There's still that same tangible context that justifies searching every room and rummaging in every drawer, and Left Behind progresses this technique tying exploration of a space with exploration of the story by connecting some conversations and minor details to your performance in certain tasks. Left Behind furthers this dynamic - you never feel that Druckmann, Straley and co are frustrated novelists or film directors. One of The Last of Us' key strengths is how its mechanics are imbued with a sense of purpose and tied so wonderfully to the narrative. While there's certainly value in playing through The Last of Us again prior to starting Left Behind, there's also a surprising amount to be taken from venturing through the main story once more after experiencing this DLC, in possession of the knowledge that it brings. In doing so, it once again turns the pseudo-father-daughter relationship on its head and offers still more to ponder in the main story's ambiguous ending. It offers insight into the depth of the bond that exists between the two and provides a deeper understanding of this relationship by exploring events that are only alluded to in the main story. In its way, Left Behind also serves as an examination of Ellie's later relationship with Joel.
Combat maintains its taut pace from the main game but tense confrontations between bandits and infected offer new avenues for experimentation. Suffice to say that exploration is its own reward, and it's as amusing as it is poignant to witness the two friends walk amongst the relics of an opulent past and wonder aloud at the bemusing superficiality of it all.
To pick out any single instance of this juxtaposition would be to deny you the joy of discovery. Ostensibly, it is a snapshot of a pivotal time in Ellie and Riley's friendship that plays out against the backdrop of a post-outbreak world, a world in which quarantine zones and death are everyday considerations and where trips to the mall and carefree teenage frivolity are wholly alien concepts. Left Behind presents an unexpected duality, contrasting the Ellie with whom we are familiar with one whom we've never met. Those that have played through The Last of Us already know how this story ends and likely have an idea of how it might play out, and so it is to the developer's significant credit that Left Behind manages to defy foreknowledge to tell a story that is touching, revealing and important. Instead, Neil Druckmann, Bruce Straley and their team have chosen to explore one of the defining relationships of our young heroine Ellie's life - her close friendship with a fellow teenage survivor, Riley. The strained relationship between Joel and his brother Tommy Marlene's journey from Ellie's guardian to head of the Fireflies the story of Ish, the enigmatic survivor whose notes detail his harrowing experiences in Pittsburgh - any might have worked. It says much of the quality and depth of The Last of Us' characters and world that Naughty Dog could have picked any one of a number of threads to explore in this, the first and only story expansion for its seminal action-adventure. A beautifully crafted addendum to The Last of Us, a game that already stands tall above many of its peers.
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