The last of us part 2 showed the world that the emotional narrative of the first game could be expanded into a grittier tale of revenge that still took place in the same a world infested with zombies. While the game received a huge amount of praise for its riskier narrative direction, quite a few fans complained about how certain arcs played out, as well as how Ellie's character developed throughout her own story. Despite being the biggest name in the genre, there are still quite a few zombie games out there that focus less on slaying hordes of the undead and more on interacting with the humans who remain alive in an otherwise decaying environment.
Equal parts terrifying and emotional, these games put a lot of emphasis on the impact a nationwide apocalypse can have on the people who must survive it. Some keep things open, giving players a huge field to explore while still drawing them in with compelling individual stories, and others scale the experience down to a more linear path that keeps the relationships personal and always puts the player right in the middle of the action. Be that as it may, many titles have proven this TLOU2 they can have attention, they can still compete in terms of narrative power and overall story coherence.
Days gone
A fulfilling journey
Set in bleak, post-pandemic Oregon, Days gone follows Deacon St. John and his search for his wife Sarah and a new meaning after the collapse of the world. His journey through the undead-infested wilderness is both a story of survival and an exploration of grief, and the game's world-building pushes these themes forward by moving between bursts of danger and quiet moments of reflection. Beneath his gruff exterior lies a character-driven story of faith in the face of futility, anchored by Deacon's evolving relationships and his desperate hope to find Sarah.
The last of us part 2 it offers a similar journey about finding meaning, but has a darker tone that has more to do with revenge and loss than hope. Where Days gone it pulls them off in how it speeds up the emotional stakes in the narrative. Instead of pushing players through constant moments of desperation, it instead allows them to grow attached to the cast over time and learn to value their will to survive over any desire for revenge. This more hopeful take on the apocalypse keeps the infected at the forefront of the player's mind, constantly showing the impact of the disaster from start to finish, and showing the importance of perseverance no matter how bleak things can get.
Dying Light: The Beast
Revenge will fully serve
Dying Light: The Beast brings Kyle Crane back from the original game and throws him into a rural landscape with even more chaos and horror than before. The story revolves around his battle with the infection and his mission to overthrow the baron who has been experimenting on him for years. The game focuses even more on the supporting characters and their role in the larger context of the world. Revenge is the driving force, and Kyle must deal with both the emotional consequences of his actions and the physical suffering he must now live with for the rest of his days.
What makes this revenge arc more compelling than v TLOU2 is that Kyle's story is more about personal transformation than a destructive series of events. Where Ellie stalks Abby, turning her into a monster who struggles to see any humanity in her actions, Kyle is very aware of his duality and constantly pushes to be a symbol of humanity's survival and not just another animal in the wasteland. Also, Dying Light: The Beast it opens the door to much broader questions about people and their inner selves, allowing players to think about the world in a more complete sense rather than focusing on the selfish wanderings of one character.
Telltale is The Walking Dead
More emotions and deeper implications
Telltale is The Walking Dead presented the world with one of the most emotional and heart-wrenching video game stories ever made, driven primarily by the perfectly fleshed out characters and their relationships with each other. The first game tells the story of Lee and Clementine as they fall into each other's lives at the start of the apocalypse, with every moment focused on their struggle to survive by any means possible. The game keeps things grounded and realistic at all times, ensuring that players never feel safe from the undead or humans willing to do anything to survive.
The reason why the story of the game is shortened is above TLOU2 is that it all feels much more realistic and believable than the journey across the countryside that Ellie undertakes. Lee and Clementine move slowly from place to place, and things almost always seem to go wrong, no matter how good they may seem. Still, for Ellie, her path to the end is mostly pretty straightforward, aside from a few losses that are certainly painful, but not enough to stop her mission. The big difference is that every action taken has serious consequences The Walking Deadmeaning that characters can have completely different fates depending on how players choose to act. IN TLOU2things are tight and limited, not giving players much opportunity to really branch out and instead forcing them to follow a single narrative path that may or may not be what they want.
Resident Evil 2: Remake
He fights on a more human level
The Resident Evil 2 the remake started the second era of survival horror Resident Evilbringing back several icons in an even more iconic environment that looks better than ever. The story remains mostly intact from the original, sending players into the heart of Raccoon City in the midst of a viral outbreak as they shoot their way through narrow corridors and mysterious labs with no real safety in sight. The story excels in how it handles its dual narrative. Players can choose to experience the story from the perspective of Leon and Claire in two similar but completely different gameplay modes.
Split story v TLOU2 feels more forced on the player, and while it attempts to show both sides of the narrative from each character's perspective, players have less and less control over when to play each path. RE2 instead, it draws a strict line down the middle, doesn't shuffle players from one side to the other, and since both characters are interested in the same goal, their crossover feels much more cohesive. Leon and Claire's journey is also much more unexpected, as players are constantly thrown into terrifying areas that push them to their limits and keep the surprise up until the last moments.
The last of us
Consistency and deep character development
Although it is the first game in the series, The last of us is often cited as having a much cleaner and more compelling narrative than its sequel. Joel and Ellie's relationship is the focus throughout, and much of the game's praise comes from how their dynamic develops over time and how it interacts with the game world. Players can use Ellie in various locations to further progress and are constantly fighting to protect her. However, Joel has a very clear motive, which is called into question at the end as he struggles with the moral dilemma of whether to save Ellie or potentially save the world.
The second game follows a similar theme of fighting for someone else, but it's not a heartfelt adventure about love and courage, Part 2 turns all those emotions into rage. Ellie becomes a fearsome character who keeps cutting her way through anyone and anything that gets in her way, and while this arc is reminiscent of Joel's bloodthirsty actions at the end of the first game, the sequel is more about cycles of violence and killing for killing's sake. The revenge narrative feels much less emotional, despite the motivations Ellie carries, and in the end, there's virtually no positive to carry over into a potential third game.
