The Last of Us has spawned enough surrounding work that the ordering question comes up constantly.

Short answer

Treat it as supplementary. Enjoyable on its own, and richer if you have played first.

  • Credit fan artists if you reuse their work.
  • Check whether something is official before treating it as canon.
  • Write down what you changed, so you can undo exactly one thing if it goes sideways.

There are two Last of Us canons running in parallel now — the games and the HBO series — and they diverge. Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself. Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately.

Where it fits with the game

The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. 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. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers. Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

What exists officially

Release order and chronological order are different, and both have their advocates. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

  • Look for an official assets page before downloading anything.
  • Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.
  • Read the whole sequence once before doing the first step.
  • Play first if you mind spoilers — adaptations rarely respect them.
  • Buy from the publisher's own store where one exists.
  • Prefer the in-game option over an external tool when both exist.

What is fan-made

Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. 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.

The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. The Last of Us is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different.

Where to find it legitimately

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. Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep.

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over.

Whether it is worth your time

None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. Everything below is framed around the current state of The Last of Us rather than a launch-week impression.

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.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.

The Last of Us FAQ

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.

Where can I get it legally?

Publisher stores and licensed platforms carry all of it. Anything circulating as a free file is a rip.

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.

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