The Last Of Us 3 idea/concept

[hELXIG 44,015]

HI all! My friend and I just finished TLOU 2 and wow, what amazing games (obviously). But immediately afterwards we started talking about where the story would go from here and what they could even do with a 3rd game. It feels almost impossible to not rehash the same storylines/lessons/moral of the story/gameplay of the first two as they covered a lot. But after brainstorming for a while the 3rd instalment started really coming together and it's been spinning around in my head since, so I have to share it with someone. And as I'm permanently banned from Reddit someone here will need to hear me out 

 

PREFACE:

Okay so what we decided was that after TLOU 2 Dina and Ellie had to be broken up. A big part of the story was that Ellie sacrificed everything in the pursuit of revenge, including her idyllic, peaceful life with her partner and their child. The main moral of the story is that revenge serves noone, there are no winners in war, an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind, etc. and we have to leave that intact. Ellie gave up a part of herself both metaphorically and physically (her fingers) when she chose her revenge mission against Abby over her family. The only logical conclusion is that Dina went back to nearby Jackson, as she couldn't maintain the farm alone and felt abandoned by Ellie. And obviously Ellie meets back up with her there, but it's too late, Dina has made her decision. 

 

TLOUS 3 STORY: 

So we flash forward 20 years, Ellie and Dina are now about 40 yrs old, still living in Jackson, albeit a much more developed, fortified version of the town where people live a very 'regular, comfortable lifestyle'. Ellie and Dina patched things up, remained amicable, and they co-parented their son JJ who is now about 20. Ellie has also had another daughter who is around 17, and this is where the new story lies...  

Things have changed a lot in the 20 years since we last saw the world in TLOU2. Fully functional towns and cities have emerged and developed that almost reflect a normal world. The threat of infected has been almost totally mitigated around main settlements due to mass culling, fortification efforts, and simply the passage of time (most of the 'old world' infected have been killed or deteriorated. However in more remote areas further out from settlements the number and variants of infected grows). Because of this, Ellie's daughter and JJ have grown up in a world totally sheltered from the post-apocalyptic world and even Ellie herself has grown comfortable with regular town life and her trauma has taken a backseat

Ellie's daughter however is of that age as a teenager where she wants to know about her mother's past and keeps pressing her about it. Ellie has kept her story secret from her, both to protect her daughter and prevent her from falling into similar patterns, and also as a way to avoid digging up her deeply buried trauma, so Ellie resists. It's a constant point of contention. Over the years Ellie's daughter has heard rumours spinning around about the fabled 'girl who held the cure' and pieces of her mothers story, but never once considered that it was her own mother

After a heated argument between Ellie and her daughter over her past, some soldiers sneak into their house in the dead of the night and kidnap her daughter. Turns out their 'organisation to find a cure' have been collecting intel for years, and believe that she also holds the cure, and it was genetically inherited from Ellie

Distraught and confused Ellie decides to weapon-up and leave the town to find her daughter, but finds that once she gets to the walls she can't bring herself to leave the boundaries. Her repressed trauma erupts to the surface in bouts of extreme panic attacks that render her helpless. Furious at herself for letting herself lose her skills and for becoming so 'weak' she collapses just outside the walls and goes catatonic. They take her to hospital. Now.. Hers/Dina's/Jesse's son JJ is well trained and has done a few missions outside the walls, so he immediately decides to go on a mission to find his little sister. And here is where the game really begins! We play as JJ as he tracks them down, gathering scraps and whisperings of info about the organisation from neighbouring towns, vans, places they've been camping, etc. tracking them down and following their trail. Along the way he also learns Ellie's story and has mixed feelings about it

During gameplay we flash between multiple characters again like in TLOU2. The main character this time is JJ. He is skilled and tenacious like Ellie, and intelligent and composed like Dina. Throughout the story we also get flashes of how Ellie's daughter is doing, and along the way she also learns her mothers story, and the potential she herself has. She feels betrayed and horrified and a whole slew of emotions, and we watch her struggle with and come to terms with these things one by one throughout the game. The third perspective is Ellie..

