The Last of Us has spawned enough surrounding work that the ordering question comes up constantly.
Short answer
The short version: it is canon where the developers say it is, and enjoyable regardless.
- Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.
- Play first if you mind spoilers — adaptations rarely respect them.
- Region and platform change more than people expect, so confirm both.
There are two Last of Us canons running in parallel now — the games and the HBO series — and they diverge. Release order and chronological order are different, and both have their advocates. Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release.
Whether it is worth your time
Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately. Fan work is frequently better than official work and is not the same thing. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.
Assets circulated online are often ripped rather than released, which affects what you can legally do with them. Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.
Where to find it legitimately
Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. The Last of Us is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look.
- Check whether something is official before treating it as canon.
- Look for an official assets page before downloading anything.
- Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.
- Credit fan artists if you reuse their work.
Where it fits with the game
There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it.
The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.
What exists officially
Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later.
Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of.
What is fan-made
Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.
Where people go wrong
- Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.
- Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
- Treating a rare edge case as the normal behaviour and planning around it.
- Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.
The Last of Us FAQ
Is it canon?
Where the developers have said so, yes. Adaptations produced under licence are frequently their own continuity.
Is it any good?
The reception is mixed and depends heavily on what you wanted from it. The section above sets that expectation honestly.
Does this work the same on console and PC?
The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.
Do I need any mods or third-party tools for this?
No. Everything described here works with the base game on any supported platform.
If you only take one thing from this: the answer near the top is the part that matters, the rest is context.