I beat The Last of Us Remastered last night in preparation for tonight's launch of The Last of Us Part II. While playing the game I remembered that I had actually been to some of the locations featured in it, specifically Boston. I decided to go through my old pictures and videos I took there back in September 2012, nine months before The Last of Us originally launched in June 2013, and compare them to my playthrough. This post isn't meant to be all-encompassing, and focuses only on my own experience. There are other posts out there you can find if you search for real life comparisons for The Last of Us that cover other parts of the game.
Please note that from this point forward I will be discussing specific locations in The Last of Us, one of which involves a major story spoiler.
Locations in The Last of Us aren't 1:1 accurate, nor are they meant to be, but some areas more closely match real-life than others. The real-life pictures you see are from shots I took on my trip to Boston with my brother in September 2012. The events in Boston in the game take place in the summer of 2033, so nearly 21 years have passed since the Cordyceps Brain Infection (CBI) pandemic began.
We'll start off with probably my favorite comparison, and one of the more accurate depictions of a location in the game. One of the key early set pieces in The Last of Us is the Massachusetts State House, referred to in the game as the Capitol Building. Joel and Tess are given the task of bringing Ellie there to hand her off to the Fireflies, a rebel group who are going to take her to a hospital in Utah for study in hopes of developing a vaccine for CBI, since Ellie has been shown to be immune to the disease. They arrive there to find the Fireflies dead, leading to Tess revealing that she herself has become infected. The soldiers that have been chasing the group since they absconded from the quarantine zone arrive, and Tess stays back to give Joel and Ellie time to escape. Tess is quickly gunned down, and Joel and Ellie make their way through the State House in hopes of finding a safe exit.
Nurses’ Hall is the first room Joel and Ellie enter after separating from Tess. I said this is my favorite comparison before, and that's because the photo I took is a very similar angle to this shot I took from my playthrough of the game, as shown at the top of this post.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. The Army Nurses Memorial by Bela Pratt at the Massachusetts State House, located in Nurses’ Hall.
The developers made some changes to the design of the stairs, though the layout is still the same. The key thing here though is the Army Nurses Memorial by Bela Pratt on the right. Notice how it has decayed over the years in The Last of Us.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. The Army Nurses Memorial by Bela Pratt at the Massachusetts State House, located in Nurses’ Hall.
Up the stairs in the same room you can get a closer look at the murals on the wall, which have completely changed from real life, though some of the design of the wall itself is maintained along with the ceiling lights being similar.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. Murals by Robert Reid at the Massachusetts State House in Nurses’ Hall.
Here is the entrance room where Tess dies. They kept some of the archways and the design on the floor is similar. I mostly only have video of this room in real life.
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. Interior of Massachusetts State House.
Now let's look at the outside area near the main entrance of the State House. On your way there you can see this large building to the left, which I believe to be a combination of the Old North Church, also known as Christ Church, and Park Street Church, with the clock matching the latter. Notice how the top portion of the building is closer to that of the Old North Church.
Across the street from the State House is the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial monument by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, portraying the Union Army officer alongside members of the all-black 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. I recommend watching the 1989 film Glory if you haven't seen it yet!
Photo by Charles Alan Ratliff. Robert Gould Shaw Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, across the street from the Massachusetts State House.
Past that is a dilapidated swan boat, which you can see a distant comparison of from a screencap I took of my video of Public Garden in Boston.
And finally, let’s check out the exterior of the Massachusetts State House via this handy slideshow. There are four pictures you can scroll through by using the arrows on the left and right.
The entrance post is very similar, though the font and spacing is different, and the fence at the very front is now gone. The spacing of the columns on the building is pretty similar as well, though it seems there may be more space in between them in the game. The top of the dome is also different and is missing its top piece. The statues out front were completely changed.
And that’s all the photos I have that are worth comparing. Have you been to any of the locations in The Last of Us? Feel free to share your stories and photos below!