Naughty Dog has announced that The Last Of Us Left Behind DLC will be available as a standalone experience from May 12th via the PlayStation Store for both PS3 & PS4. This means you won’t need to own The Last Of Us base game to experience Ellie’s life before finding herself in Joel’s company. The cost of this will be $9.99 and buying it will give a discount on The Last Of Us itself on the store.
The prices are in dollars but this is how cost breaks down after downloading Left Behind Standalone.
PS4:
- Factions Multiplayer = $9.99
- The Last Of Us full game with Treacherous Territories pack = $29.99
- Full Game pack + Factions multiplayer = $39.99
PS3:
- Factions Multiplayer = $9.99
- The Last Of Us full game with Treacherous Territories pack = $19.99
- Full Game pack + Factions multiplayer = $29.99
Source: Naughty Dog
Avenger
I do think this is the Uncharted 3 Free-to-Play financial model again, selling off parts of the game at a relatively high price. I can’t understand quite why people would want just Left Behind either, as the DLC is relatively short (not a full game’s length), and a lot of the gunplay is absent. Plus the whole game can be bought cheap on either platform these days.
The Lone Steven
Just no, Sony and Naughty Dog. I know TLOU is your golden egg but if you use it any more, it will break and you’ll have the contents all over your crotch. Then you will have to explain to Sony why you have ruined it’s breakfast.
I mean, you can’t really have Left Behind without the Last of Us as it could be considered TLOU’s Virtous Mission, Ground Zeroes, prologue due to Ellie being a central character in the game. I’m 90% sure that people will buy TLOU first before buying the DLC and this pretty much has no purpose. Without TLOU, Ellie doesn’t really mean much to the player. With TLOU, it’s a big insight into her backstory. It would be like taking Drake out of Uncharted and putting him in a 2 hour temple based DLC set in his past. You wouldn’t really care for him unless one played Uncharted.
On the plus side, at least it’s just DLC.
JR.
What about the people who played the main game and traded it in before Left Behind was released? They might want to play this dlc without re-purchasing the full game again. All they’re doing is giving people options.
I loved this dlc. The story and the new game mechanics were great. Throwing a glass bottle at a group of hunters to and luring the infected to attack them was great. I really missed this feature when I replayed the main game again after finishing the dlc.
Loxstokk
I think some people are missing the point (from a commercial angle). Some people (believe it or not) are yet to play the TLOU. They maybe tempted to splash out $10 or £7 for the DLC as a stand alone to try it out, and the pricing model is such that it effectively gives you a like for like discount off the main game, in a similar way to iTunes offering a discount if you ‘complete the album’ discount after buying the odd track.
The good thing about the left behind DLC is that it works so well as a standalone. Yes there are some plot points covered from the main game but nothing that would ruin the experience if you decided to progress to trying the full thing.
Just my 2 pence.
Avenger
Thing is, the full remastered version is £9.99 on CDkeys, and the disc version is available relatively cheap now as well. Also Left Behind could easily scare people away, as the gameplay really isn’t the same as the full game. I really don’t think a ‘try out’ or a ‘return to play DLC’ idea was what ND was thinking about
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like ND are trying to cash grab money, which considering the number of versions released (3 different versions + Season pass + later DLC, all at an increasing premium on release), just seems undignified now.
JustTaylorNow
“Please no. Not everyone has the money to shell out on a game they may not like” ;) ;)
Avenger
Very true what that guy said, he know what he’s talking about :P
To be fair though, I did think it clever of ND to do the expansion stand-alone for people to try out when I saw the news on Twitter for that exact reason of spending less money. What really annoyed me is the bit where they’re using it as a platform to sell the rest of the content, much like Uncharted 3. £20 for the single player add-on is a rip off (there’s me being a cheap skate again).
TSBonyman
That’s unexpected. I picked up the complete HD remaster for a tenner on sale on PSN recently, and at the main menu a notice pops up, recommending that you play TLoU before playing Left Behind to avoid spoilers.
Jones81
Personally im not really bothered by this. As long the extra revenue raised helps make uncharted 4 everything we hope it will be
stueeeee
These adverts are starting to annoy me. They pop up over the screen?
Ouninpohja
Glad it’s not just me getting them :)
JR.
Yes, very intrusive and annoying.
Starman
Me too. And I can’t close it because the “X” is partly covered by “Ad”
Stefan L
Sorry about those. We’ve reported them, so hopefully they’ll be removed soon, but rest assured that we dislike intrusive ads as much as the next person.