r/thelastofus Apr 29 '26

General Discussion The Last of Us Part III – Theories, Wishlists & Speculation MEGATHREAD

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With rumors, leaks, and speculation around The Last of Us Part III picking up, we’re consolidating all discussion into one place.

Use this thread for:

  • Story theories / predictions
  • Character arcs (Ellie, Abby, new characters, etc.)
  • Wishlist features (gameplay, mechanics, setting)
  • “What should Part III be about?” posts
  • General speculation and rumors

To reduce repetitive posts and keep the subreddit readable:
Standalone posts about Part III speculation will be removed and redirected here.


r/thelastofus Jan 20 '24

Technical/Bug/Glitch TLOU2 Remastered bug/glitch unofficial report thread

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Unfortunately, the TLOU2 remaster seems to have introduced quite a few bugs that were not present in the original release. This is fine, since some things are always missed, but I thought I'd make a thread for people to post any of the bugs they've run into in game to hopefully increase the chances that Naughty Dog will learn of these issues and patch them. So far, I have experienced or seen people mention the following:

  • In No Return mode, some characters are unable to change their weapon skins for some reason. If you try to select any of the different weapon skins, the game will make the "locked" noise and you'll be stuck on whatever skin you had equipped at the time of the glitch occurring. I've personally seen this with Jesse, Yara, and Mel so far, but it may happen with other characters too.

  • Enemy dialogue that would play at the start of and during Abby's brewery encounter on day 3 no longer triggers. The WLF soldiers would call out Abby for betraying them and talk about Owen doing the same briefly, but now none of the enemy dialogue throughout this encounter triggers at all. (I'm also wondering if there's any other missing/broken dialogue).

  • Ellie's "Boston" skin from promotional material seems to be missing from the game entirely. It's unable to be seen or selected in any of the menus. While it's possible this was cut prior to release, it would be very strange since the skin looked finished and was very recently seen in the marketing prior to release. Additionally, Abby's Santa Barbra skin does not use the correct backpack model despite the menu indicating that it should.

  • Skins seem to not be applying for multiple users correctly in story mode.

  • The main menu won't change back to the original boat in the water look after starting a new game.

  • I've not experienced this myself, but No Return seems to cause major frame drops for many players. Personally, I'm really curious what's causing this as it only seems to affect some people.

  • Some users report being unable to escape from grapples despite mashing the square button as prompted by the game.

If you know of any other bugs, please feel free to list them here! I'm not sure if Naughty Dog often responds to support requests, but you could still try filling out one here. Most of these bugs aren't game breaking, but hopefully Naughty Dog still learns of them and takes the time to fix them as some of these are pretty unfortunate.


r/thelastofus 2h ago

HBO Show Nick Offerman calls out Ben Shapiro's 'rampant homophobia' after watching his review of The Last of Us S1E3 for the first time

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r/thelastofus 1h ago

Small Detail I’m gonna cry

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r/thelastofus 18h ago

General Discussion TLOU Part II worth playing for the gameplay/combat alone?

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Not a big fan of long, narrative heavy games. Me have gamer goop brain. I enjoy shooting things, gore, and gameplay that keeps me engaged. I genuinely do not care about the story or the characters. I did enjoy the first one and played the factions mode and it was phenomenal.

I just want your raw, unfiltered opinions. I'm getting vibes of people holding back or filtering themselves. I just want genuine, authentic opinions. Be honest, even if your opinion is unpopular or goes against the consensus.


r/thelastofus 6h ago

PT 2 DISCUSSION "If it were you or me, Joel would be halfway to Seattle." Spoiler

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What would the game be like if Abby had killed Ellie or Tommy instead of Joel?

Joel and Tommy avenging Ellie would be the most depressing game imaginable.

They teased Ellie and Joel going after Dona's killer as a misdirect. What do you think that would have been like?


r/thelastofus 5h ago

General Discussion TLOU has ruined other games for me 😭 ( Coz it was so peak )

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I’ve played both Part I & II and now I genuinely can’t find anything that hits the same...

My little sister watched me play both from start to finish and we were both completely hooked... Now I’m looking for another story-driven game with that same emotional + cinematic + addictive feeling...

I want something where you actually get attached to the characters and look forward to playing every day...

What game gave YOU the closest feeling to TLOU? I need something good ....


r/thelastofus 11h ago

PT 2 QUESTION Why didn’t Nora just give Ellie a wrong location? Spoiler

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I was thinking about that just now. Nora seemed so determined not to rat on Abby. So why didn’t she just fool Ellie about this information?


r/thelastofus 16h ago

PT 1 VIDEO Despite my reservations, decided to give permadeath a try…

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Part 1 and (even more so) Part 2 are narrative forward games with a lot of set-up and preamble before they get going. Even more notable there are more then one insta-death scenarios and mechanics in them that feel too risky to try whole game perma-death on, I thought. So it never really seemed like something I would be down for attempting.
But I was itching for a replay, part 1 is shorter, and I’ve played it at least a dozen times in my life, surely I can keep my wits about me in combat and be fine. Enter… the nailbomb… I even had my brick out to be extra sure!!!! That wire is so hard to see!!!

