‘God of War’ Director Sings High Praises for Naughty Dog’s ‘The Last of Us’

Santa Monica Studios’ God of War title was instantly met with praise for its resounding narrative, intense look at Kratos and Atreus’ relationship, and thrilling gameplay mechanics. Generally hailed as a masterpiece, the game’s director is now singing the praise of another huge narrative hit found within The Last of Us from Naughty Dog.

Director Cory Barlog recently sat down with NoClipVideo’s Danny Odwyer to talk about all things gaming and his incredible title’s success. While discussing strong narrative games, however, Barlog couldn’t help but to sing the praises for one title in particular that he mentioned helped to perpetuate this “movement” immersive storytelling that was much more than simply reliant of “fear” and “anger.”

Barlog mentioned that the first The Last of Us was one that he “remembered the most” and he felt really struck a chord with the most amount of people. He was also very careful to reiterate that he in no way means that this is the only game to do this, but the scope of enjoyment it made it memorable on many accounts which helped pave the way for more single-player, narrative heavy adventures.

That suddenly made it ok to tackle subjects that made you care and empathize with other characters,” he said in the interview. “That made you feel more than fear, tension, and anger.” The biggest takeaway was that this game gave players a sense of joy as well as sadness, giving purpose to the grind and offering something “more” than just a simple story – The Last of Us offered connection – a valuable connection – and one felt on a deeply empathetic level that inspired more and more developers to either tap into that or to continue building upon the worlds they’ve already created.

To listen to the entire interview, you can check out the video at the top of the article to hear him tackle that hype-worthy Stargate fandom and what the journey has been like for his own narrative-heavy adventure.