The Last of Us Part 1 is now officially out on PC and many, many players are surely eager to give Naughty Dog’s masterpiece a playthrough as soon as they can. Before you jump into the incredible TLOU story, though, you might be interested to know just how long The Last of Us’ campaign is.
The original The Last of Us came out way back in 2013. Despite being a remake, The Last of Us Part 1 does not make any alterations to the original story, so what you’re getting essentially is a 2013 experience with a very pretty new coat of paint and some quality-of-life improvements. Game design trends a decade ago were a little bit different than they are today, and this is reflected in The Last of Us’ story structure.
The Last of Us Part 1 is a linear game. You can explore and there are collectibles sprinkled around the map, but the main focus is on the story, which is rigidly set up by the developer for maximum effect. To achieve this, Naughty Dog split the campaign into chapters and the chapters into sections. Here’s precisely what you can expect from The Last of Us Part 1 without any spoilers.
How many chapters are in The Last of Us Part 1?
The Last of Us Part 1 package includes the Left Behind DLC, which is its own chapter. With Left Behind added to the mix, The Last of Us Part 1 has 13 chapters:
- Hometown
- Quarantine Zone
- The Outskirts
- Bill’s Town
- Pittsburgh
- The Suburbs
- Tommy’s Dam
- The University
- Lakeside Resort
- Bus Depot
- The Firefly Lab
- Jackson
- Left Behind
All The Last of Us Part 1 chapters consist of sections, usually two or four. The exceptions are the Hometown Prologue, the Jackson epilogue, and The Firefly Lab, all of which are a single section. Left Behind is the only chapter to have more than four sections, it has six.
In totality, there are 13 chapters and 35 sections in The Last of Us Part 1.
How long does it take to complete The Last of Us Part 1?
If this is your first time playing The Last of Us Part 1, it is almost guaranteed that you’ll spend at least 15 hours with it on a first playthrough. Depending on your skill and difficulty settings, it should clock in closer to 20 hours.
This sounds mild when compared to the 100-hour grind fests that have flooded the market since The Last of Us first came out, but it’s a universal opinion that the 20 hours or so you will spend with The Last of Us Part 1 will be some of the best hours you can spend in any video game.
