Adapting things like novels or short stories into movies and TV shows normally isn't especially difficult (that's not to say it's easy), considering the reader will visualize the story their reading in their minds, so it's a matter of transferring it to the screen. However, video game adaptations are usually a bit more difficult, because the visual factor is already established.
With video games, the characters aren't entirely black and white, seeing as though their being controlled by a player. So, the player often determines things like fighting style -- or lack there of -- and, in some games, even how they choose to respond to other characters in dialogue. Given that, it's no wonder video game adaptations have such a rotten reputation. That is, until HBO's The Last of Us broke the curse.
The Last of Us series is based on the award-winning Naughty Dog video game of the same name that came out in 2013. While both part 1 and 2 of the video game franchise are incredible, the HBO series honored how amazing the games are, while also doing its part in keeping it fresh and even have people who've played the games guessing and on the edge of their seats. So, what can the show teach about how to properly make video game adaptations in the future?
Keep the Best Parts and Honor the Game
One thing The Last of Us did so well is it honored the game for what made it such an amazing story. In the game, players could really feel the bond build between Joel and Ellie. Not only that, but the game let the players into the lives of the characters and allowed them to understand and care about each of them.
The game, for example, has a DLC package titled, The Last of Us: Left Behind, which tells the story of Ellie and Riley's relationship before Riley is bitten by an infected. It follows them as they break into a mall and mess around, trying to get a taste of what normal life was like before the outbreak.
This was an extra story package that wasn't in the original game, so it could have been very easy to just not include it in the show, but the producers were very smart in where they inserted it, and used the story to push the show's plot forward. In the show, it serves as a flashback for Ellie in which she finds the courage and inspiration through her relationship with Riley to save Joel who is in need of medical supplies. An excellent story and an even better way to implement it into the series.
Perhaps the best part the show decided to include -- a scene that is virtually verbatim from the game -- is the fight when Joel tells Ellie, "You're not my daughter." When Joel wants to leave Ellie in the care of his brother Tommy because he's afraid of losing Ellie as they make their way to the hospital, she freaks out and tells him that she wouldn't be safe with anyone else, rather, she'd "just be more scared." It's such an emotional moment, and a pivotal one, as Joel is forced to confront the fact that he hasn't let go of his daughter Sarah, and he has a built a wall up in every relationship he's made since her death. An incredible scene in both the game and the series, it helps push Ellie and Joel's relationship past the barriers they both had up after losing people they care about.
But Don't Be Afraid to Try Something New
While it's important to keep the best parts, video game adaptations also have the freedom of adding their own element and plot points to their story to amplify things like context, complexities of a relationship, and the viewers care for a character that may not have been as deep as it was in the game. A perfect example is the opening sequence in which Joel's daughter Sarah is killed.
In the game, Sarah is shown for just a small time (and is the first character players get to play with). She gives Joel his birthday present, a watch, and after falling asleep, wakes up amid the outbreak and Joel fumbling through his things to evacuate the city. The show takes it a step further, and really builds a relationship between the viewer and Sarah, showing a typical day in her life eating breakfast, going to school, and actually buying the watch for Joel. Viewers can feel how close Sarah and Joel were, so that when she is killed, it hurts that much more.
Changing things could also make certain aspects more practical in live action adaptations. The big one in this series is the functionality of the infected. In the game, the infected simply bite their prey to spread the infection, or they release the airborne spores that infect upon inhalation. The series makes it a bit more realistic and chooses to spread the infection via Cordyceps, the tentacle-like arms of the infection that enter the next host. Because of this, infected are able to speak to one another from long distances by sending signals into the ground. It's a small change with enormous repercussions, making it a perfect and very effective change.
Explore Side Stories and Characters
One of the best episodes from the series was a storyline that wasn't even discretely shown in the game -- the story of Bill and Frank. In the game, players only learn of Bill and Frank's relationship through notes the player finds around the house, which pieces the story together. The show decided to dedicate an entire episode to it, and viewers are so grateful for that decision.
Finding notes around a house and piecing a story together was a regular occurrence in the game, so Bill and Frank's story wasn't necessarily anything special because it was just another sad tale of people who didn't survive as long in the outbreak. But in the show, there's no side character that the viewers collectively cared about more than Bill and Frank.
The show built their relationship from the very beginning to the devastatingly romantic end. It exemplified what The Last of Us is really about: the last of the survivors and the stories of those who didn't make it. It brought the viewers deeper into this chaotic world by showing them ordinary people doing their best to live and the sacrifices they had to make in order to go as far as they did.
It'll be interesting to see where they decide to go in season 2, because for anyone who played the sequel game, there's a major event that changes the entire trajectory of the story. But perhaps it would be better if this, too, was tweaked a bit for the continuity of the already amazing plot.