I don’t buy much DLC, so when I say that this is the best DLC I’ve ever bought the statement might not carry much weight for people that buy them regularly. That being said, the quality of this add-on for PS3’s greatest game is absolutely superb. The content is fairly short for this price: I managed to finish it in one sitting of around two and a half hours. But this is all that costs the DLC a perfect ten out of ten score. Once you can get past the cost, it’s a breathtakingly wonderful couple of hours that fits the main game perfectly.
Set during and before the main game story, Left Behind shows a series of flashbacks that Ellie recalls while hunting for medical supplies to help Joel. Left Behind is a great filler between Autumn and Winter and would not be out of place in the main story. The combat sections in these parts are just as tense and exhilarating as the main game, giving us more of the amazing gameplay from arguably the best section of The Last of Us; hunting in the woods and escaping the cannibals as Ellie.
But it’s the flashbacks that are the main focus of Left Behind and where Naughty Dog once again flexes its story telling muscles. Telling the story of Ellie and her friend Riley gives some brilliant background to Ellie’s character and thanks to some wonderful set pieces and voice acting, the relationship between these two characters is depicted superbly.
Showing Ellie as a fun-loving teenage girl as opposed to a hardened survivor was a lovely change of pace, reminding you of how cruel Naughty Dog’s world is. As opposed to filling the flashbacks with combat, the majority of them were just Ellie and Riley hanging out, but combat scenes were just as tense as the rest of the game. My only real criticism is that there was a lack of closure with Riley at the end, which felt like it was missing a huge opportunity for a potentially heart-breaking scene.
Once you can get past these minor issues though, it’s adorable, tense, funny, frightening and just plain wonderful. If you’re on the fence about Left Behind, just go for it. You will not regret it; this is DLC the way it was meant to be.