Ellie is extremely triggered by the outside world and she starts off with very low level skills. A new gameplay mechanic, a negative buff, is introduced with Ellie where in dangerous situations she becomes panicked. And unless you can control her panic attacks the screen becomes blurred, she hyperventilates, she moves slower and hesitates and fumbles attacks more, and eventually if completely overwhelmed becomes unplayable until she either calms down or gets killed. So you have to balance her panic. She becomes a more stealthy character this time around, at least at the beginning. We watch her struggle with feelings of failing her children, not dealing properly with her trauma and avoiding her past, reliving and trying to actively process the things that happened in her past, paired with her strength as a mother to overcome for her children. But don't worry.. by the end of the game she's back to the same badass she was in TLOU2

Eventually she catches up with JJ and tries to convince him to turn around and go home, but soon realises that he's grown into a skilled fighter just like her and Dina. She tries to instil in him the ability to resist revenge, as that was her own downfall. JJ has the ability to 'calm' her panic attacks when they are together, whether you are playing as Ellie or JJ

Lots of twists and turns occur and new characters weave in an out just like the last two games, some helpful and some downright evil, amongst a myriad of beautiful and horrifying cities and natural scenery. When we get to the end we have a very emotional ending. She finds herself in a situation that mirrors herself and Joel in TLOU1. About to rescue her daughter from the same surgery that Joel saved her from years prior, we have a sudden twist. Her daughter has learned so much over her long journey with the organisation who kidnapped her, and she makes the decision that her mother was never informed enough, or allowed, to make. She decides to sacrifice herself for the good of humanity (if you remember, Ellie was furious at Joel for saving her and taking away her own decision because "my life could've meant something"). It's all very emotional, they watch her get wheeled away into surgery and say their goodbyes. Maybe they knew in the back of their minds throughout the whole journey that this might be the outcome. Anguish paired with acceptance. Tears. Cut to black (and you as the audience are crying rn btw)

We then flash forward a little bit again. Ellie and JJ are back in Jackson. A vaccination/cure has been developed and is slowly being distributed through the cities and townships. There is finally hope for the infection to be eliminated (or majorly reduced) and for their settlements to eventually open up so the world can go back to (mostly) normal. We follow Ellie and JJ through a normal day in the life. We follow Ellie as she hesitate in a corridor. She takes a deep breath as she rounds a corner in a hospital-like facility and see a white curtain with two silhouettes behind it.. we hear a voice saying "alright lift your arm, up and down.. good, your range of movement is really improving". We follow Ellie from over her shoulder as she moves around the curtain and find that... her daughter is alive! We were faked out! Even though she has slight brain damage and is in physical therapy, she is mostly very well. They had developed techniques to engineer a vaccine and cure from her genetics and her brain without killing her, as they have much more advanced technology, hospitals, laboratories etc after 26 years since Ellie was prepped for surgery. Happy ending and all is well yay! Ellie finally dealt with her trauma, her kids learned a lot of lessons, decisions were made, journeys were had

 

SCENERY 

As 20 years have past a lot has changed. All settlements have majorly grown and become more industrious and refined and become functional towns/cities. But throughout the game we explore a wide variety of interesting places. Most of the old cities have completely crumbled and been overtaken by nature. Which leads to some very eerie forests that only roughly resemble cities in their shapes and angles, with rubble peering through and 'rooms' of forest. However some cities have been partially reclaimed and rebuilt around the old structures. Some towns have been built with scraps and while in their shapes and silhouettes they resemble towns, they are very patchwork and messy. Other cities are very nature based and have elaborate systems of ladders and climbing bridges (like the Seraphites used in TLOU2) absolutely everywhere connecting all their buildings/structures. Some places are just simple wood cabin style homes and are very basic and resemble early settlements.

 

NEW ENEMIES

The enemies have had more time to evolve and change over 20 more years. New variants of zombies exist including:
- The melted. very old infected that have mostly disintegrated over time and basically welded with the floor. Basically just an upper body. They are almost undetectable and only 'activate' when you get close to them, grabbing and biting at your legs providing a jumpscare at any moment
- Wolves. The fungus has had enough time to evolve strains that can infect some animals. As wolves are prevalent in the forest we now have a wolf variant. I know zombie-dogs are a bit cliche, but done right I think it could work. No howling or anything just a vague dog shape and 4 legs
- Dwellers. Infected that have adapted to low light areas like sewers and basements. They are avoidant towards light and it can be used to ward them off. Molotovs send them running (not always a good thing). You can hear them when you pass by dark areas like sewer drains and dark rooms and they can reach out and grab you. Also lends itself to interesting gameplay where you move between well lit and poorly lit areas. Makes night time scenes scarier as they can come out at night
- Bubblers. A further decay variation of bloaters that have accumulated gas over time which are very flammable. Big bubbles bulges out from their skin. May explode from gunfire, very susceptible to flame attacks, but explosions can harm player quite badly
- Arachnids. Growths on their hands, feet, legs etc have given them the ability to scuttle up walls and on the roof, dropping down onto the player

