Though it adopts a fairly straightforward approach,The Last of Us' world-building is some of the most engaging in all of gaming. ThroughThe Last of Us' main story, players are frequently drip-fed pieces of information about the state of the world and how it became like it is. These world-building foundations are then built out properly with the game’s many collectible notes, some of which give more personal details on how the state of the world has affected individuals and some of which discuss howthe Cordyceps infectionhas impacted society.
After playing bothThe Last of Usgames, fans will have a pretty good understanding of its post-apocalyptic world and the characters within it, but it still feels like fans are only scratching the surface ofThe Last of Us' universe. For the most part,The Last of Usis a franchise that’s centered around North America, and while that’s been a great way to ground its main events and provide an easy point of comparison for fans, it’s starting to feel a little restrictive. As such, it would make sense fora potentialLast of Us Part 3to take a page out ofRed Dead Redemption’s book.
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The Last of Us 3 Should Take Players To Unseen Corners of the Infected World
The vast majority ofThe Last of Us' current canon has only really shown how the Cordyceps infection has affected North America. After the Cordyceps outbreak in 2013 - or 2003 if it’s the HBO continuity - citizens across North America were rounded up and put in camps that eventually became known as Quarantine Zones. A government-run military faction known as FEDRA commanded and defended these QZs. As time went on, buildings started to collapse, and foliage began growing across the abandoned country. Many of those living inside the QZs decided they wanted to befree from FEDRA’s rule, and these rebellious factions started cropping up across the country, with some being more successful than others.
While all of this is established and shown consistently throughoutThe Last of UsandThe Last of Us Part 2, little else is known about the rest of the world. A newspaper collectible in the first game states that around 60% of the world’s population is believed to have died due to the Cordyceps outbreak, but that’s about as much official news Naughty Dog has ever given on the matter.HBO’sThe Last of Usgoes a little more in-depth about the Cordyceps' origin, confirming that it came from a South American factory and that it spread via food products that contain flour. But fans never actually get to see how that all impacts the rest of the world.
A hypotheticalLast of Us Part 3should finally take players outside of North America, borrowing a trend seen in theRed Dead Redemptionseries. During the firstRed Dead Redemption, John Marston’s reluctant bounty-hunting adventure takes him across the border and into Mexico. And then inRed Dead Redemption 2, following a failed bank heist in Saint Denis, Arthur Morgan and a few other members ofthe Van Der Linde gangwash up the shores of Guarma, an island in the Caribbean. Though these sections are a little divisive for fans, they do provide an interesting change of pace from the rest of their respective games, offering some unique scenery and giving the player a better idea of the rest of the world at this point in history.
The Last of Us Part 3should directly borrow this element fromRed Dead Redemptionand take players on a road trip across the rest of America. Players could start in Mexico, or somewhere in South America, and have to make their way north to Canada, passing through some familiar North American sights along the way. This would give the game a ton of visual variation while also finally giving fans more concrete details on the state of the rest of the world.
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