14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Naughty Dog has already hinted that many versions of the story in The Last of Us were abandoned before the game was launched and it seems that one of them features Tess, Joel’s friend from the game, as the main antagonist.
Plenty of his statements contain spoilers, so those who have not completed the game might want to stay away.
Neil Druckman, the creative director working on the title, is quoted by VideoGamer as saying that, “Tess was betrayed by Joel and took on a mission to pursue him across the country. That storyline never worked out. The storyline shifted and Tess took on this role where she became more of a believer and she helped motivate Joel.”
Naughty Dog says the earlier version of the story was not working because neither of the two characters had any clear motivations for their actions.
Druckman also says that his team planned to never allow Ellie to kill any non-infected characters until later in the game, when she had to personally deal with Tess as she was attacking Joel.
He adds, “that changed pretty early on. We decided it wasn’t going to be about the first time she killed someone, it was more about this coming of age story of the impact that the horrors of violence has on her over the course of the game.”
The Last of Us is one of the best-sellers of this year at the moment and most players who bought the game see the story it is telling as more important than the actual gameplay.
Naughty Dog has promised to offer more information on an alternate ending for the game during the coming PAX event.
The team is apparently working on DLC for the title that might be launched before the end of the year and a sequel is also a possibility.