Fans of “The Last of Us” will soon have the opportunity to delve into the complete narrative in script format, thanks to a new publication from Dark Horse. This isn`t about the popular HBO series, but rather “The Last of Us: Part I and Part II Scripts,” a comprehensive hardbound collection of the original Naughty Dog video game scripts. Scheduled for release on December 16, this book makes for a perfectly timed holiday gift for dedicated fans of the series.
This extensive 616-page hardcover volume compiles the complete scripts for “The Last of Us” (2013), its DLC “The Last of Us: Left Behind” (2014), and “The Last of Us Part II” (2020). Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog`s current creative lead and president, penned the first game and its DLC, while he co-wrote the sequel with Halley Gross. Interestingly, Druckmann and Gross recently collaborated with Craig Mazin on the scripts for the final two episodes of “The Last of Us” Season 2 for HBO.
This book promises to be a fascinating resource for fans looking to deepen their understanding of the game`s story during subsequent playthroughs. It will likely be of even greater interest to aspiring game writers, as official scripts for AAA games are seldom made public by developers or publishers. Until now, access to such detailed material for a major title has been virtually nonexistent outside the industry.
The very existence of such a detailed video game script book is quite remarkable, possibly unprecedented. Previous searches for full game scripts published in book form yielded no direct matches. The closest comparison found was “The Skyrim Library,” a three-volume series that compiled all the written lore from “The Elder Scrolls V,” rather than a script.
The reality is that publishing full scripts for many AAA games would simply be impractical from a financial standpoint. Games featuring extensive choice-based dialogue trees, branching narrative paths, sprawling open worlds, hundreds of non-player characters, and vast amounts of side content would necessitate an unmanageably large number of pages, potentially spanning multiple books.
In contrast, “The Last of Us” is uniquely suited for this script format. No other game has been so consistently described as “cinematic” or an “interactive movie.” In fact, many scenes in the HBO adaptation are lifted directly from the game, requiring no significant reinterpretation, a testament to the game`s strong, linear narrative structure.
“The Last of Us” distinguishes itself by not featuring choice-based dialogue, branching paths, or an expansive open world. The gameplay experience in the first game is largely pre-scripted. While the sequel offers players more dynamic freedom in approaching combat encounters and puzzles, its overall progression remains fundamentally linear, much like Naughty Dog`s “Uncharted 4.”
However, it`s important to note that these game scripts won`t read precisely like traditional screenplays or teleplays. They will undoubtedly include details on interactive components within the game worlds, woven into the conversations between characters like Joel and Ellie. The descriptive text filling the spaces between lines of dialogue is expected to be particularly illuminating, offering fans fresh insights into the intricate narrative and world-building of the games.
While screenplays (typically 90-120 pages) are not published as frequently as they once were, collections of teleplays for popular television shows do occasionally appear. Although HBO`s “The Last of Us” adaptation does not yet have a dedicated scriptbook, HBO has recently published such collections for other shows. For example, the scripts for all four seasons of “Succession” were released in 2023, and volumes for “Stranger Things” Seasons 1-4 are set to be published in the coming months.