The NPC AI of The Last of Us: A case study
This is an incremental case study for game developers and AI researchers interested in practical applications in video games.
The paper examines the challenges in developing AI for NPCs in The Last of Us, focusing on Infected, Human enemy, and Buddy AIs, and discusses the techniques used to address these challenges, with comparisons to other industry-leading games.
The Last of Us is a game focused on stealth, companionship and strategy. The game is based in a lonely world after the pandemic and thus it needs AI companions to gain the interest of players. There are three main NPCs the game has - Infected, Human enemy and Buddy AIs. This case study talks about the challenges in front of the developers to create AI for these NPCs and the AI techniques they used to solve them. It also compares the challenges and approach with similar industry-leading games.