A strange clone ofThe Last of Us Part 1calledThe Last Hope - Dead Zone Survivalhas appeared on the Nintendo Switch eShop, and the similarities are bordering on shameless. TheNintendo Switch eShop has plenty of great exclusive games, but this doesn’t seem to be one of them.
In the gaming industry, it’s totally normal for games to take elements from one game, and implement them in new and exciting ways. It’s one of the reasons gaming is so popular as a medium - each game stands on the shoulders of giants, benefiting from the success and mistakes of games gone by. Despite this, every now and then a game comes along that flies a little too close to the sun in an attempt to capitalize on another game’s success. For example, there are plenty ofSuper Smash Bros.clones, but seeing one released forThe Last of Usis definitely unusual.
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Redditor velvcoat posted the image online, which showsThe Last Hope - Dead Zone Survivalon the front page of the Nintendo Switch eShop, as well as a screenshot from the game. Everything, from the font of the title to the character design, is undeniably heavily inspired byThe Last of Us. The screenshot of the game itself doesn’t look too impressive, resembling something that might have emerged a few years ago when Steam asset flips were becoming prevalent.
Gamers in the thread found the situation hilarious, describingThe Last Hope - Dead Zone Survivalas “the adventures of Joe and Ellen.“Joel and Ellie fromThe Last of Usare one of gaming’s most iconic duos, and it’s hard to imagine thatThe Last Hope - Dead Zone Survival’s equivalent has quite so much depth to their character. At this point, it’s unclear how the game made it onto the eShop. As a commercial release that isn’t free-to-play, it’s something that Sony will certainly have its eye on. While any action Sony can or will take would be pure speculation at this point, the game is clearly too similar toThe Last of Usto go without comment.
Sadly,The Last Hope - Dead Zone Survivaldoesn’t quite fill the void currently left by the lack ofThe Last of Us Part 3. Naughty Dog remains silent on the prospect, even afterdelayingThe Last of Us' multiplayer game. It seems that the studio doesn’t want to comment onThe Last of Us Part 3until it has something more concrete to share, which makes a lot of sense. Given the recent mainstream success of the franchise’s HBO adaptation,The Last of Us Part 3arriving at some point in the future seems a near-certainty.
The Last of Us Part 1is available now on PC and PS5.
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