History TheLastOfUs / TropesOToZ

* ReclaimedByNature: The series uses this to full effect for SceneryPorn. The premise of the series is that more than 99% of humanity has been killed off by a deadly fungus, so there aren't enough survivors to simply maintain any upkeep. One example comes when Joel and Ellie are exploring through a ruined building and they come across a giraffe who escaped from the zoo. The Giraffe is just casually eating leaves from a nearby tree growing in the building, and allows Ellie to come up and touch its face.

** This ends up being averted in The Last of Us Part I, where the model is changed to one resembling the iconic Browning Hi Power, which ''is'' chambered in 9mm.

** Upgrading a melee weapon in the crafting menu allows Joel to instakill one to three enemies with it (depending on his skill level) before the weapon's normal three-hits-to-kill behavior takes over again. [[MacheteMayhem Machetes]] and [[AnAxeToGrind axes]] kill instantly by default, but can still be upgraded to increase the number of times they can be used [[BreakableWeapons before breaking]]. This way, you can get an impressive eight guaranteed melee kills out of the axe ([[InstantDeathRadius unless you're up against bloaters, of course]]).

** Also played straight with the [[AnAxeToGrind hatchet]], which [[OneHitKill One Hit Kills]] anything short of a bloater, but only lasts five hits before breaking (or up to eight when upgraded). The [[MacheteMayhem machete]] is even worse, packing the same punch but only lasting ''three hits'' (six with upgrades) before breaking. That said, you can only ever carry one melee weapon on you, so if you come across a fresh machete or hatchet you'd be stupid not to pick it up and use it unless you're already carrying one.

** The bow is notable not only for being the only completely silent ranged weapon, but also for killing any unaware human enemy in one hit, even if you merely shot them in the foot[[note]]or [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim the]] [[MemeticMutation knee]][[/note]]. It can also instakill clickers with a headshot (something your handguns need at least two shots to accomplish), making it the perfect tool to clear out packs of infected. Bloaters are the one thing it can't take down in one shot, but they're so rare it's not really a problem. Its only downside is the scarcity of its ammo, since no enemy ever drops arrows other than the ones you shot into them before.

** Although the above is certainly true in open combat, the bow is a [[CripplingOverspecialization highly specialized stealth weapon]], and mastering it makes it DifficultButAwesome in a game that puts extreme emphasis on stealth. Its arrows [[OneHitKill kill unaware hunters, runners and stalkers instantly]] no matter where they're hit, a headshot instakills clickers at range without making a sound, it can be upgraded to have a very impressive range, and it can carry more ammo than its closest equivalent, the hunting rifle[[note]]11 arrows compared to 9 bullets, and since arrows have a roughly 50:50 chance of being retrievable, it goes up to 17 shots on average[[/note]]. Stealth encounters with large groups of enemies become vastly more manageable if you conserve your arrows for these occasions.

* RuleOfDrama: Is it a ''good'' idea to take on the infected with bare knuckles and uncovered arms? No, but it makes the characters seem more approachable. [[spoiler:And then {{SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome reality ensues}} and Tess gets bit.]]

** This ends up being averted in ''The Last of Us Part I'', where the model is changed to one resembling the iconic Browning Hi Power, which ''is'' chambered in 9mm.
* RuleOfDrama: Is it a ''good'' idea to take on the infected with bare knuckles and uncovered arms? No, but it makes the characters seem more approachable. [[spoiler:And then surprisinglyRealisticOutcome and Tess gets bit.]]

** This emphasis on green gets taken UpToEleven with the Remastered edition on [=PS4=], where even the light bar on the game controller is usually lit up green (vs. the usual blue) during the single-player game. (Notably, it changes color as your health deteriorates, matching the on-screen health meter -- green, then orange, then red.)

--> '''Marlene:''' [[spoiler:The doctors tell me that the cordyceps, the growth inside her, has somehow mutated. It's why she's immune. Once they remove it, they'll be able to reverse-engineer a vaccine. A vaccine.]]

--> '''Joel:''' [[spoiler:But it grows all over the brain...]]

* {{Retronym}}: The [=PS5=] remake is titled ''The Last of Us Part I''

* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: If you die during a hostile encounter, the game returns you to the automatic checkpoint right at the start of that encounter so you can try again. However, depending on how far you got before you were offed, it might not restore the resources and ammo you had on you going in. Given how scarce resources are in this game, this can potentially leave you in an area full of enemies, but without the gear you'd need to get past them. Hunter encounters ''only'' become extremely difficult this way, but if you're up against clickers or even a bloater in such a state, your're pretty much boned.

* RecurringBoss: The invincible [[spoiler:Hunter Humvee]] hounds you through the entirety of Pittsburgh, popping up again and again as an AdvancingBossOfDoom until Joel can finally take it out in the suburbs.

