Each sport franchises had been developed by Naughty Canine and have an extended historical past of referencing every one another.
Editor’s Be aware: This text comprises spoilers for The Final of Us, Season 1 Episode 2, “Contaminated.”Followers are nonetheless coping with the lethal aftermath of The Final of Us Episode 2 from this previous weekend. Like the sport that impressed it, this noticed Joel (Pedro Pascal), Tess (Anna Torv), and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) make their method via an contaminated publish apocalyptic Boston. Throughout their terrifying metropolis journey, there have been many Final of Us Easter Eggs for eagle-eyed followers. Nonetheless, Final of Us was not the one main Sony sport franchise referenced within the newest episode. The largest instance being that Tess’ lighter is similar lighter that Nathan Drake’s brother Sam utilized in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s Finish.
Upon nearer inspection, because of Naughty Canine’s official Instagram, the lighter was modeled after the well-known Drake brother. It has the identical “76” with two smaller stars surrounding it representing the 12 months america wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence. Below that could be a lone big star. This isn’t the primary Uncharted reference discovered within the first two episodes of The Final of Us as Ellie has been seen carrying a purple and white baseball shirt. The identical shirt that younger Nathan Drake wears originally of Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. If we wish to go even additional with this fireplace Easter egg, Sam in Uncharted 4 was voiced by Troy Baker. Baker famously voiced the character in that critically acclaimed journey sport and its spin-off Uncharted: Misplaced Legacy. If that title sounds acquainted it’s as a result of Baker brilliantly voiced Joel in each Final of Us video games. Baker shall be seen later this season in a at present undisclosed position.
Tess’ dying within the sport was horrific sufficient, however this added pressure with the swarm of contaminated and the lighter is a number of the finest suspense we now have seen in years. Even should you performed the video games, you had been on the sting of your seat watching Tess wrestle to show the lighter on whereas she obtained the disturbing “kiss of dying” from a fellow contaminated. In addition to Torv giving an intimately riveting ultimate stand, Director Neil Druckmann tapped into an additional layer of tragedy that couldn’t have been potential within the sport. Within the video games, we solely heard Tess’ dying from afar resulting from us taking part in as Joel. Right here, we’re confronted with Joel’s ache head on. To say it was emotional could be an understatement. Watching Tess lastly drop the lit lighter because the State Home blew up round her was the very best chilling but cheer worthy second of 2023 to this point. It’s much more efficient realizing that Naughty Canine’s different massive franchise had a task to play on this jaw-dropping ending second.
The Final of Us and Uncharted has all the time shared a whole lot of DNA between them. Uncharted 3 infamously had an Easter egg for The Final of Us in a newspaper two years earlier than folks would even know the now iconic journey of Joel and Ellie. Nonetheless, it’s primarily related by Druckmann who labored closely on each blockbuster style franchises.
Druckmann, who co-created this sequence with Craig Mazin, made his live-action directorial debut in Episode 2 after years of redefining what a online game story might be. From the wonderful bits of horror involving sport correct Clickers in a horrific evening on the museum to the added contaminated lore to Tess’ somber Easter egg-filled sacrifice, The Final of Us is barely getting higher and higher. The primary two episodes of The Final of Us are streaming now on HBO Max. You possibly can view the Uncharted Easter egg down under. It’s secure to imagine there shall be extra references to that adventurous sequence in episodes to return.