HBO's The Last of Us showed viewers in season one that it would lean heavily on the source video games for major plot points and general direction of the season while expanding on the universe, and season two has followed that to the most extreme end possible. Episode two sees Tommy and Maria lead the town of Jackson Hole against a massive wave of Infected, the likes of which we haven't seen in the show (or video games) yet. This was a complete invention for the show, one that gives the episode Game of Thrones vibes, or calls to mind a battle like the siege of Helm's Deep in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It's epic in scale, with the overmatched defenders showing their skill and bravery against overwhelming odds; there is loss and pain but the good guys eventually triumph. That mass-scale battle is paired with the most intimate and brutal violence we've seen in the entire series so far, as Joel's actions finally catch up with him.

By pretty much every objective measure, HBO's adaptation of the hit postapocalyptic video game The Last of Us has been a roaring success. Never before has a video game narrative been molded into Emmy nominations and such warm reception among respectable critics, industry darlings, and people who have no idea what the term "one-shotting" means. You'd think that the devotees who first fell in love with the game back when it was originally released in 2013 would be toasting the cultural ascendance of their favorite medium--and especially how the story's complicated morality has impacted those who've never picked up a controller. And yet, for as long as the show has been on television, its most dogmatic fans have been caught up in a controversy of much inferior consequence: Specifically, they're furious that Bella Ramsey doesn't look much like Ellie. On the most basic level, this observation is correct.

When it comes to video-game adaptations, TV and film producers have historically had an unfortunate habit of using the game as a kind of Mad Libs prompt for something completely unrelated. Characters you've spent 30 hours getting to know in a game might remain in name and appearance only, given personality transplants to fit into new, incongruous plots. There has been an endemic lack of respect for video games from decades' worth of film-makers who, in the words of games satire site Hard Drive News, have been excited to take a beloved franchise and adapt it into something not for dumb little babies. HBO's The Last of Us finally marks the end of this era. There's been a shift in the tenor of game adaptations in the past few years; you could tell that Detective Pikachu was written by huge Pokémon fans, Cyberpunk 2077's Netflix series was actually better than the game, and the plot of Paramount's TV version of the military space-opera Halo is just as ponderous and self-important as the games.

I've been playing The Last of Us Part 1 this week, a PlayStation 5 remake of Naughty Dog's landmark horror classic, first released in 2013. There's been a lot of justified grumbling about whether a nine-year-old game – which has already been remastered for the PlayStation 4 – can justifiably be sold again for £70; for most players, no graphics upgrade could ever be worth that much. People have praised Naughty Dog's dedication and attention to detail on this remake. It really does look and feel like a modern game. Personally, playing it again has made me think about how the world (and my own life) have changed in the last decade.

The classic 2013 horror game The Last of Us is being remade for PlayStation 5 and PC, developer Naughty Dog has announced. Retitled The Last of Us: Part I, the new version will be released on 9 September on PS5 and later on PC. The Last of Us follows widower Joel and teenager Ellie across a ravaged US in the wake of a pandemic that has turned most of its population into zombies, and won acclaim for its unflinching devotion to storytelling as well as the performances of its cast. It was a landmark game of the PlayStation 3 generation, and was remastered for PlayStation 4 in 2014. Announcing the remake on a Summer Games Fest livestream, director Neil Druckmann explained that the character models and animation have been redone to bring them closer to the real-life performances of the game's stars, Troy Baker (Joel) and Ashley Johnson (Ellie).

'OK, Dad, this is an incredible essay on the effects of grief and grey morality in a postapocalyptic society," says the eldest child, AKA the millennial. "It's got proper female characters, progressive takes on sexuality and tonnes of rain." "They've made a video game of The Handmaid's Tale?" And both games have the best ending ever." Now she has my interest. Video game endings fascinate me, because my generation started out with arcade games that didn't have them.

First shown in the reveal trailer for "The Last of Us Part II" in late 2016, fans have speculated about Ellie's tattoo for several years now. Even as you play the sequel, released Friday, its symbolism may not be entirely clear. Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann, co-director and writer for the game, put those questions to rest in an interview with The Post earlier this month.