2019-03-01_Official_PlayStation_Magazine_-_UK_Edition

PARTING SH T

The worst of us

Is TLOU’s Joel a survivor or a sociopath?

Celebrating PlayStation’s finest moments

W

hat stings most is the

deception. At the end

of The Last Of Us she

begs for the truth,

asking him to swear that what he

said to her that night – the night

• was true. He hesitates briefly,
  rocking his weight from one foot
  to the other, but looks her straight
  in the eye as the lie rolls smoothly
  off his tongue: “I swear.”
  We’re not used to playing as
  men like Joel. While videogames are
  stuffed with flawed protagonists,
  Joel’s dubious morality and
  shocking propensity for violence
  make him even more flawed than

most. It’s not that he doesn’t

know wrong from right; he just no

longer cares whether his actions

count as the latter. Joel watched

as those he loved most died, some

succumbing to the very disease

he’s been indirectly tasked to cure,

others by the new world order

now in place as a result of it. Grief

has overwhelmed his humanity like

a cancer replacing the soft, warm

parts of him. All that’s left now is

this hard, cold shell.

Playing the game, most of us

expect him to come good at the

end, to save the day just like

fiction has taught us to expect.

He doesn’t, though. Joel’s final,

unflinching choice is the most

self-serving of them all, but it’s not

even up for debate. This is no RPG;

Joel makes the decisions, even if

what we want and what he wants

are no longer aligned. That’s why

the final, crucial lie is worse than

all the actions that got him there:

we thought he was changing. We

thought he was becoming the hero

we needed him to be. Belatedly,

we realise he’s too damaged by

everything that’s gone before

and his pain is too great... and we

strongly suspect that his smooth

lie will come back to haunt him. Q

FORMAT PS3, PS4 / PUB SONY / DEV NAUGHTY DOG / RELEASED 2013 / SCORE 10/10

No.75

Portal 2

If this ending

doesn’t leave

you in tears,

you must

have wiped

your human

personality.

Next

Month

SPOILER

ALERT

LOOK AWAY!

Persona 5
Ann reasserts
control,
breaking free
of her abuser
and saving
you into the
bargain.

Last
Month