In a strange twist of news Sony has announced that the DLC expansion for The Last Us known as Left Behind will become a standalone game starting May 12th. That's right, if you never owned the game before you can buy The Last of Us: Left Behind as a standalone gaming experience.
Over on the PlayStation blog Naughty Dog's community strategist, Arne Meyer, talked up the re-release of The Last of Us: Left Behind as a standalone game, writing...
While part of the story of Left Behind takes place during the main narrative arc of The Last of Us, I think some of the best and most touching moments of any game in recent memory occur during the prequel segments, as we follow Ellie and Riley as they sneak out of boarding school to visit an abandoned mall, getting one final chance to enjoy their friendship before Riley leaves to join the Fireflies.
I suppose I should avoid the spoilers about Ellie and Riley; instead I'll just say that the prequel explains the events leading up to the main story of The Last of Us and why Ellie ends up under Joel as they venture to the main facility of the Fireflies.
You can check out the DLC trailer for The Last of Us: Left Behind below to get an idea of what the content has in store for you if you haven't already played it.
The DLC released shortly after the launch of the original game back in 2013. The Left Behind DLC was to help expand a bit on the game's story and give players a little bit of the history of Ellie before she joined up with Tess and Joel.
Re-releasing the DLC expansion as a standalone game is sort of an odd move on Sony's part considering that the new standalone is for both PS3 and PS4 owners. Many gamers who purchased a PS4 who missed out on The Last of Us on the PS3 had an opportunity to get acquainted with the game through The Last of Us: Remastered.
The Remastered version of the game contained all the previously released DLC, including Left Behind, and many of the multiplayer tweaks and patches that the PS3 version of the game had already received. It seemed like a no-brainer that anyone who wanted The Last of Us while in possession of the PS4 would have purchased the remastered edition once it became available.
Even still, it seems odd that Sony would release the prequel DLC as a standalone game package even though you would still have to buy The Last of Us: Remastered to get the full experience on the PS4, which still includes Left Behind. It's a rather odd choice for making the DLC a standalone product.
What's more is that the standalone DLC also has access to additional DLC if you're willing to shell out a bit more for the game. If you purchase The Last of Us: Left Behind for $9.99 the in-game store will allow you to upgrade the game with additional content, including $9.99 for the full Factions multiplayer modes, $19.99 on the PS3 (or $29.99 on the PS4) for the full single-player game and Treacherous Territories map pack, and for $29.99 on the PS3 ($39.99 on PS4) you can upgrade to the full single-player game and gain the Factions mode and Treacherous Territories bundle.
None of those are particularly good deals if you just buy The Last of Us: Remastered on PS4.