This is a warning to those who think they can breeze through this game on perma-death. The last thing you expect can get you.


r/thelastofus 20h ago

PT 2 DISCUSSION What is the Best character of no return?

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r/thelastofus 4m ago

PT 2 IMAGE/VIDEO how to feed a bloater Spoiler

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r/thelastofus 1d ago

HBO Show Crazy how one single bad season can make an entire show go downhill

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r/thelastofus 22h ago

General Question Cheapest way to play the last of us?

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So basically I just got Ellie’s tattoo and now I’m wanting to play the game again but I don’t have my ps5 at my parents house. What’s the cheapest way I can play it? I have 10mb internet, a MacBook and a Xbox One X if that helps haha.


r/thelastofus 15h ago

PT 2 FANART My Ellie digital portrait! Spoiler

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r/thelastofus 23h ago

Video My game runs really slow

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I am playing tlou 2 on my ps4, the game ran really well until now. My game is running really slowly. I tried restarting the console, reinstalling the game and even open it to clean the fans but nothing worked. What can i do ?


r/thelastofus 1h ago

General Discussion The single biggest plot issue in a well written game I have ever had Spoiler

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So I am replaying both games after a few years as I have noticed they have both been ported to my favourite platform, the PC.

I generally really like the games. The story is strong and mostly really well written, the characters are fascinating. I have enjoyed playing through them in the past as I am enjoying it now.

That being said, I am again baffled by what I consider to be the biggest plot issue I have ever encountered in an otherwise really stellar game story.

This plot point that I am finding the issue with takes place at the end of the first game and most of the second game plot stems around it and revolves around it, so it is no insignificant overlooked mistake.

(Major spoilers beyond this point)

So the story of the first game ends as follows: After having traveled across a good chunk of the decimated USA, Joel and Ellie finally reach the Firefly base in the Salt Lake City hospital. Ellie nearly drowns and as Joel gives her a heart massage, he is knocked unconscious by a firefly soldier. The game cuts to Joel waking up in a bed and Marlene telling him, that Ellie is fine, but they are sadly going to need to perform a fatal surgery on her in order to extract her unique mutated fungal infection and to eventually develop a humanity saving cure from it. Joel, unwilling to let Ellie die and driven by paternal instinct, proceeds to fight his way to Ellie and escape the hospital with her, having murdered (at least) one unnamed soldier, Marlene and the Firefly head surgeon along the way.

The second game then tells the story about a daughter of this head surgeon whom Joel had killed and who was apparently the only person capable of developing said cure. In a quest to revenge her father and the hope of humanity wasted by Joel, this lady murders Joel in an exceptionally cruel and inhumane way. Setting of on another revenge mission, Ellie then goes to hunt her.

From the combination of collectible items in both games and retrospective flashbacks in the second game we learn a few more details about what went down in that hospital prior to the attempted surgery: Marlene was thrilled to see that Joel and Ellie managed to get to them, but devastated after having learned that Ellie would have to die. Ellie was apparently like a daughter to her. She was asked to kill Joel, but decided not to, since she considered him the only person able to understand how she felt. She tells Joel about the planned operation, but, despite obviously understanding and emphasizing with him and despite Joel asking surprisingly politely, she denies him seeing Ellie.

She also had a quite heated discussion with the surgeon on the topic of killing Ellie for the cure. Some quotes from that retrospect:

Surgeon: "How many Fireflies died for less?"
Marlene: "That was their choice."

Marlene: "If this was your daughter, what would you do?"
Right after this Abby (Surgeons daughter) comes to her dad and says "If it was me, I would want you to perform the surgery."

Me: "Then why do you not make this operation Ellies choice?"

My thoughts: When Joel and Ellie have reached the Fireflies, Ellie, having nearly drowned, was unconscious. Judging by her words in the car after having escaped the hospital, they have kept her unconscious throughout her entire stay and intended to chop her up without even having talked to her.

Would Marlene not have wanted to talk to Ellie, to hear her speak one last time?

When not in the heat of a battle, is it not a basic politeness to ask before you euthanise someone, even if it is for the better future of humanity?

In one other second game retrospect Ellie says "I was supposed to die in that hospital. My life would have f** mattered. But you took that from me." From this we can judge that she would most likely have complied and agreed with the surgery. If Marlene was so close to her, she would have known that about her. Would hearing her approval not have made her conscience lighter, her decision easier?

And would hearing Ellies approval not have prevented Joel from going on a rampage, killing the only person capable of developing a cure and dooming humanity to eternity with the infection?

What would waking Ellie up / letting her wake up and talk to her have costed? A few extra hours, days at most? Some bits of food and/or medicine? The infection have thrived for over 20 years, it is not like a few extra days are going to make or break their chances of developing a cure.