* OnlyOneName: The entirety of the main cast. Joel, Ellie, Tess and others are always referred to by their first names, with no surnames ever given or seen during the campaign. In [[AllThereInTheManual the Japanese version of the manual,]] Joel, Sarah, and Tommy are all given the surname of [[spoiler:Miller]], while Ellie's is supposedly [[spoiler:Williams.]]

* UnwinnableByMistake: If you die during a hostile encounter, the game returns you to the automatic checkpoint right at the start of that encounter so you can try again. However, depending on how far you got before you were offed, it might not restore the resources and ammo you had on you going in. Given how scarce resources are in this game, this can potentially leave you in an area full of enemies, but without the gear you'd need to get past them. Hunter encounters ''only'' become extremely difficult this way, but if you're up against clickers or even a bloater in such a state, your're pretty much boned.

* RealityEnsues: Played straight with Bill, who's such an asshole that his partner abandoned him and took anything he could carry along with him.
%% Yes, this phrasing is quite deliberate. It's a double entendre.
** Joel and Tess fight zombies with bare arms and relatively thin clothing that wouldn't protect them from an irritated kitten, much less Infected. [[spoiler:And that's how Tess gets bit. As she says, their 'luck had to run out sometime'.]]
** The Fireflies may have the capability to pull off terrorist actions against the military, but Marlene explicitly proclaims that it isn't enough and they're being pushed back down to the last of the group in the region; against direct intervention, they're effectively slaughtered. [[spoiler:Even within their HQ inside a hospital with full military-grade armaments, Joel is able to tear his way through them singlehandedly off of his sheer experience and determination while they rely on their guns to keep him away. They're simply not prepared for a full-on fight.]]
** In the ending, [[spoiler:Joel ends up in a scene that very, very closely evokes the situation carrying Sarah at the start of the game. He's had twenty years to think about it. ''This'' time he's carrying a concealed gun.]]

* RuleOfDrama: Is it a ''good'' idea to take on the infected with bare knuckles and uncovered arms? No, but it makes the characters seem more approachable. [[spoiler:And then RealityEnsues and Tess gets bit.]]

** In the ending, [[spoiler:Joel ends up in a scene that very, very closely evokes the situation carrying Sarah at the start of the game. He's had twenty years to think about it. ''This'' time he's carrying a concealed gun.]]

* OffscreenTeleportation: Enemies do this ''constantly''. You can sneak up on a new area, pause to listen, hear nothing, take one more step and suddenly there's a bunch of enemies ahead of you. Alerting an enemy during any encounter will also spawn numerous hostile reinforcements just outside your line of sight.
* OneHitKill:
** Upgrading a melee weapon in the crafting menu allows Joel to instakill one to three enemies with it (depending on his skill level) before the weapon's normal three-hits-to-kill behavior takes over again. [[MacheteMayhem Machetes]] and [[AnAxToGrind axes]] kill instantly by default, but can still be upgraded to increase the number of times they can be used [[BreakableWeapons before breaking]]. This way you can get an impressive eight guaranteed melee kills out of the axe ([[InstantDeathRadius unless you're up against bloaters of course]]).
** The bow is notable not only for being the only completely silent ranged weapon, but also for killing any unaware human enemy in one hit, even if you merely shot them in the foot[[note]]or the knee[[/note]]. It can also instakill clickers with a headshot (something your handguns need at least two shots to accomplish), making it the perfect tool to clear out packs of infected. Bloaters are the one thing it can't take down in one shot, but they're so rare it's not really a problem. Its only downside is the scarcity of its ammo since no enemy ever drops arrows other than the ones you shot into them before.
** Molotov cocktails and the flamethrower also fit here. What they hit (again, except bloaters) won't die instantly, but burning enemies stop fighting and rapidly lose health until they die, so it's basically a OHK with a slight delay.
* OneHitPolykill: The hunting rifle and El Diablo have [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor-piercing]] upgrades. Aside from being able to deal full damage against armored enemies, it also enables these weapons to kill multiple enemies in a row with just one shot.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Most notably, [[TechnicallyLivingZombie they're not even "the living dead"; only living humans can be turned]], causing some people to [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]] so they can [[DyingAsYourself die as themselves]]. The Infected go through several stages as the [[FesteringFungus Cordyceps]] grows on them.

** Bloaters are the final stage of the maturation, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin bloated]] in size and covered them in Cordyceps growths that function as armor. Not only are they incredibly tough and frighteningly fast, they throw toxin-laden clusters that burst into clouds of choking, blinding, infectious particles.

* PleaseWakeUp: Joel asks this of Sarah who just died in his arms.

-->'''Ellie:''' Why are the pages all stuck together?
* PostApocalypticGasmask: Gasmasks are ubiquitous as they are needed to protect against the airborne spores of the [[ParasiteZombie Cordyceps]] [[FesteringFungus fungus]] that has destroyed most of humanity.
* PostApocalypticTrafficJam: Played straight during the opening. Joel, his brother Tommy and daughter, Sarah run into an impassable traffic jam while trying to flee Austin when the infection starts up. Averted during the main story proper, where Joel and Ellie rarely run into this problem in their travels. Even when they get a working truck, they manage to get to Pittsburgh on clear and navigable roads. Only force to abandon it when some Scavangers manage to total their car. Early concept art does show the two having to travel along rows of abandoned cars at one point, but for whatever reason, it was scrapped.

