Anyone who’s ever been depressed about either a book or video game adaptation knows the pure sorrow of watching your favorite story in the world get ruined by Hollywood. Well, for fans of ‘The Last of Us’, many gamers were horrified to hear that Joel and Ellie were going to be making an appearance on HBO. However, as production details were leaked and we learned that our favorite masochistic storytelling Daddy, Neil Druckman, was going to be writing the show as well (with Craig Mazin of course), there was hope in all of our hearts. That is, until we realized we might be destroyed again like we were when we played the game, getting our souls ripped out by the most amazing characters in the most epic story. 

With the conclusion of the season finale, a lot of gamers are pretty pleased with how the show handled the adaptation. This could be largely because there are so many hidden easter eggs within the show that wink at the folks who played the game. So if you’ve ever been hiding in a cubicle with nothing but a brick or bottle in your hand with a clicker on the loose, these references probably didn’t go unnoticed. With all the backlash Naughty Dog received from TLOU part 2, it’s only fair that they attempted to appease their feral audience in some way by referencing gameplay in the show. To be honest, even if you didn’t like everything HBO did, the easter eggs are something we can all get behind. 

There’s nothing gamers love more than a hidden secret.