The Last of Us: Left Behind Critic Reviews

Left Behind is a stunning DLC. A little bit short, but still impressive, emotional and incredible. You'll be dragged into Ellie's past with a mix of crushing feelings you'll never forget. And yes, we're still speaking of "just" a videogame.

A beautifully crafted addendum to The Last of Us, a game that already stood tall above many of its peers. While it could have benefited from yet more exploration, its impeccable level design utilises its environments to take Ellie and Riley - wonderfully portrayed by Ashley Johnson and Yaani King - on a trip that is not easily forgotten, underpinned by sparing use of Gustavo Santaolalla's beautiful score.

Truly wonderful sections of youthful exuberance give way to bleak moments of horror and desperation. Two hours may not seem all that long, but the impact Left Behind has will be with you for hours afterwards.

With excellent characters, emotionally charged storytelling and tense action set-pieces, deciding whether or not to revisit Naughty Dog's stunning game world really is a no-brainer.

Left Behind does nothing new with The Last of Us' tense and exhilarating gameplay rhythm; you're always either in intense danger, or fearfully anticipating the next moment of intense danger. But it tells a different story, one that's more compact and more affecting for it, and it shows that Naughty Dog has serious emotional range. Rarely have I played anything as powerful.

Left Behind is how story DLC should be done.

Some may knock Left Behind for its relative brevity, at two to three hours, but this is one of those clear cases of quality over quantity, and I for one appreciate an add-on that imparts a lot of narrative value to a game like this without overstaying its welcome. It's delightfully ironic that the one game which really didn't need any DLC has received one of the best pieces of DLC in recent memory.

The rich environments and the heartfelt, touching story easily make the price-tag seem irrelevant. Left Behind is on par with the main game in all but length, built with great care and attention to detail. It's the best DLC I have ever played and even though I never for a moment wanted The Last of Us to extend beyond its perfect conclusion, Naughty Dog almost made me think that a sequel to this might not be a bad idea after all.

Left Behind is the perfect DLC. It’s not extra padding, doesn’t feel like it but comes across more like closure for a nearly perfect game. Left Behind enlarges the world with seemingly small additions that are so much more than an extra level.

Left Behind is a fantastic piece of content, and Naughty Dog has again raised the bar for all developers who aim to tell character-driven stories. They just don't come better than this.

If I had to sum up the experience without saying anything concrete about the events, I would say that half was more of the same, and the other half made me like Ellie even more, this was also half that shook my "foundations" and that makes me recommend this DLC without hesitation.

It is ART, god damn it. And it’s wonderful.

It cannot be stressed enough that this is gaming at its most essential and the genuine emotional power that it carries is exceptional. Do yourself a favour and turn off your phone for a few hours and get lost in the best gaming relationship you’ll likely ever have. Stunning.

Left Behind makes The Last of Us more relevant and an even better experience than the one we'd have playing only the original campaign.

If this is the last piece of story we get from The Last of Us and the franchise ends with one installment, it’s a good way to go out.

Left Behind is worth the wait, worth every penny you spend on it, and worth the two-hour plus investment of time you put into playing it. It’s even worth playing The Last of Us in its entirety again before loading up Left Behind for the first time so you can get the most out of the atmosphere, gameplay, and connection to these deep characters.

While excellent, Left Behind definitely could have been longer, but with such a well crafted little story, it’s hard to fault the game for not giving me some more monster killing filler.

It's difficult to find any messy balancing or inconsistencies, which is a tremendous accomplishment in and of itself.

If you loved the main game (and if you didn't, why not?) then you are going to love this too. Go get it, and don't let yourself get Left Behind.

Two and a half hours Left Behind has you laughing, get scared, angry and possibly even cry. The story is touching and the ruthless world of The Last of Us comes through even better than in the original game, due to little nuances in the gameplay. Left Behind is the highest quality of DLC.