The Last Of Us Comparison Video Shows How Incredibly Faithful HBO's Adaptation Is To The Game

Video game adaptations have previously often been a wasteland of entertainment, with many beloved video games brought low by dismal on-screen representations. Just think of Uwe Boll's filmography, which according to IMDb is littered with the corpses of several maligned video game adaptations like "House of the Dead," "BloodRayne," "Postal," and "Alone in the Dark" to name a few of his more infamous endeavors. Of course, there have also been movies like the 1990s "Super Mario Bros." that took the classic sidescroller and made it about alternate dimensions, evolution, and environmentalism, and the "Street Fighter" movie that saw Raul Julia put on an over-the-top performance as M. Bison, the video game's central antagonist.

Luckily, video game adaptations are starting to not only please longtime fans but also greater audiences as a whole. Just look at Netflix's "Arcane," which is based on the "League of Legends" massive online battle arena, and its perfect critic score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition to "Arcane," it looks like HBO's "The Last of Us" is also a huge success with both critics and gamers alike, and it currently has a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes as of the time of this writing. 

The HBO show is based on the video game series of the same name, and the original "The Last of Us" Playstation game has a 95/100 Metascore over on Metacritic, which highlights just how esteemed this video game series is and the lofty aspirations HBO must have had when approaching the adaptation. In other words, HBO certainly had their work cut out for them, and it seems as if they have knocked it out of the park.

"The Last of Us" video game proved to be one of the most heart-breaking in recent memory, with Den of Geek noting that its introduction is easily one of the most effective at getting people invested in the story — it's an absolute masterclass in doing so. With such an iconic and well-received intro, HBO knew exactly what story they were looking to tell, and took many scenes and dialogue straight from the video game. Though there are some moments that have been changed ever so slightly, the opening of both the HBO show and the video game are almost perfect reflections of each other.

As illustrated by this video by IGN where several scenes from both "The Last of Us" projects are played side by side, it only takes a few moments to realize that the scenes are lifted directly from the video game, going so far as to even emulate the same angles and perspectives. From Sarah (Nico Parker) waking up, the introduction progresses almost exactly the same, with the only real stand-out difference being where the neighbor attacks — in the game, the infected neighbor shatters through a glass door, whereas the show has the neighbor rush out from her house. However, many other scenes are almost a shot-for-shot remake, including the attempt to escape the chaos of the outbreak and the final moment that sees a soldier make an exceptionally bad call. 

In addition, even scenes with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) mimic the look and dialogue of her video game inspiration. This means that for those that have played the video game, this live-screen adaptation is nearly perfect, and one can only hope that the series will continue the trend in future episodes.