PlayStation players are full of weighty emotions right now with The Last of Us Part II’s long-awaited and controversy-laden release on the PlayStation 4. Some players have willingly offered up their delicate heartstrings to be teased, pulled and unexpectedly yanked by the storytellers at Naughty Dog; others—of a more cynical variety—have embarked on a continuing quest to fuel a storm of outrage and tarnish what would otherwise have been another stellar Naughty Dog launch. The less said about all that, however, the better. The point is: The Last of Us Part II is dominating current gaming discussion, which for non-PlayStation owners, can feel a little bit like being the only vegetarian in a world-class steakhouse. So how’s an Xbox, PC or Switch owner to satisfy their cravings for games of the gloomy, gritty and gory variety without splashing out on a PlayStation 4 this late in the console generation? Well, luckily, this industry is never short of titles that fit any (or all) of the aforementioned adjectives. Take a gander through some of our favourite titles that hit similar gameplay, tonal and story notes to Naughty Dog’s pair of post-apocalyptic epics! (Note: for simplicity’s sake, both games will be referred to as one entity,‘The Last of Us’, from here on out.
The Walking Dead
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