The Last Of Us

New experiences could be on the way for The Last Of Us as we see just how Sony could bring The Last Of Us & other IPs to life

What if I told you there could be a way to step into the world of The Last Of Us further than just a VR setting or a conga line haunted house? Would you be interested in that or would that scare you away? Maybe a mixture of both, but that will not stop us from taking a look at a new concept for immersive experiences that Sony is aiming for with the new hardware they are trying to bring to market. All with a showcasing during CES 2025 and a bit of a teaser for it all to give those who could not attend a little taste. It was out there last year to highlight Ghostbusters and now, as the tech has evolved a bit, the team brought the proof of concept for The Last Of Us. This time giving those involved a way to truly interact as well as have their other senses engaged. Something that could be coming to a theme park or other experience near you in the future.

While at CES, some of our team and I were able to experience this new immersive entertainment for The Last Of Us firsthand. It was a nice little demo that brought us into a new story for the world and a large space that was designed to feel like the world we were heading into. Flashlights were given and fake guns with tracking balls on them were handed out, and we wandered into a subway section from the game. Surrounding us, instead of a massive set, were some top-of-the-line LED panels to build out the world with the entire floor offering up haptic feedback as we stepped. Not just in the way of basic rumbling, but as things smashed, clanged, and rushed, you could feel it across the floor as if a real subway car crashed to the ground. There was also the build-up of the rush of the infected that you could feel coming, and also smell with a bit of a fungus smell piped in and directed at us. All so we could use the motion controls of the physical items to shoot our way out of the situation. A solid mixture of a haunt with the immersion of VR, without the bulky headset.

While there is still a bit to go to get fully immersed into the world of The Last Of Us in this experience, as a proof of concept, it landed fairly strong. The screens and lighting were on point, as expected from what we have seen before. The haptic floor was a true highlight as it really did feel like you were standing in the space, even if it was only your feet and lower legs feeling the sensations. As someone who has been through similar situations, I can say it felt truly close to the real thing while keeping us safely in our little box. The scents, for me, needed a bit more work as I could only smell ozone from some of the sparks. Only after the experience did I know what it was supposed to be, but the fact that the team got things that close in this early of a stage only means that we could be wandering around video games like The Last Of Us in a physical sense and get us one step closer to a holodeck from Sci-Fi. After experiencing this technology twice, I can see this all being a new wave of the future for theme parks and other experiences.

Would you want to experience the world of The Last Of Us in this way or would you rather have the full sets build out and other real-world things? Do you think this is going to be the way to go to get high-end experiences out of our gaming IPs or will it be a gimmick that only a few get to play with before it is shelved? Have you ever experienced anything close to what was described and seen above or will you need to hold out hope that you get to experience it all in the near future? Head on down to the comment section to discuss all of this and everything else that we have to share with you. We are excited about this new technology and how they could use it to market The Last Of Us to more of the world, so know that we will have more to share here soon. Just be sure to keep an eye on the site so you can get all of the updates that you can out there and maybe know when it is coming somewhere near you.