Sony Ends Cheap Knockoff of The Last of Us

Source: YouTube - Digital Foundry

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Would you like to play The Last of Us on Nintendo Switch? Well, someone quite recently took it upon themselves to create a "port" of Sony's post-apocalyptic hit, releasing The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survival. This uninspired clone, however, was just a terrible cash grab.

What was The Last Hope?

You may have already herd of The Last Hope somewhere, as the game has generated considerable interest on the Internet. Even the reputable Digital Foundry took up the task of analyzing the game in-depth, as it debuted on Nintendo Switch at the end of June, and a review of the game was released by, among others, Eurogamer. The title became popular due to the fact that it was an outright carbon copy of the acclaimed The Last of Us. The creators of this knockoff didn't hide where they drew their inspiration from - this can be seen in the promotional graphics, title or trailers.

In The Last Hope the player tok on the role of Brian Lee, who was sent to a post-apocalyptic future during a zombie outbreak. The protagonist had to defend himself against infected enemies, and at one point came across a girl named Eve. Does the story sound familiar?

However, The Last Hope was blamed not for copying the premise of The Last of Us, but primarily for being a terrible game. The visuals were not among the prettiest (to put it mildly), moreover, the game did not include any dialogues or music. The title was hard to master due to clumsy gameplay, and yet it was possible to complete it in about a dozen minutes. It cost a dizzying 9 pounds (although it was possible to get it on discount for less than a pound, or about $1).

The game was created on the Unity engine, and the people responsible for it were supported by ready-made assets available for purchase on the Internet. Below you can watch Digital Foundry's video, which compares some shots from The Last Hope to the remaster of The Last of Us (the effect is truly hilarious).

Sony's intervention

Developers of The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survival won't be making any more money on their monstrosity, as the game has been removed from the Nintendo eShop. Materials advertisingg the clone have also disappeared from the web - all due to copyright infringement, which was reported by Sony (via Eurogamer).

Although The Last Hope can no longer be purchased - only people who have previously added the game to their collection can still play it - its case highlights the problem of clones of popular titles. The creators of such fakes want an easy way to make money from them and are releasing them on stores like the Nintendo eShop and Steam. This is not difficult, given the almost complete lack of quality control of products published by independent developers on these digital distribution platforms.