As we at Kotaku planed out the final couple weeks of our Last-Gen Heroes series, we considered the possibility of a list of the best endings of the generation. "But game endings all suck," Luke said. "Well, except for The Last of Us," I replied.
And so, rather than put together some list of the best endings in gaming, I thought I'd bump up an article I wrote earlier this year about my favorite ending of the generation.
There are other game endings that I've really liked over the last eight years. Journey, for example. The Walking Dead. BioShock 2. Portal 2. And more recently, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. But The Last of Us was so surprising, particularly for a high-gloss, big-budget action game, that it merits special recognition.
Since writing this, I've softened a bit on my stance that the game doesn't need a sequel. I mean, it still doesn't need one, but given how well its creators have carried themselves so far, I'll still gladly play a sequel if they make one. In the meantime, I'm very much looking forward to learning more about the coming downloadable add-on for the first game, which Naughty Dog will apparently be revealing this Thursday. (Can we hope for an in-game version of that excellent alternate ending? Probably too much to ask.)
No other game this big and ambitious has had the courage to rest its conclusion on a look, a pause, a tiny nod and a single word.
"Okay."
Last-Gen Heroes is Kotaku's look back at the seventh generation of console gaming. In the weeks leading up to the launch of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, we'll be celebrating the Heroes—and the Zeroes—of the last eight years of console video gaming. More details can be found here; follow along with the series here.
To contact the author of this post, write to kirk@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @kirkhamilton.