** [[spoiler:AR-15 pattern rifles, despite being ''the most popular rifle in America'', are only usable in the final level, taken from the cold, dead hands of the Fireflies. FEDRA has them them in the ScenicTourLevel, but never uses on the player, and Tommy is the only non-paramilitary person who owns one.]]

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Joel's daughter Sarah, who dies at the end of the opening sequence when a soldier seriously wounds her.]]

* ShaggyDogStory: Hey Joel, you know how you've gone cross-country and fought off hordes of bandits and Infected to get The Immune Ellie to La Resistance? You know how you've come to love her over the course of your journey? Well, [[spoiler:now the Fireflies want to slice her brain into pieces so they can study her brain and her infection. Oh, you are going to kill them all against Ellie's will to make her whole journey pointless and then lie to her face about it? Alright then.]].

** Some players have figured out that they can throw a brick or a bottle at a certain spot, wait a few seconds (without moving) for zombies to move towards it, then toss a nail bomb or molotov in the exact same spot.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: The prologue. As the outbreak begins, Joel does everything he can to get his daughter out safely. Warding off infected neighbors and, after her leg is wounded, carrying her the rest of the way through the chaos with Infected right on their heels. They manage to make it out of the city and are even saved by a soldier. However, the soldier then gets the order to execute them both. [[spoiler:Joel tries to shield his daughter before Tommy blasts the soldier but Sarah is fatally wounded and dies not long after.]]

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: If you've found an upgrade bench or decent stock of supplies,[[note]]''(not including the locked doors that cost a shiv to break open)''[[/note]] chances are you can expect a PointOfNoReturn and difficult battle around the corner. Most noticeable just before the section in Bill's Town where you get caught in one of his traps. That point will probably be the only time in the game where you have full ammo on any single weapon, your revolver in this case. The trope also applies to the suspiciously generous amounts of bottles and bricks you will find before and during certain levels.

* TacticalSuicideBoss: Had the [[spoiler:gunner of the humvee not decided to open the vehicle's hatch and start throwing Molotov cocktails, Joel would have had no chance of destroying it]].

* TechnicallyLivingZombie: The Infected look and act like typical zombies, but the "virus" is actually a mutated strain of Cordyceps fungus. They're still alive, just unable to control their own bodies.

* ThrowingTheDistraction: Bricks, bottles, etc can be thrown to distract/attract enemies or [[ImprovisedWeapon simply smack them in the head.]]
* TimeSkip: There's one for every change in season, skipping weeks or even months of time as Joel and Ellie travel cross country. Additionally, there's a time skip of 20 years between the intro and the story proper.

** Largely averted for throwables and medkits since most of these items can be crafted. However, crafting resources are scarce, so you'll still want to be careful about what you use when and where.

* TooDumbToLive: Past a certain point, anyone who dares tangle with Joel and/or Ellie. It would be one thing if they just had no idea what they were up against, but eventually the two of them develop big, big reputations for the masterful orgy of violence they tend to leave in their wake. Naturally, everyone who's lost a ton of friends to them wants to get revenge instead of doing the sensible thing and ''staying the Hell out of the way''.

** The game's 'infected' are/were inspired by a fungal infection that actually exists in real life. ''Ophiocordyceps unilateralis'' is a form of fungus that essentially aggressively zombifies a particular variety of ant in order to propagate further, spreading itself via spores after infection. In-game, it's supposedly a mutant strain of this fungus that infects human beings.

*** There's a nod to this within the game itself; [[https://youtu.be/CLIU6Dv43Qk?t=900 in one of the newspapers]] found lying around while in Pittsburgh, the headline reads "Zombie ants discovered...".

** After 20 years without the benefit of human maintenance, the level of decay and creep of vegetation back into urban areas is startlingly realistic. Direct evidence for such dramatic reclamation is provided by the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pripyat city of Pripyat]] in the Ukraine, which was abandoned over 30 years ago almost over-night, following the Chernobyl disaster.

** The field manuals are slightly stylized versions of [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61uq2pnFPaL.jpg actual Vietnam-Era field manuals]], at least the covers.

* WarmUpBoss: Robert is this in spades. As well, his status as a WolfpackBoss underscores just how much of a CowardlyBoss he is.

** [[LaResistance The Fireflies]], [[spoiler:who plan to cut out Ellie's ''brain'' so they can create a vaccine for the infection]]. Even in the opening credits, the Fireflies have their motive stated as proponents for the reinstating of the US government as opposed to the universal martial law that has formed, they also claim responsibility for two bombings.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"''But it grows all over the brain...''"]]

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: The Fireflies commit acts of bombing and raids against the military who are protecting the last remnants of humanity but they wish to restore the civilian government.