too impressive, resembling something that might have emerged a few years ago when Steam asset flips were becoming prevalent.
Gamers in the thread found the situation hilarious, describing The Last Hope - Dead Zone Survival as "the adventures of Joe and Ellen." Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us are one of gaming's most iconic duos, and it's hard to imagine that The Last Hope - Dead Zone Survival's equivalent has quite so much depth to their character. At this point, it's unclear how the game made it onto the eShop. As a commercial release that isn't free-to-play, it's something that Sony will certainly have its eye on. While any action Sony can or will take would be pure speculation at this point, the game is clearly too similar to The Last of Us to go without comment.
Sadly, The Last Hope - Dead Zone Survival doesn't quite fill the void currently left by the lack of The Last of Us Part 3. Naughty Dog remains silent on the prospect, even after delaying The Last of Us' multiplayer game. It seems that the studio doesn't want to comment on The Last of Us Part 3 until it has something more concrete to share, which makes a lot of sense. Given the recent mainstream success of the franchise's HBO adaptation, The Last of Us Part 3 arriving at some point in the future seems a near-certainty.
The Last of Us Part 1 is available now on PC and PS5.
