The Last of Us: Left Behind

Game review by Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media
The Last of Us: Left Behind Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 18+

Violent action in phenomenal, emotional tale of two girls.

PlayStation 3 2014
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Parents say

age 13+

Based on 4 reviews

Kids say

age 14+

Based on 15 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this game.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Last of Us: Left Behind is a third-person action game with bloody and sensational violence for the PlayStation 3. Combat involves humans driven mad by fungal spores attacking and biting them. It also includes a good deal of strong language, as well as a brief scene in which a couple of teen girls taste a bit of whisky. It's definitely not meant for younger players. That said, more mature teens and adults likely will appreciate and be moved by the authentic and emotional friendship between the game's two young heroes, who are desperately searching for some sense of youthful normalcy as the world collapses around them.

Community Reviews

BlitzGuy20
BlitzGuy20 Adult
July 10, 2022
age 12+

Emotional and well-written prologue has less violence than the original game, but plenty of profanity

The Last of Us: Left Behind (2014) follows 14 year old Ellie and her friend Riley through a shopping mall in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Serving as a prologue and DLC to the original game, The Last of Us (2013), we switch back and forth between the main games events which remained unseen until now and the past with Ellie and her friend. VIOLENCE: MODERATE Infrequent and relatively tame violence compared to the first game. On occasion, players encounter zombie creatures and get to take them on with a pistol, knife and bow showing a small amount of blood upon killing them and while using explosives, brief gore. Unlike the original game, we don’t face humans until the very end, and even this sequence isn’t very graphic, however this can be stabbed and shot with a pistol and bow, spraying and splattering blood. While using explosives we see brief gore. During cutscenes, we see wounds realistically oozing blood and in one scene a zombies throat is slit open in a rather graphic shot. LANGUAGE: MODERATE Frequent use of “f*ck”, “sh*t”, and “d*ck” over the roughly 1.5 to 2 hour game. The language appears more frequently than it does in the original game, yet because of its length it is nowhere near as strong. 12+ for violence, some bloody images and language

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
John S.
John S. Adult
March 29, 2018
age 14+

Not that bad

Its just a girl looking for her dad

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use
See all 4 parent reviews

What’s It About?

Ellie, the teen girl who traveled across a plague-ravaged United States with her companion Joel in 2013's outstanding The Last of Us, returns as the sole playable character in THE LAST OF US: LEFT BEHIND, a three-hour expansion available only via download. The story explores a skipped sequence from the original game in which Ellie gathers medical supplies and uses them to save Joel after he falls and gravely injures himself. But its real aim is to use a series of extensive, playable flashbacks that revolve around Ellie's friendship with another girl to provide specifics concerning the events that led to Ellie joining up with Joel. The challenging combat returns, with several nail-biting sequences that see Ellie alternately hiding from and hunting both infected and uninfected humans. But much of the game is free of fighting, focused instead on getting to the heart of the complex relationship between the two girls.

Is It Any Good?

Much like the game it expands upon, this title doesn't content itself with simply delivering nerve-racking life-and-death scenarios that will leave players forever wary of clicking sounds in the dark. The Last of Us: Left Behind also challenges players with a moving narrative that will make players care about its characters on a very human level. As Ellie and her friend explore a long-abandoned mall, doing the sorts of things kids their age not living through a nightmarish apocalypse normally would -- ducking into a photo booth, heading into an arcade -- the tragedy of their situation becomes woefully clear and is all the more so once the depth of their relationship is revealed and put to the ultimate test. Few game characters, male or female, young or old, have ever been so beautifully or sadly realized.

At only three hours, Left Behind is preciously brief. Most players will be left wishing for another three hours, especially given the stirring conclusion. Take it as proof of developer Naughty Dog's understanding of and commitment to the old adage: Always leave the audience wanting more.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about female characters in The Last of Us: Left Behind. What about Ellie keeps her from becoming a stereotype? How does her appearance and personality differ from those of most game heroines?

  • Families also can discuss the impact of violence in media. How do you feel after playing a game with a lot of violence versus, say, a puzzle game? What purpose does violence serve in interactive entertainment?

Game Details

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