The Last of Us has settled an age-old internet argument

HBO’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Naughty Dog’s hit video-game franchise The Last of Us has finally revealed to the world at large something that we antisocial nerds have been arguing on internet forums for years: video games are great, and we’re cool for liking them.

- RYAN COOGAN

It was always going to happen eventually. The dorks won the culture wars a long time ago; now that we live in a world where most of our mothers can identify Rocket Raccoon on sight, it was only a matter of time before gamers managed to shed the decades-old image of a maladjusted Dorito-stained gremlin living in their mother’s basement.

It’s been a hard-fought road, though, not helped in the least by the long list of abysmal video-game adaptations that it took to finally get to this point. Street Fighter. Prince of Persia. Every single Resident Evil movie. We thank you for your service; now please go away and never come back. In fact, The Last of Us has the distinct honour of not only being the best video-game adaptation ever made yes, I’m ready to make that call after only three episodes; the bar is in the sewer), but also being the only good video-game adaptation ever made.

I know that it’s the done thing to couch a statement like that with in my opinion”, but no, I’m not doing it. Video-game adaptations have had a well-earned reputation for being borderline unwatchable since the first person looked at a plucky little Italian cartoon plumber and said, You know who would be perfect in that role? Bob Hoskins.”

It’s fine, you’re allowed to say it. We don’t have to relitigate every piece of media from our childhoods. We don’t have to sit here and pretend that the film version of Double Dragon is an underrated gem because we never grew out of being contrarian. This isn’t Twitter. What’s weird, though, is that video-game adaptations shouldn’t be bad. In fact, they should be the most reliably successful type of adaptation. The Last of Us shouldn’t be the exception; it should be the rule.