The Last of Us (video game)

The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective. Players use firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated fungus. In the online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.

The game's development began in 2009 after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The studio split into two teams for the first time, with one developing The Last of Us and the other Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson portrayed Joel and Ellie through voice and motion capture, and assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with developing the characters and story; Joel and Ellie's relationship became the focus of development, with all other elements crafted around it. The score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla.

The Last of Us was released for the PlayStation 3 in 2013 to acclaim for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, sound design, score, characterization, depiction of violence, and portrayal of female characters. It became one of the best-selling video games, selling over 1.3 million copies in its first week and 17 million by April 2018. Its year-end accolades include Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications and awards ceremonies. It is considered one of the most significant seventh-generation console games and among the best video games.

Naughty Dog released several downloadable content additions; The Last of Us: Left Behind adds a single-player campaign following Ellie and her best friend Riley. A remastered version, The Last of Us Remastered, was released for the PlayStation 4 in 2014, and a remake, The Last of Us Part I, was released for the PlayStation 5 in 2022 and on Windows in 2023. A sequel, The Last of Us Part II, was released in 2020. Other The Last of Us media includes a comic book in 2013, a live show in 2014, a television adaptation by HBO in 2023, and a tabletop game by Themeborne in 2024.