The Last of Us, Interactive Media and the Virtual Apocalypse

The Last of Us, Interactive Media and the Virtual Apocalypse

Few figures in interactive media are as consistently used as the zombie. Not only do they can be aesthetically horrifying, but they are also remarkably ubiquitous antagonists for players tactically—ranging from the shuffling brain dead to the far more predatory. Furthermore, zombie apocalypses are an intriguing trope when it comes to video games and board games, as while television shows such as the Walking Dead can show characters coming to terms with difficult, even cruel choices, games can have the players actually do the choosing themselves. This chapter will look at three examples of this: the Last of Us series; the Dead Rising series (particularly 1 and 2); and finally, the board game Dead of Winter to show how each of them attempts to convey through the player avatars the themes that often come up in zombie apocalypse texts—such as betrayal, violence, trauma, and the loss of humanity.

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