Right now, The Last of Us is in flux. We’re waiting for the third season of the TV show, but Naughty Dog has been tight-lipped about any potential lingering Last of Us Part 2 DLC, or a potential (unneeded) Part 3.

That led many fans to revisitthe original Last of Us and discover new Easter eggs and secrets. One took years to find and is fully cataloged on YouTube. It’s also incredibly easy to find if you know what to do, and can be done in minutes from a fresh save.

The Last Of Us Has One Secret Loads Of Us Missed

Check It Out Next Run

In The Last of Us prologue, which is pretty intense to begin with, you can find an Easter egg. After the intro kicks off (which is completely skippable) and you wake up as Sarah, you’ll wander around the house in search of her dad, Joel. After reaching the part where you can walk down the stairs, players discovered that if you reload the checkpoint, then go back upstairs, you can find an Easter egg.

On the TV, you’ll find a cordyceps-infected ant that is reportedly responsible for the infection that spreads throughout the game’s world. As expected, players are excited that someone eventually found it, with one noting, “It took 8 years for this to be found. Imagine the smug smile the developers must have had this whole time. Or the shock of the community finding it and going: Oh yeah, forgot about that.”

Countless players are talking about how they’ve never seen this before (myself included): “I didn’t even see this, I’ve played The Last of Us so many times.”

As for the origin of the picture, Naughty Dog developer Kurt Margenau thinks it’s a literal bug, as stated on X: “I could be misremembering 7 years ago, but I think the flip book of the ant was like a default shader test thing, and it appearing is probably me not initializing something correctly. Or it was intentional and I don’t remember. I’m old now.”

As If The Last Of Us’ Prologue Wasn’t Intense Enough

Take Some Time For This Easter Egg

Seeing a close-up of an insect (an infected one, no doubt) is unsettling, especially in the context of the intro of The Last of Us. The TV show did a pretty good job of setting up the infection in a quick intro scene, and the games really lean into the infection’s mystique, preferring to focus on character work and relationships.

Serving up multiple genres of post-apocalyptic flair is the reason why the original The Last of Us is so beloved. It managed to take a lot of zombie tropes and morph them into something that was its own. Also, it crammed in a few Easter eggs for good measure.

Released

June 14, 2013

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language

Publisher(s)

Sony

Engine

Proprietary (overall), Havok (physics)

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play

No, The Last of Us Part 1 does not have crossplay

Cross Save

no

Expansions

The Last of Us: Left Behind