Of course these are more rare variants and are found in more remote places. Closer to civilisation and certain areas we still get the traditional runners, clickers, lurkers etc

 

OTHER TLOU2 CHARACTERS

Yes I am very sorry but I think Dina is dead in this story. This lends even more weight to Ellie's story of saving her kids, and also Dina would 100% join the journey, but I think that's just too many people in the mix. Unless she went along with Ellie and was the one who could 'calm' her. But I don't like that either as I don't want to undo TLOU2 and make them a couple again. It could work.. but in my story it doesn't. OR she could be off on a job out of town and as the missions starts so abruptly she isn't there to join. And maybe she shows up at the end by surprise idk

Joel would be nearing 70 and honestly I just don't want him involved this time tbh so maybe he's just too old and has one leg now or something idk  

The father of Ellie's child in my headcannon is a fling she had but ultimately she is still gay. He's somewhere else in a neighbouring city at the time, on some job or something, so he isn't around to get involved

Abby. I would like to see Abby again and even have her and Ellie somewhat reconcile after ruminating on their very similar situations for 20 years, learning more about the other, and realising they are one and the same. I would like for her to show up at some point and maybe even save Ellie from something. But they aren't going to be close friends or anything. At first I thought she was involved in the organisation looking for a cure, but it's too cliche that she would 'carry on her fathers work' and go after Ellie's daughter

 

MAIN THEMES/LESSONS/TAKEAWAYS

Where the first game was a 'save the world' pilgrimage that dealt with loss, parenthood, found family, and what we are willing to sacrifice for our loved ones. And the second game dealt with the futility and destruction of revenge, holding a mirror up to Ellie with Abby's story. The third one tackles themes of family, the long term and generational effects of trauma/PTSD, and closing old wounds, and it also parallels Ellie's purpose in the first game, and shows the protective nature of parenthood both from a different perspective

 

That's it. All my thoughts. If anyone read this thank you and I am sorry  

And Naughty Dog if you are listening I will immediately give up my job at any point in time to join your creative team and help develop this story okay thanks bye 

Edited 6 hours ago by hELXIG

[hELXIG 44,015]

VERY long I know so TL;DR:

It's 20 years later. Ellie and Dina stayed separated but they both live in Jackson. The world has grown a lot and all the settlements have become established, functional towns and cities. Their son JJ is now 20 and Ellie also has a 17 yr old daughter and they are somewhat sheltered from the outside world. Ellie's daughter keeps pressing her about her past, which she has kept a secret, and it's a point of contention between them. In the dead of the night a mystery organisation kidnaps Ellie's daughter, as they know from intel that she has inherited the immunity genetics from her mother and they want to make a cure. JJ leaves town to find and rescue her. Ellie is plagued with trauma/PTSD and struggles to leave the city walls. We play as JJ trying to find his sister. See flashes of his sister with the organisation, learning the truth about her mother that she kept from her (the cure, her story in TLOUS 1&2 etc). We perspective switch like in TLOU2, between JJ and Ellie. Ellie has panic attacks once she leaves the city that have to be managed for gameplay and plot purposes. She catches up with JJ and eventually gets her badass mojo back. They stumble across Abby somewhere along the line and her and Ellie reconcile after 20 years of ruminating on their parallel revenge arcs. They don't become friends, but Abby helps them somehow. They find the organisation and go to rescue her daughter but in a plot twist her daughter makes the decision that Ellie never got to, to sacrifice herself for the good of humanity. They say their tearful goodbyes. We flash forward again to Jackson, Ellie and JJ are health and happy, a vaccine/cure has been developed and is slowly rolling out. Then in a final plot twist we learn that Ellie's daughter survived, as in the 26 years since Ellie was prepped for surgery they were able to develop the technology to create a cure without killing her and harvesting her brain. All is well

