Why Clickers in The Last of Us Still Haunt Our Nightmares Years Later

That sound. You know the one. It’s a rhythmic, wet, staccato snapping that cuts through the silence of a collapsed skyscraper or a flooded basement. If you’ve played Naughty Dog's masterpiece, hearing clickers in The Last of Us for the first time is a core gaming memory, usually followed by a frantic check of your inventory for a shiv or a brick. They aren't just zombies. Calling them zombies feels like an insult to the sheer, fungal craft that went into their design. They are the tragic, terrifying midpoint of a human being dissolved by nature, and honestly, they’re still the most effective enemy in the survival horror genre.

The Biology of a Blind Killer

Most people assume the infection is just magic video game logic, but the Cordyceps Brain Infection (CBI) is based on the real-world Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. In ants, it’s a death sentence. In the game's universe, it jumped to humans through contaminated crops. By the time a host becomes one of the clickers in The Last of Us, they’ve been infected for at least a year. The fungus has literally split their skull open from the inside out.

It's gruesome.

Because the fungal growth has completely overtaken their eyes, clickers are totally blind. They navigate using echolocation. This isn't just a cool lore tidbit; it’s the fundamental mechanic that dictates how you play the game. You can’t just hide behind a crate and wait. You have to listen to the environment. If you knock over a bottle or move too fast while crouched, they’ll snap their heads toward you with a speed that feels genuinely unfair.

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What Most People Get Wrong About Clicker Stealth

There's a common misconception that clickers are just "the ones you have to sneak past." While true, the nuance of their AI is actually much more complex than the Runners or Stalkers. A Runner might see you and scream, but a Clicker is actively "scanning" the room with sound pulses. If you stand perfectly still in their line of "sight," they might still catch you if they emit a click and you’re standing too close. The sound bounces off you.

I've seen so many players get frustrated because they thought they were being quiet. The reality? You were probably too close to a wall that reflected their own sound back at them. It's brilliant programming.

• Shivs are life: On Grounded difficulty, wasting a shiv on a clicker feels like losing a limb.
• Bricks vs. Bottles: Always take the brick. You can melee a clicker to death with a brick if you time it right, whereas a bottle is basically just a noisy distraction.
• The Grab: Unlike Runners, clickers have a "one-hit kill" bite. If they grab Joel or Ellie, it’s game over unless you have a specific survival skill upgraded.

The Sound Design of a Nightmare

The audio for clickers in The Last of Us wasn't made by a computer. It was voiced by human actors—specifically Misty Lee and Phillip Kovats. They developed this vocal clicking by inhaling and making sharp, cracking noises in the back of their throats. It sounds organic because it is organic. When you hear that guttural rattle, you’re hearing a human being mimicking the sound of a throat choked with fungal spores.

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The game uses 3D audio to mess with your head. In the 2022 Part I remake on PS5, the haptic feedback on the controller even vibrates in sync with their clicks. It’s invasive. It’s meant to make you feel like the fungus is in the room with you.

Tactical Reality: Surviving the Encounter

How do you actually deal with them without dying ten times in a row?

First, stop running. Seriously. Even "fast crouching" can be enough to alert a clicker if your stealth stats aren't leveled up. You have to tilt the analog stick just a hair. It’s agonizingly slow. But it works.

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If you have to fight, fire is the only way to go. The fungus is highly flammable. One molotov can clear a cluster of three clickers because they’ll often stumble into each other while screaming. In the HBO show, we saw this play out with even more tension—the clickers moved with a twitchy, jittery energy that the game couldn't quite capture back in 2013. They move like puppets on strings, which is basically what they are. The fungus is the puppeteer.

Why They Still Matter in Horror History

The reason we’re still talking about clickers in The Last of Us over a decade later is because they represent a loss of self. When you look closely at a clicker’s model—if you’re brave enough to use Photo Mode—you can still see bits of human teeth and hair. They are a constant reminder of what happens when the world ends. They aren't evil; they're just a biological process that happens to be hungry.

They changed how developers think about enemy AI. Before this, enemies usually just followed a patrol path. Clickers forced players to interact with the audio of the game as much as the visuals. It turned the genre on its head.

Actionable Survival Tips for Your Next Playthrough

1. The Bow is your best friend. A headshot with an arrow is silent and usually a one-hit kill, but you have to hit the "sweet spot" where the fungus hasn't hardened into armor yet.
2. Use the "Listen Mode" sparingly. On higher difficulties, this is disabled anyway. Train your actual ears to distinguish between the "idle" click and the "I heard something" screech.
3. The Brick Trick. If you’re cornered, throw a brick at a wall behind the clicker. It will turn its back to you, giving you a three-second window to either run or get a stealth kill.
4. Save your ammo. Shooting a clicker in the chest with a 9mm is a waste of bullets. They are tanks. If you don't have a shotgun or a hunting rifle, don't engage in a shootout.
5. Watch the environment. Clickers often idle near "tripwire" debris. If you step on broken glass or a ceramic plate, they will find you instantly.

If you’re heading back into the ruins of Boston or Seattle anytime soon, respect the clicker. Don't get cocky just because you have a full clip. One wrong step, one loud breath, and that clicking sound is the last thing you'll ever hear. Master the art of the slow crawl, keep a brick in your hand at all times, and always, always check your corners for that telltale orange fungal bloom.