Looking back over your screenshots from The Last of Us’ photo mode relives the journey.
Using The Last of Us: Remastered’s photo mode throughout the entire playthrough is like reliving one heck of a gap year. Every place that central characters Joel and Ellie visit has distinct scenes and memories attached to them. Other photo modes struggle to effectively remind you of the important moments in their stories. In the case of The Last of Us, though, I can look at any one of my screenshots and think “oh that’s just before that happened”, or “oh dear [redacted] just died”.
The Last of Us is a shining example of how to utilise the photo mode in a single player game, and that’s as a way to remind the player of the experience they and their characters had. Titles like Assassin’s Creed Origins or inFAMOUS Second Son are set in an open world which makes places have little substance as you travel past them multiple times.
The structure of The Last of Us, on the other hand, being separated into distinct seasons gives every act its own unique look. It reinforces that feeling when looking back through your playthrough images – seeing a snowy, old, abandoned coal factory tells me what just happened in the story, and what is to come shortly. Looking back through my screenshots of Joel and Ellie stood at locations, dealing with their encounters, and catching them at their down times puts me right there with them.
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