The Last of Us Remastered is an emotional game, and if we’re being honest, we could have made this a top ten and still had room to spare. However, we decided to go with a top five to ensure that all of our choices inflict the maximum amount of feels, and we believe we’ve done an admirable job. So much so, that we had a very difficult time choosing an order, and have no doubt that some people will disagree with it. That’s the beauty of these lists, it’s not so much about getting you to agree with us as inspiring you to think of your own.
Check out our top five most emotional moments from The Last of Us Remastered, then be sure to leave us a comment with your own most heart wrenching scene.
Warning: This article contains huge game and story spoilers.
5 – Ellie Versus David
We changed our mind so often on this that at one point it was our number one, and we can’t promise that we won’t change back to that again. Either way, Ellie surviving, eluding and then killing David was one of the most emotional parts of the game. Players got to watch as she was forced to grow up on the fly, doing things that she never would have thought possible just for her and Joel to survive. Check out the video above to get the full Ellie versus David experience.
4 – Ellie Tells Joel “I’m Not Her…”
For at least the first half of the game it was apparent that Joel didn’t want to let himself get too close to Ellie, and everyone could understand why. You could see resistance in his eyes even after it began to happen. All of that changed, however, when Joel and Ellie had a heated heart-to-heart at a ranch just a short distance down the road from Tommy’s Dam. From this scene forward Joel’s emotional defenses were completely down.
3 – Tess Makes the Ultimate Sacrifice
It certainly didn’t take us long to start developing an emotional attachment to Tess, so try to imagine what Joel must have felt when he found out she was infected. In what some might argue was the game’s most emotional scene, Tess pleads with Joel, arguing that their emotional connection must be strong enough for him to continue the journey that is about to end for her. Tess is definitely at the top of the list of characters we wish would have stuck around through the end of the game.
2 – Sarah’s Death Scene
The first chapter of the game really threw us for a loop, and we admit that’s because Naughty Dog pulled the wool over our eyes. All the news and trailers leading up to the release of The Last of Us showed Joel with a young girl, and when we were introduced to Sarah (even though her and Ellie look nothing alike) we just took the easy road and assumed it was the same girl. Just about everyone was shocked when Sarah died at the end of the prologue, and the emotional toll this event took on Joel deeply impacted his personality through to the end of the game.
1 – Joel Saves Ellie from the Fireflies
You could argue that this isn’t the most emotional scene in the game (we argued against ourselves about it), but there is no denying that Joel’s actions are a direct result of everything that you’ve watched up to this point. From his promise to Tess to letting his guard down with Ellie, he was a man committed to making sure she didn’t suffer the same fate as his daughter. Check out our pick for the most emotional scene in the game, then let us know what your pick is in the comments down below.
