Look, everyone knows Joel and Ellie. If you’ve touched a PlayStation in the last decade, you’ve probably felt the gut-wrenching weight of that final hospital scene or watched the HBO show with a box of tissues nearby. But here’s the thing. When people talk about The Last of Us related games, they usually just mean the two big mainline titles. They think the journey starts with a broken watch in Austin and ends with a guitar in a farmhouse.
They're wrong.
There is a whole ecosystem of content that bridges the gaps, experiments with mechanics, and—in some cases—was tragically left on the cutting room floor. If you haven't played Left Behind or messed around with the original Factions multiplayer, you basically only have half the story. You're missing the connective tissue.
The Prequel That Isn't Actually a Prequel
Left Behind is weird. Most DLC feels like a cash grab, but Naughty Dog treated this like a vital organ. It’s technically one of the most important The Last of Us related games because it recontextualizes Ellie’s entire personality.
Think about the mall.
The game jumps between the "present" (Ellie scavenging for meds to save a bleeding-out Joel in Colorado) and the "past" (Ellie and Riley’s final night together). It’s a masterclass in pacing. One minute you’re smashing car windows with bricks in a playful competition, and the next, you’re stabbing a cannibalistic hunter in the neck. The contrast is jarring. It’s meant to be.
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Neil Druckmann, the series creator, has often spoken about how this chapter was necessary to show what Ellie was actually losing. Without Riley, Ellie’s immunity isn’t a miracle; it’s a curse. It’s her survivor’s guilt in physical form. If you skip this, you don't really get why she’s so desperate for her life to "mean something" in the first game's finale.
The Multiplayer Game That Everyone Forgot (Then Begged For)
Let’s talk about Factions.
When The Last of Us launched in 2013, nobody cared about the multiplayer. We all thought it was going to be some tacked-on deathmatch mode. Instead, we got a brutal, slow-paced survival sim that felt exactly like the campaign. You weren't just shooting people; you were gathering supplies to keep a fictional "clan" alive. If you performed poorly, your survivors got sick or died.
It was stressful. It was brilliant.
And then came the heartbreak of the "Untitled The Last of Us Online" project. For years, it was the most anticipated of all The Last of Us related games. Naughty Dog was building a massive, standalone live-service title. They hired talent from all over the industry. Concept art showed survivors on balconies overlooking a decaying San Francisco.
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But in late 2023, they killed it.
Naughty Dog released a surprisingly candid statement explaining that to support a live-service game of that scale, they’d have to become a "live-service studio." They chose to stay a single-player studio instead. Honestly? It was a brave move, even if it sucked for fans. It leaves a massive hole in the franchise's lineup, but it preserves the studio's DNA.
Remakes, Remasters, and the Part II Controversy
The timeline of these releases is a bit of a mess. You have:
- The original 2013 PS3 release.
- The Last of Us Remastered (2014) for PS4.
- The Last of Us Part I (2022) for PS5 and PC.
- The Last of Us Part II Remastered (2024) for PS5.
Is Part I a different game? Mechanically, no. It’s the same AI pathing and the same level design. But visually, it changes the "vibe" of the world. The characters look older, more tired, and more like their Part II counterparts. Some purists hate it. They think the original's slightly more "video gamey" look had more charm. Others argue the remake is the only way to play because the facial animations actually match the voice acting performances by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson.
Then there’s No Return.
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Included in the Part II Remastered package, this is a roguelike mode. It’s purely mechanical. You play as characters you never got to control before—like Lev, Mel, or even Tommy. It’s arguably the most "gamey" experience in the entire franchise. No story, just pure, unadulterated combat. If you want to see how deep the "prone" and "dodge" mechanics of the sequel actually go, this is where you find out. It proves that even without the tears and the heavy themes, the core gameplay loop is incredibly tight.
The Games That Influenced the Infection
You can't really understand The Last of Us related games without looking at what they were inspired by. This isn't just about Resident Evil. Naughty Dog looked at Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the "overgrown world" aesthetic. They looked at the companion mechanics in Ico.
Even Siren: Blood Curse played a role in how the team thought about stealth and horror. If you're a superfan, playing these older titles feels like looking at an architect's early sketches. You see the DNA of the Clickers in the terrifying, twitchy movements of Japanese horror games from the early 2000s.
Is There Anything Else on the Horizon?
We know Part III is eventually coming. Druckmann has said he has a "concept" for it. But in the meantime, the "related games" list is mostly about refinement.
There are also the board games. The Last of Us: Escape the Dark successfully kickstarted, focusing on the bleak atmosphere of the first game. It uses a lo-fi, black-and-white art style that feels totally different from the lush greens of the digital world. It’s a "related game" in a literal sense, and it’s one of the few pieces of media that captures the feeling of actually running out of ammo.
What You Should Do Now
If you're looking to dive deeper into this universe beyond the standard "play the story" advice, here is the path forward:
- Play Left Behind on Grounded difficulty. It changes the mall from a playground into a claustrophobic nightmare where every brick counts.
- Spend five hours in No Return. Choose a character like Tommy who can't dodge. It forces you to relearn the entire combat system and appreciate the level design from a tactical perspective rather than an emotional one.
- Watch the "Grounded" making-of documentaries. Naughty Dog released two of them (one for each game). They aren't "games," but they provide the essential context for why the games ended up the way they did, including the scrapped ideas for an open-world Jackson.
- Track down a copy of the American Dreams comics. These were written by Druckmann and Faith Erin Hicks. They serve as the direct prequel to Left Behind and explain how Ellie met Riley in the first place.
The Last of Us isn't just a pair of games. It’s a specific philosophy of design—one that prioritizes the "dirty" and the "uncomfortable" over the "fun." Whether you're playing a roguelike mode or a board game, that feeling of impending dread is the constant thread.