Edited 6 hours ago by hELXIG

[Fantina 3,422]

Okay wow, I read all of it and I love how passionate some people get about these things so here are my thoughts:

I played both TLOU1 and TLOU2 and while I do think the first game is a masterpiece I do feel like I am in a minority that prefers the second game. It just feels like a huge improvement in every way when compared to the first part. The gameplay is much better, the levels are longer, and the story is just as traumatizing and thought-provoking as the first. I am kind of sad to see that most people dismissed Part 2 because of Joel's fate. The decision to kill off a main character has its risks, but I think it paid off in this game because it literally told the story about the cycles of revenge and being blinded by it. I can't understand how some people were so butthurt about this decision that they dropped the game and didn't even finish it. When the game released, it was a shitshow. I can barely remember what exactly happened, but I do think that a lot of people including Abby's actress got a lot of hate for it (which is absurd, I know). 

My friend bought the game when it came out, and we traded games when she was done with it (I gave her Ghost of Tsushima which come to think of it has some common themes about revenge and the lengths you would go to quench that thirst) and since then we both started brainstorming about possible future titles. When the HBO show happened, we were both ecstatic for the world to experience these amazing stories but alas, it kind of flopped. The first season was alright but we both agreed that they butchered season 2 and that if you wanted to know the story, you could just play the game or watch a walkthrough on YouTube and get the same story as the HBO show but told in a much, much better way.

Now to actually respond to your concept  I am sorry it took this long but as you can see, I love to talk to people about things that I love, and these games are one of those things. I am a huge horror nerd and since these are games set in apocalyptic times with a deadly virus that infects people, I am looking forward to Part 3 if it ever gets released. I have to commend you on your concept! It is probably one of the best ones I read. Usually when people fantasize about Part 3, it mostly reads like some cringe edgy fanfiction, but yours is pretty devoid of any such banality and cringe. I love the idea about Ellie's daughter playing a huge role and the choice she makes in the end. I think it wraps up the trilogy pretty nicely and delivers a satisfying ending to the characters and the choices they made. Also, Ellie having to manage her anxiety and PTSD during fights and other gameplay sections is an interesting concept that could turn into something pretty impactful not just to the story but the way we play these different characters. As you said, JJ will play like Ellie in Part 2 while Ellie is reduced to stealth sections and even though I suck at these, I think they could provide some interesting gameplay moments! 

When I thought about possible sequels my mind went to two places:

A) A prequel that focuses on the early days of the infection and how the disease slowly creeps into civilization and collapses all the governments and businesses. I am a sucker for zombie films that have this theme. I love the concept of people living their everyday lives and watching slowly as the realization hits them that the world is about to end. I think this could make for a compelling story about how businesses and governments don't really care about everyday people and how they are ready to sacrifice anything just to keep in power and remain rich, only to be devoured by the infected by the end of the game haha Maybe a part of the game could focus on the origins of the RatKing boss in TLOU2 and how that entire hospital collapsed. I don't know how fun this premise would be from a gameplay perspective, but I do think a prequel could very well work in the TLOU universe. 

B) This one moves the series into Science Fiction territory, but being a sci-fi nerd, I would love this. The premise is similar to yours, set in the future where people live in bigger settlements. Some characters make their reappearance from Part 1 and Part 2. I didn't really think about the general story and themes but one thing I know I want is a new strain of infected. The virus mutated and some infected (keyword some, I want this to be sort of rare) got to keep their humanity but at the cost of everything else. They are still horribly disfigured, a mix between a classic zombie and the fungal creatures in the TLOU but of course they can walk among the infected which is a huge strength in this universe. This twist of introducing characters that are immune but still very much visibly altered could pose some interesting themes and gameplay moments. Should they be used for a cure? Are they friends or foes? I don't want them to have superpowers of course, but maybe they could keep the powers certain infected have like regeneration and a small increase in strength. Some of them might feel betrayed by humanity and seek to destroy all the corruption while some of them feel apathy toward the state of the world and everything around them, just aimlessly wandering and not participating in the wars between factions and the infected.

That's about it and yeah, thanks if you read this rant