Violence serves a narrative role in The Last of Us

Violence plays an important role in shaping the "every man for himself" narrative in Naughty Dog's upcoming survival-action game The Last of Us, Community Strategist Arne Meyer told GameSpot in a recent interview.

Meyer spoke on the game's post-apocalyptic setting and how brutal encounters are demonstrative of how far humans will go to survive. Even more to the point, it's indicative of how some of the game's characters have lost their humanity.

"What will humans be like when they are pushed to the limit?" Meyer said. "Are they going to take a route of cooperation and rebuild society? Or is it really going to be every man for themselves and they have no morality left; no ethics left to what they do? So that's the part that violence plays into it."

Still, not all players will be forced to take a bloody route. According to Meyer, the game is designed so players can completely avoid confrontation and killing if they chose.

The Last of Us is currently slated for a 2013 release as a PlayStation 3 exclusive.