
The Last of Us star Troy Baker says the first game in Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic zombie (sorry, infected) series "became the brand name for quality and storytelling within games" after it launched in 2013.
Baker, who plays everyone's favorite grumpy dad, Joel, in The Last of Us and its sequel, has a lot of praise for Naughty Dog's award-winning action adventure, and he's not the only one. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, prominent actor Matt Mercer (who's appeared in countless games, including Fire Emblem: Awakening, Persona 5, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and Fallout 4) says The Last of Us was "a watershed moment for what video games could be as a storytelling medium." Meanwhile, Erika Ishii (Destiny 2, Apex Legends, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and many more) says breaking into the games industry around the same time as TLOU was like "being there at the advent of cinema."