9. Sarah’s death
To be honest, the whole “hero loses a loved one and turns into a cold-hearted murderer” trope is getting really old. I love Joel as a character, but you can’t deny that the man’s a walking cliché. Still, you have to give Naughty Dog credit for how well they presented this scene.
You only get to play as Sarah for about 10 minutes or so, but that short amount of time was all Naughty Dog needed to get you invested in her as a character. You see fragments of her life all over her room and you see the loving relationship she has with her father. And then, all of a sudden, Sarah gets shot and you can only watch in shock as Joel tries so desperately to keep her alive. The game doesn’t even give you time to grieve over her either. The Last of Us immediately cuts to the game’s title sequence and you’re thrown headfirst into the 20-year apocalypse. This scene, as clichéd and predictable as it may be, hits all the right notes and doesn’t fail to tug at your heartstrings.
