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Naughty Dog has shared more information about the original plot of The Last of Us

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“ Tess was betrayed by Joel and took on a mission to pursue him across the country. That storyline never worked out.

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“ Ellie's arc originally was that she didn't kill any non-infected people until the end, when she was going to kill Tess.

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“ After everything they've done and everything they've been through, that was letting them off a little too easy - especially for Joel.

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As you can probably imagine, major spoilers for both the plot and ending of the game follow, so stop reading if you've yet to finish the game and want to experience it as was intended.According to the latest issue of Game Informer (via Videogamer ), the original story of The Last of Us saw a "betrayed" Tess pursue Joel and Ellie across America in search of revenge.Speaking to the magazine, creative director Neil Druckmann revealed that Tess had a much darker past in the initial plans for the game, though this was balanced with a more "hopeful" ending.Apparently it was for this reason that the story was changed; the team at Naughty Dog didn't believe that Joel would take on this gargantuan task without something motivating him, like Tess sacrificing herself."We had a tough time understanding why Joel would take this journey - we weren't buying it," he continues. "We also had a hard time buying that Tess would go on a vendetta. We could understand her pursuing Joel a little bit, but why would she go for a year around the country? Those things were solved by saying that Tess is going to die when she gets bitten, but her dying wish to Joel is to do this one good thing - help me do this one good thing so my soul can rest because I've done all these horrible things."This decision in turn impacted on Ellie's character. She was previously envisioned as being much more innocent, refusing to kill other humans for the majority of the game. Again though, the team soon realised that this had practical implications on gameplay."That culminates with her conflict with David. That happened pretty quickly, just based on some things we realised about the story and how we had to integrate it into the gameplay."So what does this mean for the original ending? Well, the plan was for Joel and Ellie to make it to San Francisco where they'd live out the rest of their lives in peace. Unfortunately, both members of the development team and focus testers were unhappy with it as it was viewed as both anticlimactic and too definitive."When we did focus testing, at least initially until some of the hospital stuff started coming together, it tested very poorly. People said it's unclear, anticlimactic, unsatisfying... A lot of people at the company felt the same way. A few designers didn't like the ending I had in mind. But then, as time passed and they thought about it, they came around and really appreciated. I think that happened with other people, too."Ultimately, it sounds like the decision to switch things up was for the best, especially if sales figures are anything to go by . What do you think? Does any of the original story appeal to you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter