Game:

The Last of Us (2013)

Duration: 19:42

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This is the first segment of "The Rootwork Building: Interactive and Thematic Structure in The Last of Us."

This video essay explores how The Last of Us uses game design and patterns that mirror that design to tell a fixed story.

INTERACTIVE STRUCTURE I: PLAYER TRAINING, CHALLENGE ESCALATION, REMIXING

In our first segment, we look at the game's foundational interactive structure as it trains the player to interact with its rules. We then look at how the game escalates the challenges that the player must overcome. Finally, we observe how The Last of Us forces the player to re-learn familiar skills by placing those skills in different contexts. We call this process "remixing." This interactive structure is derived from abstract game design, and it establishes a pattern of self-reference and revision that appears throughout The Last of Us.

NEXT SEGMENT: INTERACTIVE STRUCTURE II

MEDIA NOTES:

* The title card music is "The Hours" (Gustavo Santaolalla) from the official soundtrack of The Last of Us. The introduction music is "The Decision" (Gustavo Santaolalla). The OST tracks used in "The Rootwork Building" were all legitimately purchased and have not been licensed for the purpose of this video.

* Visual and audio media in this video was recorded from The Last of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony 2013).

* This video uses the public demo of "Headliner No. 45" by KC Fonts. This font is used here for personal purposes and does not violate the terms on which it was made available for download.

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