The TV adaptation of The Last of Us was launched to rave reviews (opens in new tab)and sparked an absolutely chronic discourse on how video games are finally coming into their own – proving that games can tell stories, etc. Look: the game isn’t even that original, just a total riff on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
And breathe. If you’re one of those like me who quite likes The Last Of Us but doesn’t think it’s the second coming, you might find some relief and comfort in a very cute easter egg for the series implemented by Google. It’s one of those meant to be found by people curious about the show, rather than the type of gaming expert who reads PCG, and so you’ll find it by going to Google and searching for “The Last Of Us “.
Come on, I’m waiting. The results page appears as usual, but with a little red mushroom icon in the bottom center. When you click this, tendrils start creeping in at the edge of your screen: the creepy fungus among us that turns everyone in that world into clickers. You can keep clicking for ages and as you do the infection spreads further and further across the screen.
I don’t think there’s an end to this, as once your screen is filled with the tendrils they’ll start repeating placements around the edge of the screen, but it’s neat that you can still comb through your results as everything piles up. The Easter egg will also appear if you search for “cordyceps” or “cordyceps fungus”, the horrific, true parasitic species that infests ants and grows large mushrooms from their heads.
It seems certain that the HBO show will continue (although not everyone thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread (opens in new tab)), and beyond that, Naughty Dog probably has no choice but to eventually make a third game. However, it will never cease to amuse me that there is a game called The Last of Us Part 2. It should be subtitled “The Lastest”.