The Last of Us is a third-person action-adventure game featuring a mix of exploration, stealth and combat. Players face both infected creatures and hostile human enemies while progressing through varied environments. The game includes a narrative-driven single-player campaign and a competitive online multiplayer mode called Factions. Trophy support is included, and additional downloadable content was made available separately.

Twenty years after the outbreak of a parasitic fungus which takes over the neural functions of humans, Joel, a Texan with a tragic familial past, finds himself responsible with smuggling a fourteen-year-old girl named Ellie to a militia group called the Fireflies, while avoiding strict and deadly authorities, infected fungal hosts and other violent survivors.