What Last of Us got Wrong About Clickers

How can you get some wrong that you made up? It’s like arguing that Matt Dinniman doesn’t understand the anatomy of the cat larynx or George A. Romero didn’t create the modern zombie.* 

However, the conception of these mushroom-headed creatures originated from a real world example. These zombie stand-ins may work in the digital world but fall a little short of their counterparts. We’ll look at what Last of Us got right, what they got wrong, and how a new indie title nails what life would be like if you were being controlled by a pizza topping.

Mush-room For Improvement

Most any site covering games or entertainment in the last decade will tell you that the idea of the nearly-blind zombies of The Last of Us comes from a real world inspiration. Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, or cordyceps, infect ants through physical contact and begin to grow throughout the body. As the mold expands and takes over the host, pieces of the cordyceps break through the head of the ant into fruiting bodies. The Last of Us version of the mold checks all of the boxes up to this point.

However, once the mold takes full control over the host, it starts to climb. The infected ant finds the tallest blade of grass before parking itself at the very top. The fungus waits. At some point, a bird will spot the wayward ant before diving down for a little snack. This is the full plan of the cordyceps - from infection, controlling the ant, becoming a bird snack, and finding itself in the warm, nutrient-rich home of bird poop. Already, you can see how the real world version of cordyceps deviates from the digital one, but let’s see another example of a parasite taking over a host to hit the message home. 

We Are the Infected (for Real)

Let’s look at Toxoplasma gondii. You may have it right now. 

Calm down.

This single cell organism starts its journey infecting mice. Once infected, the organism turns off the mouse’s ability to sense fear in situations where knowing when to run would save your life – say, in close proximity to a cat. The organism transfers over to the cat through digestion where it will stay in its new habitat. That is not to say that Toxoplasma doesn’t get out to explore the world a bit. 

Petting a cat that is infected by the organism may spread it to you. There have been no conclusive findings behind the organism affecting the behavior of humans. Though, some have hypothesised that being infected could make you a more aggressive driver or a more protective cat parent. 

Both of these examples fall short of the aggressive clickers from the Last of Us. Let’s look at some of the ways that this mold won’t make you a zombie.

Parasites don’t harm other potential hosts.

Break open their skull, feed them to the lions, but don’t go around dirtying up possible hosts. Every warm body is a potential future vehicle for your offspring. It doesn’t make sense to turn your food into a broken hunk of junk that can’t do what you need. Real clickers would be more likely to help you across busy streets before spitting in your mouth.

Parasites only control the inbetween

In both cases, the organism uses host 1 (ant, mouse) to get to host 2 (bird, cat). These mushrooms have work to do. The infected don’t have time to linger in the darkness, hoping for a quick bite to eat. There are stairs to climb, animals to throw yourself in front of, and any other potential things on your spore-laden “to do” list. Once you get to your primary host, then you can relax and kick off your single-cell sneakers.

If Last of Us misses the mark when it comes to mold controlled people, who gets it right?

You are infected (sorry) and it’s going to take more than some tough actin’ Tinactin to get rid of this problem. This spore laden building has you itching to get up and out of here. Moldrise has you make trades with your fellow neighbors in order to make it up to the top of the building. Search for items, food, and enough ointment to keep the fungal infection at bay to make it to the roof.

But I’m not an infected zombie, right? As we saw with the mouse, the will of the parasite is not always about driving you around like a meat vehicle. These subtle pushes and needs to do something without question works better than fighting against the host. And once you get to the roof – I’m sure you won’t like what comes next.

If you are interested in more horror games, check out this list of the new horror staples in gaming now.

* A decade before Night of the Living Dead, another popular series created many of the tropes that we connect with modern zombies – spreading an infection through bites, aggressive behavior, a change in skin color, running to catch prey, and the search for a cure. 

Yes, I’m talking about The Smurfs. Before they were a cartoon, these little blue guys appeared in the pages of a French comic. The 1959 comic landed on the shelves of stores way before the 1969 film hit shelves. Of course, Night of the Living Dead used ghouls instead of zombies as their main monster and it wouldn’t be until later films that zombies would do more than shamble towards their victims. 

You can check out both Smurf Zombies and Night of the Living Dead thanks to modern technology.