Infectious Attraction – Game Informer

It’s the rain-soaked opening of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, and despite a torrential downpour literally dampening the festivities as gates open to the public, the mood retains an air of excitement, anxiety, and, for some, outright terror. This annual event draws thousands of thrill-seekers and fans of the theme parks to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. It begins every September with a transformation of the park into a macabre version at dusk.
The streets are now slick with puddles and fog. Actors in terrifying costumes rush at random passersby, making them shriek. There are several elaborate haunted houses based on original IP and popular licenses, serving as the main course for masochistic fans who endure long waits – upwards of two hours. A new house is drawing the biggest crowds, like moths attracted to a bright light of terror. It’s not the houses based on Chucky, The Exorcist – BelieverThe fourth season, which is a popular show. Stranger Things. It’s The Last of Us, and I’m on my way to experience a recreation of one of my favorite games of all time.
Rewind many hours before, and I’m waiting in Universal’s backlot to take a guided tour through the new Last of Us attraction. It’s around 11:00 a.m., and the sun is oppressively bright and hot with no signs of the storm to come. I’m led to the front of the attraction’s facade: a large, black warehouse with the game’s logo towering alongside protagonists Joel and Ellie – and the giant face of a Clicker for good measure.

The heavy doors swing open, and out step the two masterminds behind the attraction: Mike Aiello, Universal’s senior director of entertainment creative development, and Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog president and creative director/writer of The Last of Us.
Both designers told me that the seeds of this home were planted at the same time. Druckmann tells us he is a Halloween Horror Nights fanatic and attended his very first event as he developed The Last of Us. Aiello has been bringing HHNs to life for 20 years. He loves the games, and saw potential as an attraction when playing the first game.
“I remember playing the game…I turned to my wife and go, ‘This would be the most amazing haunted house experience,’” says Aiello. “So even 10 years ago, I was already trying to think about, if ever the chance had happened, how would we create that?”

Fans had the exact same thought. In HHN’s season, Druckmann was contacted by fans on Twitter who said that The Last of Us would make a great horror house. Druckmann agreed, and began a Twitter conversation by expressing interest. It didn’t take long; Aiello messaged him only a few hours later, asking to make it happen.
Aiello says that when choosing an IP, it must have two key elements: characters and settings. As a video game, The Last of Us certainly fits, with Aiello calling the franchise “an embarrassment of riches” in terms of elements to pull from. Its large, memorable cast, a slew of creative and recognizable enemies, and multiple destinations across its destroyed U.S. offer plenty of paints for Aiello’s canvas. But the game’s level design has always lent itself well to an amusement park attraction, according to Druckmann. Having studied theme park design in school, he applied those lessons to the game’s wide linear design, pacing out the game’s quieter moments of exploration and tension-building with its jump scares and action sequences.
Halloween Horror Night homes follow a standard blueprint. They’re highly detailed, spooky arenas of claustrophobic corridors laden with costumed performers (a.k.a. The scare actors jump out from hidden places in order to scare guests. Some actors wait in cubbyholes or behind mirrors. Others are placed in plain sight, making you nervously question whether they’re real and how or if they’ll react when you pass by them. Each house features unique thematic or structural twists, but they’re more or less cut from the same cloth.

Druckmann says that The Last of Us stands out because it balances action and horror with quieter, tender moments between its two protagonists.
“I think that you have to have the horror element, you have to have the tension, you have the fear,” says Druckmann. “But beyond that is, again, these core main characters that you’re following and are invested in; that combination, I feel, makes this ride quite unique and special.”
The Last of Us house is based on the first video game (and only the game, so don’t expect any HBO references), with attendees following Joel and Ellie as they make their way through the ruined remains of Pittsburgh. According to Aiello, outside of some initial brainstorming between Naughty Dog and Universal, his team was largely free to develop its own ideas for the house’s story and design, with Naughty Dog only providing reference material and refining certain details along the way. Since he’s such a fan of the event, Druckmann says he didn’t want to micromanage every detail and trusted the experts to do what they do best. The team behind the project has a great respect for the original material.
“Our show director is Nate Stevenson. He’s probably the biggest Last of Us fan on our creative team,” says Aiello. “The minute we knew we were doing it, he was the first one in line going, ‘Uh, I have to do this. Like, you can’t say no.’”

Once I enter the home, it is obvious that this fandom exists. There are plenty of details in the first room. Modeled after a ruined city square, shattered concrete abound, and copious signs – all taken straight from the game – decorate the area. The pick-up once driven in the game by Joel and Ellie is now crashing into a column on my left. It’s a real working vehicle that Universal pulverized for authenticity. “We didn’t even ask them to do that,” Druckmann laughs. Joel is portrayed by an actor who hides nearby in a corner with a pistol at the ready. He leads us on while providing cover from enemies.
Look-alikes actors portray the heroes at certain moments. While their costumes are convincing, they’re truly brought to life thanks to new dialogue recorded by Joel and Ellie’s original performers, Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. Druckmann, who is a HHN fan himself, says that getting the original performers back into the booth was a simple pitch. Universal took first pass on writing their dialogue before Druckmann rewrote their work in the characters’ voices. Along the way, I heard a silhouette of Joel growl, “Spores. Masks up,” as I trekked down a fungus-covered hallway while spore-like flakes rained from above. In one intense moment, Ellie repeatedly screamed, “Die, motherf****r!” as she unloaded rifle rounds right in front of me. The atmosphere of the attraction is enhanced by hearing these familiar voices.
It was amazing to hear the sound effects. Gustavo Santaolalla’s famous score played throughout, swelling at the conclusion to an epic crescendo. I was on edge as soon as I entered dark places and heard the clickers’ familiar voice. When they do appear, the make-up and costumes impressed – especially the much-larger Bloaters. One room had a couple of infected, one mannequin and one live performer, swaying mindlessly until one of them lashed out at me (I won’t spoil which). As creepy as that all sounds, I wouldn’t say the house truly terrified me. This is largely due to the amount of Easter eggs and details hidden throughout the level.

In my travels, I discovered small crawlspaces Ellie might fit in, replicas of the workbench and key visual moments of the games. Two standouts include a lore note from Ish, a survivor who once oversaw a thriving sewer community, and the familiar pile of blanketed dead bodies with the, “They didn’t suffer” message painted at their feet. I didn’t find every reference I was told was present, nor would I spoil them here if I did.
I may not have been scared to death, but the Last of Us House immersed me into its world. It enthralled me one the hand, and reinforced how horrible it would be for me to live within its universe the other. Naughty Dog is very happy with the result and Universal hopes that this will be followed by another collaboration in the future (perhaps one based on Part II).
“This was the most massive passion project we could have taken on this year,” says Aiello. “We’re really proud of the work the team has done. We’re so proud of working alongside Neil and his team.”
Druckmman sums up his satisfaction more succinctly, “This is better than I could have ever hoped.”
Original publication of the article in Issue 360 Game Informer.
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