Although fan reaction to The Last of Us 2 remains mixed, both it and the original The Last of Us have gone down in gaming history. These titles have evoked an incredible emotional response from many players across the globe through a combination of excellent cinematic storytelling and top-notch graphics. Now, one fan is blending both games together by taking Ellie's face from The Last of Us 2 and placing it on her original teenage body.
Ellie is one of The Last of Us's central characters, and she first appeared as a scruffy 14-year-old trying to survive a long trek across post-apocalyptic America. This young version of Ellie soon became one of the most iconic parts of the franchise. However, The Last of Us 2 changed many things, including Ellie's design and personality.
Redditor GdaTyler shared a short video of a cutscene from The Last of Us where Ellie's face has been swapped with her older face using a deepfake. The cutscene shows Joel and Ellie looking out over an overgrown city and discussing the view. However, a thin line around Ellie's face marks the transition to her older model, which looks slightly out of place on her younger body. Apparently, the line stems from GdaTyler's lack of experience with blending and color transfer. They expressed a desire to continue training in both areas.
GdaTyler did manage to get the new face to reflect Ellie's expressions in the scene quite accurately to the original cutscene. However, it's still clear that Ellie has an adult woman's face on a child's body, and the lowered voices and sentimental music do clash a bit with the out-of-place features. This isn't the first time The Last of Us fans have played with Ellie's design in fan creations, but it may be one of the most off-putting.
As of writing, it appears that other fans are cautiously intrigued by GdaTyler's work. One user immediately requested that they put young Ellie's face on older Ellie's body in a cutscene from The Last of Us 2, which GdaTyler stated they might do in the future. A second user stated they were looking forward to seeing a similar take on Joel. However, several other users noted that the video made them feel disturbed or unsettled, with one going so far as to mention the concept of the uncanny valley. This implies that the video's graphics are just realistic enough to be truly creepy.
The Last of Us 2 is available now on PS4.