‘The Last of Us’ Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee

Even after playing this game many times, you’ll still discover surprising details and hidden features. These range from clever ways the story unfolds to subtle design choices that keep the gameplay smooth and prevent issues.

These flaws aren’t major problems, but subtle details you notice with closer observation. Whether you’re watching in Boston, Pittsburgh, or at a college campus, recognizing these details reveals how the game maintains excitement while quietly resolving issues behind the scenes.

Companions Invisible To Enemies

In the game, companions can move undetected through enemy view without alerting them. The enemy AI primarily focuses on tracking the player character for stealth, and generally doesn’t react to the positions of companions. This prevents frustrating situations where patrols are constantly spotting and reacting to everyone, keeping the focus on the player even if a companion runs into view.

Try testing this in the initial, hidden areas where players quickly move and take cover. Have a teammate move ahead of an enemy while you stay concealed. The enemy won’t react until you appear, proving that companions are detected separately.

Ladders And Planks Used As One Size Fits All Keys

Many games use a similar puzzle where you move ladders or planks to overcome obstacles. Typically, the game places these items conveniently near the blocked path, allowing you to easily move them to a specific spot. This feels more like a designed challenge within the level itself, rather than a natural part of the game world.

When exploring areas like the downtown ruins or the flooded hotel, you might find paths that don’t lead anywhere or unnecessary objects. The environment is designed with a single, specific solution in mind – that’s why things like ladders or planks are always exactly the right size and weight for what you need.

Ellie Cannot Swim While Pallets Always Appear

Ellie often travels across flooded areas using wooden pallets as makeshift rafts. These pallets are found throughout the water, allowing her to move forward even in places where it’s unclear why so many floating platforms are present.

If you explore the hotel basement or nearby streets, you’ll notice how the layout guides you towards specific spots where you can find supplies or take a break. This system helps you move forward in the game, but it also feels repetitive because the world always provides the same solution to the same challenges.

Shiv Doors That Ignore How Locks Work

Locked doors all open with the same type of crafted tool, a makeshift key. This simplifies things – instead of different locks, you use a limited supply of these tools to unlock areas and earn rewards. It makes exploration rely on managing your inventory.

You’ll notice this happening at schools and office buildings – doors requiring shivs are often near areas with valuable items. These doors only show the option to open them when you have both blades and binding materials in your inventory. Having other tools won’t help if you’re missing either of those two key items; the door will remain locked until you do.

Brick And Bottle Do The Same Job

Both bricks and bottles behave similarly when thrown – they follow the same path, briefly stun enemies, and attract their attention. Enemies respond to the sound of either object in the same way, becoming vulnerable for a similar amount of time if hit on the head. This design prioritizes using items as general distractions rather than focusing on what specific item is used.

When trying to distract enemies in the financial district using both bricks and bottles, you’ll find they react the same way to the sound, moving towards it and creating the same opportunities for stealth takedowns. The main difference is how much damage each item does in a follow-up melee attack, but this doesn’t usually affect whether you can successfully remain hidden.

Flashlight That Never Truly Dies

The flashlight dims and flickers as if the battery is running low, but it never actually dies. You can briefly steady the light by shaking the controller or tapping a button. This creates a sense of tension without adding the burden of having to find batteries or chargers – that’s why you won’t find those items anywhere.

Whether you’re exploring the museum or the sewer tunnels, your light stays on the entire time. It flickers during scary moments, but always comes back on. This shows the light isn’t affected by battery life – it’s used to build tension and create a fearful atmosphere.

Crafting In The Open While Enemies Wait

During battles, you can quickly make health kits and explosives with a short animation. Enemies usually won’t interrupt unless they’re right next to you, allowing you to create items even in risky situations that would be impossible with more aggressive AI.

You can build this in a high school gym or university lab, but you need to move out of sight to start the process. Once you’ve created a small distance, the device finishes building and appears in your possession. This system helps manage resources by providing a quick way to create an item as soon as you gather the necessary parts.

Melee Durability That Breaks In Fixed Chunks

Most close-combat weapons wear out after a certain amount of use, no matter what you hit. Improving these weapons adds set levels of durability and can even allow for instant kills, making weapons like pipes and boards function similarly – essentially giving them a limited lifespan. How upgraded a weapon is matters more than what it’s made of.

If you follow a newly crafted wooden board through several uses, you’ll notice it breaks after a consistent number of hits, regardless of how hard those hits are. This predictable pattern makes it easy to anticipate when an item will break, but it also reveals that damage is calculated by a simple counter instead of realistic physical impact.

Ammo Economy That Resets By Encounter

The game doesn’t calculate ammo availability across the entire experience. Instead, it adjusts what you find based on the specific enemies you’re facing and how challenging they are. This means you can quickly find the ammo you need for a current fight, even if it was hard to come by in the previous area. The system is designed to keep you supplied and prevent you from running out of ammunition.

You’ll notice more revolver ammo when you’re in areas designed for medium-range combat, such as the bookstore. The game adjusts what loot you find based on your current gear and the environment, meaning the types of bullets available tend to match the challenges of each area rather than the overall game world.

Sound And Clicker Detection That Bends To Layout

The sounds of clicking, like footsteps, aren’t always consistent. How a room is shaped and how the game is programmed affect how those sounds travel and are perceived. Even though footsteps sound the same on a particular surface, enemies react differently based on the specific encounter. Similarly, thrown objects consistently attract enemy attention, even when obstacles should realistically change how sound bounces and travels.

Try testing this in places like subway stations and hotel basements. Move at a consistent speed across similar flooring and roll a bottle down hallways that are roughly the same. You’ll notice the detection system follows set paths based on the environment’s structure, not just sounds – meaning it’s designed to react to the layout of a space before considering any noises.

Share the mistake that jumps out to you every time in the comments so everyone can compare notes.

2025-10-12 06:19