Naughty Dog is in the midst of remaking its 2013 survival horror classic The Last of Us. The acclaimed sequel to the equally-celebrated original, The Last of Us Part II, released in 2020 and took the series to new heights both narratively and in terms of gameplay. Although a direct continuation of the first game, TLOU2 takes place roughly five years after the events of The Last of Us. Ellie is no longer a teenager, and just as she has learned some things since the first game, Naughty Dog has probably picked up a few tricks.
Both The Last of Us games are narratively intense, demanding a lot of emotional engagement from the player. There are scenes in both that are hard to watch, and themes of violence and revenge span both titles. One key difference in how the story of the two games are presented is in the sequel's narrative structure. TLOU2 ambitiously features two playable characters heavily. Abby and Ellie share an almost equal amount of screen time, and the game's story is disjointed, involving two main timelines and multiple flashbacks. This narrative framework is a feature that Naughty Dog should consider bringing to the first The Last of Us in some form for the remake.
Some content for bringing flashbacks to The Last of Us is already present in the Left Behind DLC that came out after the game's initial release on the PlayStation 3. Left Behind already features two timelines, one that takes place before the main game, exploring Ellie's relationship with her friend Riley, and one during the Winter section of TLOU where Joel is gravely injured. Left Behind was bundled with TLOU for the The Last of Us Remastered version that came to the PlayStation 4 in 2014, but was still a separate experience from the main story.
TLOU Remake is an Opportunity to Deliver a Fuller Experience
If the goal of a The Last of Us remake is to bring it up to speed with its sequel, the narrative should be similarly structured in order to include all canon, playable material. The simplest method of inserting Left Behind in the main campaign would be to just include the intact expansion in the Winter section of The Last of Us. When Joel gets injured, and Ellie goes to find supplies, Left Behind could be played to completion before the player retakes control of Joel. This might give the game an odd pacing, though, since flashbacks would only be present in this one part of the entire story.
A more organic solution would require Naughty Dog to expand the scope of Left Behind's flashbacks, or create more from scratch. More of Ellie's childhood could be experienced by the player by scattering flashbacks throughout The Last of Us, similar to how the time between the TLOU and TLOU2 is experienced from both Ellie and Abby's points of view. Including more sections where the player controls Ellie might help the series feel more consistent when viewed as one continuous narrative. Regardless of how it is implemented, for a remake of The Last of Us, Naughty Dog should take some cues from its development of The Last of Us Part II in order to include the entirety of the original's story in one continuous narrative.