Video games are messy. They aren't born as perfect, polished experiences. Usually, they’re a chaotic pile of ideas that get hacked apart during the final months of development. This is exactly what happened with Naughty Dog’s masterpiece. When people talk about the chopped of us—the massive amount of content cut from the final release of The Last of Us—they usually think about a few missing lines of dialogue or maybe a skin swap.
But it’s way deeper than that.
Entire gameplay mechanics, massive boss fights, and character arcs that would have fundamentally changed how we view Joel and Ellie ended up on the digital cutting room floor. Some of this stuff stayed buried in the code for a decade. Other bits only surfaced because fans started digging through old concept art and interview transcripts from Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley.
The Tess Villain Arc That Almost Happened
It’s hard to imagine anyone but David or the Fireflies being the primary antagonist, right? Well, early in development, Tess wasn't the tragic partner who sacrificed herself in the capitol building. She was the main villain.
Basically, the original pitch involved Tess being betrayed by Joel. He was supposed to have a brotherly or romantic history with her that went south during the escort mission. In this version, Tess survives the initial encounter and spends the entire game hunting Joel and Ellie across the country. Think about that. The woman who taught Joel how to survive in the Boston QZ would have been his relentless shadow.
Naughty Dog eventually realized this felt too much like a generic "revenge" plot. It didn't fit the vibe. They wanted the world to be the antagonist, not a single person with a grudge. So, they chopped it. They turned Tess into a martyr, which honestly makes the opening act of the game way more emotional. If they hadn't, the game might have felt like a 15-hour version of a B-tier action movie.
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Joel’s Lost "Human" Moments
Joel is a brick wall. That’s his whole thing. But the developers originally wanted to show a softer, or at least more domestic, side of his survival. There was a sequence cut from the game where Joel actually had to play a guitar earlier on, or interact with more relics of the old world in a way that showed his grief more overtly.
They also cut a massive sequence involving a dog.
Yes, a dog. Long before Part II introduced us to Alice and Bear, Joel and Ellie were supposed to have a canine companion for a chunk of the journey. It was meant to help with stealth and tracking. Why did it get axed? Technical debt. The AI for the dog was apparently a nightmare to code alongside Ellie’s AI. The team realized that if the dog felt janky, it would ruin the immersion. They decided to chop the dog rather than ship a broken mechanic.
The Sewers and the Boss We Never Fought
You remember the Ish sequence? The tragic story told through notes in the Pittsburgh sewers? It’s one of the best bits of environmental storytelling in gaming history. But it was supposed to be a lot more active.
In the original files, there are hints of a unique "Bloater" variant that was meant to be a boss fight in those tunnels. Most people assume the game just has the one type of Bloater, but early concepts showed a more "aquatic" or damp-rot version of the infected. It would have changed the pace of that escape significantly.
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The developers talked about this in several "Ground Level" behind-the-scenes documentaries. They felt the tension of the quiet, empty rooms told a better story than a giant screaming monster would. They were right. Sometimes the best parts of the chopped of us are the things that were removed to let the atmosphere breathe.
Why the "Woods" Section Was Trimmed
There’s a long stretch between Bill’s Town and Pittsburgh that feels a bit like a montage. Originally, this was a massive playable area. We’re talking hours of navigation through rural Pennsylvania.
- You would have hunted for food.
- Ellie had more specific "training" sequences where Joel taught her to use the bow.
- There were more "raider" encounters that weren't tied to any specific faction.
The problem? Pacing. When you’re playing a narrative-heavy game, you can’t have three hours of wandering in the woods without a major plot point. The "chopped" content here was sacrificed to ensure the player reached the ambush in Pittsburgh before they got bored.
The Technical Reality of Cutting Content
Why do we care so much about what’s missing? Because it shows the "why" behind the "what."
When a studio like Naughty Dog chops content, it’s rarely because the content is bad. It’s usually about the "Golden Path." In game design, the Golden Path is the intended experience the player should have. If a 20-minute sequence where Ellie finds an old toy store distracts from the urgency of her being a "cure," it goes away.
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Even the ending was nearly different. There were versions where Joel didn't make it out. There were versions where Ellie actually left him before the hospital. Each of these choices was debated in writers' rooms until they found the ending that felt inevitable.
How to Find "The Chopped of Us" Yourself
If you're a nerd for this stuff, you don't have to just take my word for it. You can actually see some of this stuff if you know where to look.
First, check out the The Last of Us Part I (the remake) concept art galleries. They included a lot of the "lost" designs that weren't in the 2013 original. You’ll see designs for infected that never made it into the game and locations that were scouted but never built.
Second, look up the "Lost Levels" in The Last of Us Part II Remastered. While that’s technically the sequel, it shows the developer's mindset—they literally gave us the chopped content with developer commentary. It’s the best way to understand how the first game was likely edited.
Finally, read the American Dreams comic. A lot of the ideas that were cut from the game’s backstory for Ellie ended up in those pages. It’s basically the "deleted scenes" in print form.
Practical Steps for Fans
If you want to dive deeper into the cut content of this universe, follow this path:
- Watch the "Grounded" documentary on YouTube. It’s free and shows the Tess villain concept.
- Search for "The Last of Us Unused Dialogue" on TCRF (The Cutting Room Floor) website. It’s a wiki dedicated to unearthing game files.
- Play the "Left Behind" DLC again. A lot of the mechanics there, like the brick-throwing at windows, were actually ideas cut from the main game and repurposed later.
The reality of the chopped of us is that the game is better because of what was taken out. Editing is the soul of art. By trimming the fat—the dogs, the revenge plots, the extra bosses—Naughty Dog left us with a lean, mean, emotional powerhouse. It reminds us that what isn't there is often just as important as what is.