The Last of Us: infected are a "terrible, difficult enemy to deal with"

The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog has discussed the savage brutality of the game's infected enemies, and explains that they aren't to be messed with, unless you want to see Joel's neck torn apart by their teeth that is.

Speaking with OPM, community strategist Arne Meyer said of the infected, "One of the things we really wanted to focus on is the infected as antagonists. While there are different classes and stuff, they really represent one dimension to the combat.

“We’re showing off the infected because we really want to show they’re such a terrible, difficult enemy to deal with. It’s is why everyone is being pushed to these extremes.”

For example, you can't sneak up to Clicker infected face-to-face, arms swinging. You'll be dead in seconds, warned Meyer. Instead you have to be stealthy and smart in your approach. A shooter this is not. Mess up and Joel meets a violent, shocking fate every time.

Meyer added, "The whole point is that it isn’t meant to be a pretty world. It’s supposed to have these very lethal and extreme consequences. What is is like as a human to be pushed to an extreme where the lines between good and bad, the moral lines are blurred? For us it’s so important to really show the brutality within the context but to make it very visceral”.

It sounds brutal, and as you can see from our video of the infected in action, they really are quite creepy.

What do you think of the infected? Do they look better than the zombie archetype we've seen so much of in games lately? Let us know below.

The Last of us launches on PS3 June 14.