The material around The Last of Us has grown large enough that knowing what exists is half the question.

Short answer

The short version: it is canon where the developers say it is, and enjoyable regardless.

  • Look for an official assets page before downloading anything.
  • Buy from the publisher's own store where one exists.
  • Give a method one honest attempt before deciding it does not work.

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. Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself.

What exists officially

Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. Fan work is frequently better than official work and is not the same thing. Assets circulated online are often ripped rather than released, which affects what you can legally do with them. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing.

Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release. Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts.

Where it fits with the game

Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later.

  • Check whether something is official before treating it as canon.
  • Credit fan artists if you reuse their work.
  • If a menu path does not exist for you, your build is older or newer than the one described.
  • Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.

Where to find it legitimately

The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. 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 Last of Us is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep.

Whether it is worth your time

The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over.

The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over.

What is fan-made

There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why.

Where people go wrong

  • Rushing the last step, which is usually the one with the actual requirement in it.
  • Changing five things at once and then not knowing which one helped.
  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.

The Last of Us FAQ

Is it any good?

The reception is mixed and depends heavily on what you wanted from it. The section above sets that expectation honestly.

Why do other guides describe this differently?

Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.

What if none of this works for me?

Then something in your setup differs from the assumption — version, region or platform. Check those three before anything else.

Is this still accurate after the latest The Last of Us update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Work through it in the order above and music stops being a question you have to look up again.