The Last of Us: Escape the Dark explained

The Last of Us: Escape the Dark is a 2024 tabletop role-playing game published by Themeborne. Based on Naughty Dog's video game The Last of Us, the tabletop game was developed in partnership with Naughty Dog as an extension of Themeborne's Escape the Dark games. The game allows up to five players to control characters from The Last of Us. The goal is to reach safety from enemies while exploring locations from the game. Themeborne announced the game in November 2022; it was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, and released in November 2024.

Gameplay

The Last of Us: Escape the Dark is based on the video game The Last of Us, allowing up to five players to control characters from the game: Joel, Ellie, Tommy, Tess, Bill, and Marlene. The goal is to reach safety from enemies such as Hunters and Infected. The game begins in an abandoned quarantine zone; players explore locations from the game—including the sewers, suburbs, and university—in an attempt to reach Tommy's safe community in Jackson, Wyoming. Each player begins with a hang-up—a unique problem that holds them back from their full potential—and journeys to overcome it and unlock a gameplay perk; survival grants rewards such as materials for crafting equipment. Represented on their character cards, each character possesses different abilities, such as Joel's physical strength and Ellie's agility. When performing actions that face resistance, players roll a character-specific die to determine their success.

Dice and cards are used to simulate an open world. At the beginning of each game, players generate card decks for each location, which are placed across the board; every location is connected to several others, allowing players to select new routes upon each playthrough. The location decks consist of cards representing chapters, camps, and stashed items. Chapter cards feature different events, which may lead to the acquisition of new information, equipment, or items for players to use; alternatively, they may feature outcomes that hinder the journey. Players can travel by horse or truck to access locations at a greater distance. Upon reaching a location, players can choose to explore via chapter card, or camp. After players complete their actions for the day, time passes and they must decide their actions for the following day.

Threat tokens indicate to what extent each location is overrun by Infected; if a location is too overrun, it will become blocked and players will be forced to circumvent it. Spread cards indicate where the Infected may appear; the threat of their presence increases each day. Upon encountering Infected, players engage in combat. The difficulty of combat encounters is determined on the threat level of the enemy card; players must achieve a certain number of wins to be successful, and their chances of success are increased by using equipment and weapons. Players use a combination of item cards and dice to combat enemies; they can select different attack and defence strategies, including stealth or heavy combat. Aimed for ages 14 and up, each game lasts approximately one to two hours.

Development

The Last of Us: Escape the Dark was announced on November 1, 2022, as a partnership between game company Themeborne and The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog. Neil Druckmann, co-director and writer of The Last of Us, was a fan of Themeborne's Escape the Dark games. The developers were interested in the open world and player choice aspects. They wanted character development to be a significant part of the game due to its importance in the video games, which led to the development of hang-ups. They wanted to maintain the atmosphere of previous Escape the Dark games and found the post-apocalyptic setting a suitable match. The game retains the monochromatic aesthetic of Themeborne's Escape the Dark games. It was developed by Thomas Pike, Alex Crispin, James Shelton, and Jean-Duval Du Toit, and edited by Pedro Latro; Pike also served as writer, Crispin as artist and graphic designer, and both as game designers.

The game was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, which ran from November 8 to December 2; it tripled its goal within the first day, with more than 4,000 supporters, and raised more than with over 9,700 supporters by the campaign's end. A collector's edition was available for Kickstarter supporters, featuring 3D tokens of the playable characters. Preorders opened on June 14, 2023, the tenth anniversary of The Last of Us, and the show was demonstrated at the UK Games Expo in 2023 and 2024. Originally due for release in December 2023, the game launched through Asmodee in the United States on November 29, 2024.

Reception

Wargamers Mollie Russell praised the game's "striking" and "spectacular" visuals, and thought the crafting, role-playing, and weapon mechanics added complexity that suitably represented the video game's world, though felt bad luck could unfairly mar a playthrough and the game's replayability.