For Extra Life 2014, we here at Chibi Comics central decided that the centerpiece of our 24-hour session would be a marathon playthrough of The Last Of Us . A friend had never played it or experienced the story, so we figured this would be the perfect opportunity.
It’s rare that I play a game from start to finish in one setting. I don’t have much free time to speak of, so I mainly play games for maybe 40 minutes to an hour once a day, or once every other day. As a result, the way I experience storytelling and gameplay is different from when I watch a movie or read a comic. The process is more condensed, and I have to work harder to keep track of the story’s many moving parts.
When I first played The Last Of Us , it was on my own over the course of a week. I was allowed to step back from it periodically, and savor the story in smaller chunks. This situation was the exact opposite of that; I had to sit down and prepare myself to take in a 15-hour tale all at once. The experiences were as different as night and day. Working your way through a game as long and as involved as The Last Of Us leaves you physically and mentally drained.
Additionally, when you put yourself through that many consecutive hours of gameplay, there comes a point where you stop looking at environments and set pieces as means to deliver story, and you start seeing them as nothing more than combat puzzles; obstacles pushed in your way to halt progress.
There’s something to be said for the feeling of accomplishment that comes with playing through an entire game in one sitting, but if it’s a story-driven title that’s meant to be savored, consider limiting the amount of time you invest, and make the experience last a solid week or two. Doing so may leave a better lasting-impression in your mind than trying to go all the way from start to finish.