The facility was also pretty large. Ellie was their greatest hope of achieving what they all have dedicated their lifes to, so her arrival must have been huge news for them. Her death must have been a collective and well discussed and thought through decision, it could not have just been a shortcut split-second call of one overly excited boss man.

So why did no one ask Ellie?


r/thelastofus 7h ago

PT 2 QUESTION Impossible? Spoiler

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Sorry to intrude guys. First time on here and I need some advice for hillcrest on grounded mode. I'm on the section where you're nearing the dark smoke in the sky, the section where there's a ton of dogs, you know? And I wanted to know if there is an optimal route to get past this part for someone with 2 rifle shots, a single shotgun shot, one arrow, and 2 pistol bullets. I've tried just about every combination of ways and I die brutally each time. Just wondering if anyone elses situation was like mine and can help. Thanks guys


r/thelastofus 17h ago

PT 2 DISCUSSION Abby and Jerry Spoiler

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Okay, so he had to have been a good dad because it just hit me how affected she was by his death. Like, I always knew, but yesterday I was like, “Oh, she really loved him.”

Then there’s the scene of her telling Lev that her dad painted a whole jungle for her, with colourful birds and trees, for her bedroom or whatever. That’s so cute. Too bad he was a shit person.

I would love to see more of their relationship, though.

(I have no clue why I only now really realised that)


r/thelastofus 1d ago

General Discussion Last of us Part 1 - Why do high-quality games like this one come out so rarely?

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One of the best games I’ve ever played. The story is really good. And I’m NOT a huge fan of zombie games. That says a lot about how good the story was. It was like watching a cinematic masterpiece. I really connected with the characters in the game; they felt like real people, not just clichéd stereotypes.

  1. Why are games with good stories so rare these days? Ubisoft releases games often, but the story doesn’t have the same impact as The Last of Us Part 1 did. I’m going to play The Last of Us Part 2 soon.
  2. What other high-quality games with compelling storylines would you recommend? I've finished Expedition 33, God of War: Ragnarok, Ghost of Tsushima, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Detroit: Become Human.

r/thelastofus 13h ago

General Discussion What mechanics you want to see being included/expanded upon in a possible future game?

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With all this talk about ND going back to TLOU after Intergalactic, I've gone back to thinking about how the already great gameplay could be enhanced.

One problem I have with the gameplay is that damage doesn't really affect how you or the enemies fight. A guy who's been shot twice in the torso will fight the exact same way a guy who hasn't been shot at all. And I know most games work like this, but I think ND could go a step further and give us more realistic consequences for damage outside of shooting specific places to stun. Stunning itself is also kinda weird. It makes sense that shooting someone in the leg would put them on their knees, but five seconds later they are running as if nothing happened. And it's weird how other kinds of damage usually don't stun as well, like hitting someone with a fricking lead pipe. Hand to hand coild also be improved, maybe with a more sophisticated grappling or defending mechanic.

Some things in stealth also bug me a bit, like enemies not seeing a brick/bottle being thrown right in front of them, as well as not noticing someone jamming a bunch of scissors into a baseball bat five feet from them, or someone swimming and splashing around next to them. But the moment you stab someone too fast that automatically alerts everyone lol.

Anyway, I really like the way combat works, but still think it could be even better.


r/thelastofus 19h ago

General Discussion What does Ellie's redemption arc look like?

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There have been many theories about what people would like to see in Part III if it comes out. There has also been a lot of discussion about if Ellie's journey will lead her back to the Fireflies and the cure.

We see Part II focus heavily on grief and revenge through Ellie. We also see what redemption begins to look like for Abby through her relationship with Yara and Lev. They both mirror each other's journey.

I was wondering what "redemption" might look like for Ellie. Does she still think her purpose lies with the Fireflies? After everything that has happened, what does her immunity mean to her, if anything? Will she look for the opportunity to give her life for this cause now that she has the choice and knows the consequences? Outside of the Fireflies, will she find something else to give her life for?


r/thelastofus 1d ago

PT 2 IMAGE/VIDEO "It's Not That Hard" TLOU 2 Moment

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Not sure why I thought I could copy that when I couldn't do that the whole game


r/thelastofus 1d ago

PT 1 FANART Forgot about this map I made about 10 years ago

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r/thelastofus 18h ago

PT 2 DISCUSSION No Return: Levels Spoiler

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I would love some more levels and think that integrating Part I would be awesome. If they’re going to have playable characters from Part I, why not levels? And why not more from Part II while we’re at it
Examples:
The Lodge
The Restaurant
Outside Pittsburgh
The Museum
The Hotel
The Capital House
The Bank

What levels would you like to see? What about other modifiers to switch things up?


r/thelastofus 16h ago

PT 2 QUESTION grounded+ and chronological mode Spoiler

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if i play grounded, ng+ and chronological mode at the same time, will i still get the achievements? already did permadeath lol