The Last of Us is getting a brand-new board game from the creators of the Escape the Dark series, with a Kickstarter campaign set to begin later this month. There has been no shortage of exciting news for fans of Naughty Dog’s dark post-apocalyptic action-adventure franchise, with a live-action The Last of Us TV series arriving on HBO early next year and a current-gen remake of the first Last of Us game having launched on the PlayStation 5 to favorable reviews back in September. The story of The Last of Us is set in a ruined version of 2013, with a pair of survivors named Joel and Ellie struggling to stay alive in a world overrun by zombie-like mutants and other dangerous scavengers.
All of the gripping action of The Last of Us is now coming to tabletops, as announced in a recent post on the official Naughty Dog Twitter account. According to this post, a board game titled The Last of Us: Escape the Dark will be set in the Last of Us universe and is being made by Escape the Dark publisher Themeborne. A Kickstarter campaign for The Last of Us: Escape the Dark, similar to the one for the upcoming Elden Ring board game, will begin on November 8, and Naughty Dog promises to unveil more information about the game in the future.
The Last of Us Is Soon Coming To Tabletops From The Makers of Escape The Dark
Further light on the new partnership between Naughty Dog and Themeborne was shed on the Naughty Dog website, along with an image of The Last of Us: Escape the Dark’s game board and box art. Not much has been officially shared regarding The Last of Us: Escape the Dark’s gameplay, but Naughty Dog suggests that it will continue Themeborne’s Escape the Dark series’ tradition of providing cooperative and easy-to-understand gameplay. The game board shown off in Naughty Dog’s image features a striking black-and-white color scheme that should be familiar to Escape the Dark players, and the game is said to feature chapter cards that players work to resolve together - ensuring that no two The Last of Us: Escape the Dark games are identical.
While 2020’s Last of Us Part II left fans divided, and many questioned whether the recent The Last of Us Part I remake was truly necessary, The Last of Us still has interesting themes and gameplay elements that could lend themselves well to a cooperative tabletop board game. Players will likely have to work together to navigate the ruins of the United States and fend off deadly mutants and enemy survivors just like Joel and Ellie had to in the original Last of Us game.
It will likely be some time before The Last of Us: Escape the Dark is ready to see a full release, but interested fans will get the chance to help fund this promising project once the new board game’s Kickstarter campaign begins next week. Naughty Dog says that those who do so could receive a special collector’s edition of The Last of Us: Escape the Dark when the game gets closer to launch, but the full details of the Kickstarter campaign will be unveiled around the campaign’s launch on November 8.
Source: Naughty Dog/Twitter, Naughty Dog