“It was gorgeous, and I was so not expecting it.' LGBTQ gamers who spoke with NBCNews said the third episode of HBO's 'The Last of Us,' focusing on a queer romance, gave them hope for the future of video games.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for HBO’s “The Last of Us,” and the video games “The Last of Us Part I” and “The Last of Us Part II.”
“It was gorgeous, and I was so not expecting it,” said Darion Lowenstein, 41, a video game consultant, who is gay. “Obviously, I’ve played the games religiously and I know there’s gay characters in there, but I was not expecting an 80-minute … tearworthy piece of art.” After watching the third episode of “The Last of Us,” LGBTQ gamers who spoke to NBC News said they felt this was an important moment for the propagation of queer stories in a medium sometimes stereotyped as being for straight men.
The HBO adaptation has earned praise on social media from fans of the game, who have applauded the series for capturing its aesthetic.Courtesy WarnerMedia In the HBO show, Bill’s story starts at the beginning of the cordyceps pandemic. After everyone else has evacuated, Bill emerges from a doomsday-style bunker loaded with guns, weapons and electronics. It soon becomes clear Bill has been expecting a disaster of this magnitude for some time, and he quickly fortifies his home with an electric fence and various traps to prevent clickers and raiders from wandering in.
“Media shouldn’t ignore the very real hardships that LGBTQ people face in the world today, but it’s equally important to convey hate, discrimination — these things are not intrinsic to the human condition,” she said. “These things don’t have to exist.”On Sunday night, gamer Chris Bonatsakis said he felt like he did in 2013 when he first played “The Last of Us Part I” and discovered Bill’s story.
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