The last of us part 2 showed the world that the emotional story of the first game could be expanded into a more brutal revenge story that still took place within the same zombie infested world. While the game received a huge amount of praise for the riskier narrative direction, quite a few fans had some complaints regarding how certain arcs played out, as well as how Ellie's character developed over the course of her own story. Despite being the biggest name in the genre, there are still a few zombie game out there that focuses less on slaying hordes of undead and more on interactions with people who remain alive in an otherwise decaying environment.
These games are equal parts terrifying and emotional, and place great emphasis on the impact that a nationwide apocalypse can have on the people who must survive it. Some keep things open and give players a huge playground to explore while drawing them in with gripping individual stories, and others shrink the experience down to a more linear path that keeps relationships personal and always puts players at the center of the action. Anyway, many titles have shown it at the same time TLOU2 may have the spotlight, they can still compete in terms of narrative strength and overall story cohesion.
Days gone
A more satisfying journey
Set in a bleak, post-pandemic Oregon, Days gone follows Deacon St John and his search for his wife, Sarah, and new meaning after the collapse of the world. His journey through a wilderness teeming with the undead is both a tale of survival and an exploration of grief, and the game's world-building pushes these themes forward by alternating between perils of danger and quiet moments of reflection. Beneath its rugged exterior lies a character-driven tale of faith in the face of futility, anchored by Deacon's evolving relationships and his desperate hope to find Sarah.
The last of us part 2 offers a similar journey of searching for meaning, but has a darker tone that is more related to revenge and loss than hope. Where Days gone pulls away lies in how the emotional stakes in the story go. Instead of pushing players through constant moments of despair, it instead allows them to grow attached to the cast over time, learning to value their will to survive over any desire for revenge. This more hopeful take on the apocalypse keeps the infected at the forefront of the player's mind, continues to show the impact of the disaster from start to finish, and demonstrates the importance of perseverance no matter how bleak things may be.
Dying Light: The Beast
Revenge Fully Served
Dying Light: The Beast brings Kyle Crane back from the original game and throws him into a rural landscape with even more chaos and fear than before. The story revolves around his fight against the infection and his mission to bring down the baron, who experimented on him for years. The game focuses even more on the supporting characters and their role in the wider context of the world. Revenge is the primary drive, and Kyle must grapple with both the emotional consequences of his actions and the physical suffering he must now live with for the rest of his days.
What makes this revenge is more engaging than i TLOU2 is that Kyle's story is more about a personal transformation than a destructive series of events. Where Ellie's pursuit of Abby turns her into a monster who struggles to see any humanity in her actions, Kyle is keenly aware of her duality and constantly strives to become a symbol of humanity's survival and not just another beast in the wasteland. Also, Dying Light: The Beast opens the door to much broader questions about people and their inner selves, allowing players to think about the world in a more complete sense as opposed to focusing on a single character's selfish journey.
Telltale's The Walking Dead
More emotions and deeper consequences
Telltale's The Walking Dead introduced the world to one of the most emotional and heartbreaking video game stories ever made, one driven in large part by its perfectly crafted characters and their relationships with each other. The first game tells the story of Lee and Clementine as they fall into each other's lives at the beginning of the apocalypse, with every moment focused on their struggle to survive by any means possible. The game keeps things grounded and realistic throughout, ensuring that players never feel safe from the undead or the humans willing to do whatever they can to survive.
The reason for the game's story is a clip above TLOU2 is that everything feels far more realistic and believable than the cross-country trip that Ellie does. Lee and Clementine slowly progress from place to place, and things almost always seem to go wrong, no matter how good they may seem. But for Ellie, her path to the end is mostly pretty straightforward aside from a few losses that are certainly painful but not enough to stop her mission. The big difference is that every action taken has serious consequences The Walking Deadmeaning that characters can have completely different fates depending on how players choose to act. IN TLOU2things are strict and limited, not giving players many opportunities to really branch out and instead forcing them into a single narrative path that may or may not be what they want.
Resident Evil 2: Remake
Struggles on a more human level
The Resident Evil 2 remake started a second era of survival horror for Resident Evilbringing back several icons in an even more iconic environment that looks better than ever before. The story remains mostly intact from the original, sending players into the heart of Raccoon City in the midst of a viral outbreak, as they shoot their way through cramped corridors and mysterious labs with no real safety in sight. Where the story excels is how it handles its dual narrative. Players can choose to experience the story from Leon and Claire's perspective through two similar but completely different playthroughs.
The shared history in TLOU2 feels more forced on the player, and while it tries to show both sides of the story from the perspective of the individual characters, players still have less control over when they get to play each path. RE2 instead draws a strict line down the middle and doesn't switch the player from one side to the other at any point, and since both characters are interested in the same goal, their crossover feels much more cohesive. Leon and Claire's journey is also much more unexpected, as players are constantly thrown into terrifying areas that push them to their limits, keeping the surprises going until the final moments.
The last of us
Consistency and deep character development
Despite being the first game in the series, The last of us is often cited as having a much cleaner and more impressive story than its sequel. Joel and Ellie's relationship takes center stage throughout, and much of the game's praise comes from how their dynamic develops over time and how it interacts with the game world. Players can use Ellie at various points to progress, and they are constantly fighting to protect her. However, Joel has a very clear motive that is called into question at the end as he struggles with the moral dilemma of saving Ellie or potentially saving the world.
The second game follows a similar theme of fighting for someone else, but rather than being a heartfelt adventure about love and courage, Part 2 turning all that emotion into anger. Ellie becomes a fearsome character who continues to tear through everyone and anything that comes her way, and while that arc feels similar to Joel's bloodthirsty actions at the end of the first game, the sequel is more about cycles of violence and the act of killing for the sake of killing. The revenge story feels significantly less emotionally heavy, despite the motivations carried by Ellie, and ultimately there's virtually no positivity to carry forward into a potential third game.
