The Last of Us has settled one of the internet’s oldest arguments

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HBO’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Naughty Dog’s hit video-game franchise The Last of Us has finally revealed to the world at large something that we antisocial nerds have been arguing on internet forums for years: video games are great, and we’re cool for liking them.

It was always going to happen eventually. The dorks won the culture wars a long time ago; now that we live in a world where most of our mothers can identify Rocket Raccoon on sight, it was only a matter of time before gamers managed to shed the decades-old image of a maladjusted Dorito-stained gremlin living in their mother’s basement.

It’s been a hard-fought road, though, not helped in the least by the long list of abysmal video-game adaptations that it took to finally get to this point. Street Fighter. Prince of Persia. Every single Resident Evil movie. We thank you for your service; now please go away and never come back.

In fact, The Last of Us has the distinct honour of not only being the best video-game adaptation ever made (yes, I’m ready to make that call after only three episodes; the bar is in the sewer), but also being the only good video-game adaptation ever made.

I know that it’s the done thing to couch a statement like that with “in my opinion”, but no, I’m not doing it. Video-game adaptations have had a well-earned reputation for being borderline unwatchable since the first person looked at a plucky little Italian cartoon plumber and said, “You know who would be perfect in that role? Bob Hoskins.”

It’s fine, you’re allowed to say it. We don’t have to relitigate every piece of media from our childhoods. We don’t have to sit here and pretend that the film version of Double Dragon is an underrated gem because we never grew out of being contrarian. This isn’t Twitter.

What’s weird, though, is that video-game adaptations shouldn’t be bad. In fact, they should be the most reliably successful type of adaptation. The Last of Us shouldn’t be the exception; it should be the rule.

Sure, if you’re going to go out of your way to make a Pac Man movie or whatever, then you’re setting yourself up to fail. There isn’t a lot of story in a circle eating smaller, less interesting circles.

But plenty of video games have had incredible, blockbuster-level storylines since the N64 came out. Final Fantasy VII. Spec Ops: The Line. Psychonauts. God of War. I’ve played video games that are basically just long movies that are periodically interrupted by a reflex test.

There are video games that I have – and I can’t believe I’m about to admit this in a national newspaper – cried while playing. If your knowledge of video games ended with Centipede, that probably sounds crazy, but I assure you... Well, it is a bit, but it’s not that crazy.

So I guess the question is, if there are so many video games out there with deep, complex stories and tens of hours of plots, why doesn’t Hollywood take advantage of that fact? If games are essentially prepacked movies tied up in a big bow, just waiting to be turned into the next big summer blockbuster by the world’s most opportunistic director, then why are there so many crap ones?

It’s not an easy question to answer, but if I had to take a guess I’d say that it has something to do with a combination of two things: the way adaptations are treated in general, and the way video games have historically been perceived by the general public.

With regard to the former, it’s worth considering the fact that video-game adaptations aren’t unique: there are plenty of failed adaptations of books, or plays, or even real-life events. Even in good adaptations, there’s always going to be a plot beat that doesn’t translate well to film, or a crucial section that had to be cut for time, or a director who’s gone mad with power and wants to give Sonic teeth. That’s probably not going to stop being the case any time soon.

Hell, the third episode of The Last Of Us was the best yet, and that was a huge departure from the source material, giving us an hour-long exploration of LGBT+ love that wasn’t in the game at all. But even though it was a diversion from the source, it was something that was still very much in keeping with the tone and themes of the original game (let’s see a Duke Nukem movie come out with a line as raw as “I was never afraid before you showed up”).

With regard to the latter, though, the geek renaissance of the past 15 or so years has really helped studios see the value in properties that have been sitting there, untapped, for decades. It seems insane to say it now, but prior to Iron Man, studios didn’t really give much thought to being faithful to nerdy source material; comics and video games were just sources of intellectual property, which could be used however the studio saw fit. Even the best comic-book adaptations of the late 1990s and early 2000s had baffling, unnecessary changes that exposed how little care had been taken in the cause of being faithful to the source material (remember Leather Daddy Wolverine? Remember Power Rangers Green Goblin?)

That no longer seems to be the case, though, as studios start to understand that beloved properties such as comic books and video games have a function beyond being strip-mined for recognisable names and character designs – some of them have actual stories, too!

It’s possible, then, that in the same way that movie and television studios have begun to see the value of comic-book properties over the past decade, they may also begin to recognise what an untapped gold mine there could be in making an effort to adapt video games faithfully.

The Last of Us could, in theory, be the beginning of the next big trend in Hollywood. Move aside, superheroes: you’ve had your time in the spotlight. Make way for Crash Bandicoot.

Personally, I’m excited. I’ve gotten so used to the idea of video-game movies and TV shows being awful that I don’t know what I’ll do if I finally get to watch a good Zelda or Metal Gear Solid film. Hell, I’ll probably just cry again.

What I do know is that, as I’ve found with The Last of Us, I’ll be excited to finally talk about some of my favourite stories and characters with the people in my life who don’t have 40 hours to sink into a video game.