The Last of Us game sales surge in the wake of HBO's adaptation

HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us, widely regarded to be one of the best video games ever made, is reviewing surprisingly well, perhaps finally casting off the decades-long curse afflicting video game adaptions. Most video games simply don't translate well to a medium where the agency of the audience is removed completely. Take, for instance, the vast difference between playing the tense plane section in Uncharted 3 – controlling the action yourself, immersing yourself in Drake's shoes, knowing that failure is a possibility that is entirely dependent on your own skills – and simply watching Tom Holland struggle through it in the Uncharted movie, where it simply becomes another mindless set piece that could have come from The Fast and the Furious.

Not so with The Last of Us, however. That the game would find success as a TV show is hardly surprising, given that it's still one of the most 'cinematic' games to date, renowned largely for its imitation of another medium rather than any true innovations in its own. That isn't to say it's a bad game – on the contrary, its knack for storytelling was groundbreaking at the time and even today is rarely matched – but it's certainly a less daunting task to adapt than, say, Dark Souls. Regardless, I'm sure Sony isn't regretting its investment, given that sales of the game have surged in the wake of the show's success. Just don't play it too much, lest you encounter spoilers…