When you play The Last of Us and Part II, you’re not only required to be a good shot, but you also have to master the skill of sneaking pass through the herds of infected and groups of armed human enemies.
The beautiful-yet-dangerous post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us leads us to a big question: are humans capable of pulling that many years to survive between infected creatures of Clickers, Stalkers, Bloaters, and the Rat King? So, on this list, we’re picking a couple of reasons for what advantages humans have against infected, and vice versa.
10 Humans: They Have Firearms & Guns Stocked In Their Base
One thing to consider about humans is how well-stocked they are for guns, firearms, and explosives. After the Cordyceps Brain Infection reached its critical peak in September 2013 just right on the earliest event of 2013’s Last of Us, FEDRA and the military set up QZs (Quarantine Zones) across the American cities.
Sadly, now, most of the Quarantine Zones are either abandoned, taken over by another group of militia, or met an uncertain fate. Humans are now divided into groups, known as the Jackson residents, the Bandits, the Hunters, the WLF, the Seraphites, the Cannibals, and presumably, the re-united Fireflies. Each group has an abundance of stock of guns ready to be used to survive.
9 Infected: They Have No Fear of Death
The fear of death and losing the loved ones is one reason why humans are so fragile, but infected creatures sense no feeling. They’re not afraid of death as they have nothing to lose as the Cordyceps Infection affected their brain into behaving hyper-aggressively.
They’re also not capable of rational thought, which pretty much explains why they do not hesitate to kill each other, let alone non-infected humans. If you’re interested in how Cordyceps can kill ants in real life, tune in to BBC’s Planet Earth documentary episode, titled Jungles. Narrated by David Attenborough, the docu-episode shows what Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is capable of killing.
8 Humans: They Are, Supposedly, on Their Way of Making a Vaccine
20 years after the 2013 outbreak, humans were already on their way of making a vaccine, of course, before Joel heroically showed up and wiped off the entire hospital and put the Fireflies off the map. If the vaccine was really on the way, humans should connect the dots on what makes Ellie infected, yet she’s so immune to the Cordyceps Brain Infection.
Fans have theories about Ellie’s immunity, and one of them is that her mother was bitten less than two days before giving birth to Ellie. If Naughty Dog decides to release a DLC or Part III, who knows what would be in the store?
7 Infected: Are You Sure You Can Take on the Rat King?
The Last of Us Part II’s most notorious final-boss to fight is the ugly-looking Rat King, and, spoiler alert, you’ll meet the disgusting infected during your journey with Abby when she reaches the hospital’s basement in search of medical supplies. Nora briefly explained why the WLF crews hadn’t touched the area, saying that it’s the area “where they brought the first infected before anyone knew better.”
From its design, the Rat King looks like a conjoined twins of a Bloater and a Stalker, ready to tear Abby limb to limb. Although it only appears once in Part II, God only knows how many of them actually are in the country.
6 Humans: Being a Creature with Survivor’s Instinct, Humans Always Stood Out Against the Time
We, as humans, have seen numerous infections and pandemic throughout the time. From the Pandemic of Influenza 1200 years BC, the Plague of Justinian in 541-542, the Black Death that killed an estimate of 200 million lives, the 1918 Spanish Flu, and the current Covid-19 pandemic, we evolve stronger every single time they face such an infectious disease.
On The Last of Us’s apocalyptic world, the Cordyceps Brain Infection might already have wiped roughly 60% off our total population. Still, as history speaks, we always find a way to survive.
5 Infected: Good Luck Trying to Defend Against the Stalkers & Bloaters
During the two sequels, players will face infected creatures from all four stages of infection: Runner, Stalker, Clicker, and Bloater or Shambler. Each has its own specialty, like the Runners, for example, who still possess a slight amount of human physical characters. Even though they’re the first and the weakest stage of infection, they’re still dangerous around Bloaters and Clickers because they generate a noisy sound when they see a survivor. The Bloaters are the rarest and the most perilous infection phase as they’re covered by the thick fungus as their armor.
Good luck, and have fun trying to fight them off.
4 Humans: Their Knowledge Always Develop Throughout the Time
Over the centuries, we’ve proven that we always have what it takes to last. Our knowledge always develops throughout time, and thanks to technology, we have a better healthcare system than we had back in the 1700s or the 1600s.
The most first recognizable ancient human appeared roughly two million years ago, and it has a slightly bigger size of the brain than its predecessors. Our brain size also rapidly evolve through our evolution, and it’s the largest from all the primates, allowing us to survive the world’s evolution better than any other species.
3 Infected: Humans Are Divided, Which Make Them a Weak Target
Humans can have all their brains, weapons, survival skills, or fully-stocked resources, but in the event of Part II, you can see how divided they are. Each group of humans, from the WLF, the Seraphites, the Jackson Residents, the Hunters, the Rattlers, or the Cannibals if we want to count the 2013 TLOU, fight off against each other for a little amount of territory and supplies.
The game’s most prominent group, the gun-reliant Washington Liberation Front, is at war with the traditional Seraphites. The Rattlers love to enslave people, and the Hunters are always eager to loot other survivors off their supplies.
2 Humans: If Only They’re United, They Could Easily Take On the Infected
Can you imagine The Last of Us minus humans fighting off each other? Imagine the world where the Seraphites and the WLF shake hands and end their long-lasting feud to combine their territory, the Rattlers stop enslaving people, and the Hunters refrain themselves from looting and killing other innocent survivors?
If only the groups are united to survive, a vaccine could be on its way & fending off against monstrous infected creatures will be a lot easier. I know, the chance is slim-to-none, because each group have their agenda and will do all it takes to survive by any means necessary.
1 Final Conclusion: Who Could Take the Reign?
So, who could take the reign? Could the Last of Humans restore the civilization we’ve once had, or could the Infected completely take over the remaining 40% of the human population? From this list, apparently, humans will always come out stronger and have the best chance of surviving the post-apocalyptic world if only they unite and use their energy to fight the bigger picture.
But, again, it’s The Last of Us world where nobody can predict anything. Who cares about unity when you’re one of the last-standing humans on Earth?
