Just a few days ago, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us made its long-awaited arrival on Steam, allowing PC gamers to enjoy what promised to be a visually stunning experience. When it turned out that Steam’s version of the game wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, the internet did what it does best: make a meme out of it. Although the memes are hiding the true disappointment that PC gamers feel towards Naughty Dog’s half-baked port, if you don’t laugh, you cry. Right?
After multiple reports of glitches, bugs, and unexpected crashes, Naughty Dog’s reputation has been the topic of discussion since Tuesday, when the port hit Steam for the hefty price of $59.99, which isn’t worth a single cent judging by the poor quality of the final product. Some of the aforementioned bugs are nightmare-inducing, especially in regard to the character models, which sometimes unexpectedly undergo some shocking changes. Let’s not even mention the awful grainy effect and poor resolution that plagues an otherwise breathtaking game. When the developers launched the port, they were hoping for a resoundingly positive response, but instead were faced with enormous backlash as PC gamers were met with difficulty after inconvenience as the awful translation sucked the immersion right out of the PlayStation exclusive.
At least we’ll always have memes to comfort us in times of distress.
1. Swear to me…
If you’ve been watching HBO’s The Last of Us series, you’ll be familiar with the first season’s closing scene, where Joel swears to Ellie that the Fireflies had discovered other immune people and were no longer in need of Ellie’s blood to craft a cure for the cordyceps fungal infection. In reality, Joel wasn’t prepared to stand by idly and let the Fireflies perform surgery on an unconscious Ellie that would inevitably kill her. That moment was transformed into a meme of PC gamers demanding an optimized PC port of TLoU, only for Naughty Dog to blatantly lie despite audience reviews to the contrary.
2. Walter White meets TLoU PC Joel
Any fan of Breaking Bad will greatly appreciate this one. It’s been a few years since we last saw Walter White, but we’re glad to see he’s still meme-able even so long after the hit Netflix series ended. There’s a scene in Breaking Bad where Walt confronts Bogdan, the car wash owner. In an altercation, Walt loses his temper and shouts “F**k you. And your eyebrows.” This is in reference to Bogdan’s abnormally bushy brows. Joel seemed to be cosplaying as Bogdan in TLoU port since his awful rendering caused him to have hilariously thick brows reminiscent of two dark caterpillars living on his face.
3. Console Joel vs. PC Joel — who’s hotter?
Joel — and now his live-action actor Pedro Pascal — has been the internet’s Daddy ever since The Last of Us came out in 2013. It’s no secret the internet is in love with him, always gushing over his dashing good looks and “strong, silent type” routine. Maybe it’s the beard, since Red Dead Redemption 2‘s brooding protagonist Arthur Morgan seemed to have that same effect on people. Either way, Joel has been a sex symbol in gaming for over a decade, so when the PC port turned him into an absolute monstrosity, the easiest way to overcome “Steam Joel” (as he’s now been dubbed) was to turn him into a meme, comparing him to PlayStation’s Joel in nothing more than a purely light-hearted manner.
4. Have you heard about this new game?
Have you heard? There’s a new game from Naughty Dog coming to Steam. No, not The Last of Us. That’s old news. These days, it’s all about The Crashed of Us. If it isn’t unsightly glitches that are putting a dampener on things, it’s the continuous crashes that PC gamers are experiencing whenever the game plays out less than 15 minutes beyond the initial loading screen. In fact, some players weren’t able to make it past Joel’s desperate escape with Sarah, forcing them to replay and relive the experience with every reload. We can’t even imagine how heartbreaking it is to see Sarah’s demise play out over and over again or how frustrating it must be to reload the same checkpoint. Imagine taking down all the Clickers in the area just for the game to crash and lose your save.
5. Is it raining in here?
Apparently, we’re not even safe from the rain indoors anymore. During several cutscenes, gamers have noticed that characters magically appear soaked halfway through the dialogue. In the instance above, Joel and Tess are discussing the task of smuggling Ellie with Marlene. Naturally, the camera cuts back and forth between the smugglers and the Firefly, occasionally allowing Ellie to be seen beside Marlene. However, even without any context at all, Ellie is suddenly drenched midway through the cutscene, which makes it harder to focus on the character’s lines and all the easier to internally laugh as Ellie argues back and forth with Marlene while being the only member of the foursome to be drenched from the rain(?).
6. Joel has it all figured out
Don’t worry, Sarah. Joel has a new strategy to get out of here. Don’t lose faith in him, he hasn’t lost all his genius to old age just yet. As if the appalling character models weren’t enough, The Last of Us also experiences bugs whenever players move the camera too suddenly. As above, Joel running with Sarah in his arms and looking over his shoulder at the oncoming Runner turns Sarah into Elastigirl from The Incredibles. Either Sarah is secretly a superhero or Joel has a plot to use Sarah’s flexibility as a human shield to save himself. There’s also the possibility that the more Joel moves about aimlessly, the more confused the Infected will become, allowing himself and Sarah to escape unscathed. As we find out, it doesn’t work. But still, good effort, Joel.
7. Christmas came early
It’s almost April, but Christmas has come around already. Whenever the graphics aren’t ruining the entire gameplay, The Last of Us‘ PC port randomly illuminates the environment with distracting neon lights. We’re saluting all the color-blind folks out there; Naughty Dog isn’t doing you any favors. Not to mention, even for someone who doesn’t struggle with light sensitivity, it’s rather jarring to suddenly have the landscape light up in blinding green and yellow when you’re minding your business and killing Infected. It might be extremely inconvenient, but that doesn’t make it any less funny. It’s especially hilarious in contrast with the rest of the landscape, which is purposefully dull and muted to reflect a post-apocalyptic America.
