Watching Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, Joel and Ellie’s original voice actors, in HBO’s The Last of Us brought glee to a lot of fans in the penultimate and final episodes, but let’s not forget the eyebrow-raising moment that reminded everyone why they should also buy the games and experience them.
The two protagonists exploring a wasteland and passing different obstacles in the United States already bring video game level design to mind, but the TV producers took that to a whole new level by incorporating an actual gameplay mechanic into the script.
Just as Ellie and Joel are about to arrive at the Firefly hospital, they enter a ruined building that doesn’t have a proper staircase to scale. Joel suggests giving Ellie a boost so that she can drop the ladder and allow him to climb up as well.
Most fans recognize this as a classic Naughty Dog parkour element, from both The Last of Us and Uncharted games. It’s also a very common mechanic to enter new areas in a lot of games, including PlayStation’s own God of War. Suffice it to say, viewers think this is the best cameo in the entire live-action adaptation.
The reference is so on the nose, your finger may have even itched to find that △ button on the controller, only to realize you’re watching a television show.
They even included that yellow marker which indicates an area you can interact with.
And yet, there was a discernible lack of brick-throwing, Joel’s favorite move in the game, throughout season one.
Now, let’s see if that golf club also makes it into season 2. Too soon?