You know that feeling. That hollow, wooden "thrum" that vibrates in your chest the second you see the overgrown vines on the main menu? That’s not just a sound effect. It’s the sound of Gustavo Santaolalla breaking your heart before the game even starts. Honestly, the music of The Last of Us is basically the third protagonist of the series. Without it, Joel and Ellie are just two pixels wandering through a fungus-infested version of Pittsburgh. With it? They’re icons of human grief.
It’s weird. Most games go big. They want orchestras. They want 80-piece brass sections screaming at you that "this is an epic moment!" But Naughty Dog went the other way. They went small. They went intimate. They chose a guy who usually scores gritty Mexican cinema and gave him a ronroco.
The Ronroco and the Sound of the End of the World
Santaolalla didn't use a standard guitar for the main theme. He used a ronroco. It’s a tiny, ten-stringed Andean instrument that sounds like a mandolin had a baby with a ghost. It has this specific, shimmering decay. It’s fragile.
That’s the secret sauce. The music of The Last of Us works because it sounds like it’s falling apart. When you’re walking through the outskirts of Boston, the music isn't trying to scare you with high-pitched violins or jump-scare noises. Instead, you get these lonely, echoing notes that feel like they’re being played in an empty room by someone who hasn't seen another person in years.
I remember reading an interview where Santaolalla talked about how he doesn't actually read or write music in the traditional sense. He plays by ear. He feels it. That lack of "academic" structure is why the score feels so raw. It’s messy. Sometimes he hits the strings too hard on purpose. Sometimes he lets the feedback hum for a second too long. In a world where civilization has collapsed, a polished, perfect orchestra would feel fake. The ronroco feels real.
Why Silence is Actually a Musical Choice
Most people forget that half the genius of the music of The Last of Us is when it’s not there. Neil Druckmann and the audio team at Naughty Dog understood something that most AAA developers miss: silence builds tension better than a drum beat.
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Think about the basement of the hotel in Pittsburgh. You remember it. The generators. The darkness. The Stalkers. There’s almost no music there. Just the mechanical groan of the building. By starving you of melody for twenty minutes, the game makes it feel like a physical relief when the acoustic guitar finally kicks back in once you’re safely back in the sunlight. It’s a psychological trick. They make you crave the music so that when you finally hear those minor chords, you feel a sense of "home," even if home is a ruined city full of monsters.
Changing the Vibe for Part II and the HBO Show
When The Last of Us Part II rolled around, the music had to evolve. It couldn't just be "sad guitar part two." The sequel is about hate and cycle-of-violence stuff, so the score got darker.
Santaolalla brought in Mac Quayle for the combat music. Quayle is the guy who did the music for Mr. Robot, and you can totally hear that influence. The "enemy" music in Part II isn't melodic at all. It’s rhythmic. It’s industrial. It sounds like a panic attack.
- Part I Music: Mournful, acoustic, nostalgic, "what we lost."
- Part II Music: Aggressive, distorted, frantic, "what we've become."
- The HBO Series: A mix of the two, often using the same stems but mixed for a TV soundstage.
It’s actually pretty cool how they handled the transition to television. Usually, when a game gets turned into a show, they hire a "Hollywood" composer to make it sound like a movie. But Craig Mazin (the showrunner) basically said "Nope, we need Gustavo." They kept the DNA. If you watch the show, you’ll notice they use "Allowed to be Happy" or "All Gone" in almost the exact same emotional beats as the game. It creates this weirdly powerful bridge for people who played the game 10 years ago. It feels like muscle memory for your ears.
The Role of "All Gone"
If there is one track that defines the music of The Last of Us, it’s "All Gone." There are like, six different versions of it. "All Gone (No Escape)," "All Gone (Alone)," "All Gone (Aftermath)."
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It’s the melody that plays when something truly devastating happens. It’s the sound of Joel losing Sarah. It’s the sound of the ranch house scene. Every time you hear those specific cello notes, your brain instantly goes into "oh no, something bad is happening" mode. It’s a masterclass in leitmotif. You don't need a narrator to tell you the characters are hurting; the cello tells you.
Beyond the Score: That "Take On Me" Moment
We can’t talk about the music without talking about the licensed tracks and the diegetic music—the music the characters actually hear and play.
Ellie’s cover of A-ha’s "Take On Me" in the music shop in Seattle is probably the most famous scene in the second game. It’s a total subversion. In the 80s, that was a synth-pop dance hit. In Ellie’s hands, it’s a slow, haunting love song. It’s the moment the player realizes that these characters aren't just survival machines. They have taste. They have memories of a culture they never actually got to live in.
Then you have "Future Days" by Pearl Jam. This is the "Joel and Ellie" song. What’s wild is that Pearl Jam actually released that song in 2013, just months before the "Outbreak Day" in the game’s timeline. It barely exists in their world. It’s a relic. When Joel sings "If I ever were to lose you, I’d surely lose myself," it’s literally the entire plot of the series summarized in two lines of a folk song.
How to Appreciate the Music More
If you want to really get why this score works, you sort of have to stop listening to it as background noise.
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- Listen to the "Abandoned" tracks. These are the ones that play while you’re just exploring. Notice how they use negative space.
- Watch the "One Night Live" performance. There’s a recording on YouTube of the cast and Gustavo performing the game’s highlights on stage. Seeing Gustavo play the ronroco in person makes you realize how much physical effort goes into making those "simple" sounds.
- Pay attention to the banjo. In Part II, there’s a lot more banjo than you’d expect, but it’s played in a very dark, non-bluegrass way. It adds a gritty, "American Gothic" feel to the Pacific Northwest setting.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Creators
If you’re a musician or a filmmaker, or just a massive fan of the series, there’s a lot to learn from the music of The Last of Us.
First, less is more. You don't need a million instruments to create a massive emotion. Sometimes, a single string being plucked in a reverb-heavy room is enough to make a grown man cry.
Second, embrace imperfection. The reason the soundtrack feels "human" is that it isn't quantized to a perfect beat. It breathes. If you’re making something creative, don't be afraid to leave the "mistakes" in. They often hold the most soul.
Finally, if you haven't yet, go buy the vinyl or find the high-fidelity FLAC versions of these albums. Listening to this score through cheap phone speakers is a crime. You need to hear the scratch of the pick against the strings and the breath of the performers. That's where the magic is.
Go back and play the "Left Behind" DLC or re-watch Episode 3 of the show. This time, don't look at the screen for a minute. Just listen. You’ll realize that the music of The Last of Us isn't just accompanying the story—it is the story.