A modder spent the past few months doing what PlayStation walked away from: building a working multiplayer mode into The Last of Us Part II, and rebuilding the long-cancelled Factions experience for PC. Coverage in Polygon and elsewhere this month put a sharp point on something fans have felt since the original Factions servers shut down. People are not finished with this world. They want more of it, in any shape they can get.
That hunger is part of why we put this list together. Most players who have finished Part I and Part II Remastered want the same things next: a story that takes loss seriously, combat that punishes carelessness, and a world that feels like it would carry on without you. The good news is that PC has more genuine The Last of Us alternatives than at any point in the past five years, ranging from grim historical survival to open-world zombie sandboxes. We played all seven for weeks before ranking them.
Why players are looking beyond The Last of Us in 2026
Part I on PC fixed the early-2023 launch problems and now runs well on modern hardware. Part II Remastered arrived on PC on April 3, 2025, brought the roguelike No Return mode with it, and gave Naughty Dog the cleanest version of its sequel to date. Both games are in good shape. The reason people still look for alternatives is more straightforward than performance.
The TLOU 2 multiplayer mod scene is the most active it has been in years. Modders are stitching together what an official Factions revival might have looked like, which has pulled lapsed fans back into the conversation and reminded everyone how thin the official pipeline is. Part III has not been announced. The HBO series is between seasons. The story content most players signed up for is, for now, finished.
Part II’s narrative also remains polarising. Players who bounced off the Abby chapters or the Seattle structure want a post-apocalyptic story that lands differently. That is a reasonable thing to want, and the seven games below cover the range.
Quick comparison
| Game | Best for | Price (approx.) | TLOU similarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Last of Us Part II Remastered | Direct sequel, No Return roguelike | ~$50 | Very high |
| A Plague Tale: Innocence | Emotional sibling-pair storytelling | ~$30 | High |
| Days Gone | Open-world post-apoc with character work | ~$50 | High |
| Metro Exodus | Atmospheric stealth survival | ~$30 | Medium-high |
| The Walking Dead: Telltale Definitive | Choice-driven father-daughter drama | ~$40 | Medium-high |
| State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition | Systemic survival sandbox | ~$30 | Medium |
| Dying Light 2 Stay Human | Mobility-heavy zombie combat | ~$60 | Medium |
The 7 best The Last of Us alternatives for PC
The Last of Us Part II Remastered, best direct sequel
The Last of Us Part II Remastered (Naughty Dog, on PC since April 3, 2025) is the obvious starting point if you finished Part I on PC and have not picked it up yet. The Remastered release brings the full Seattle campaign, the cut Lost Levels with developer commentary, and No Return, a roguelike survival mode that turns the combat sandbox into a run-based ladder of encounters. No Return is the closest thing to a Factions replacement that Naughty Dog has shipped, and it is genuinely good.
The PC version performs well on mid-range hardware and supports ultrawide, DLSS, and high frame rates. If your hardware ran Part I comfortably, this will too.
Where it falls short: The story remains divisive. Players who disliked the structural choices in 2020 will not have changed their minds in 2025. The Abby chapters are still the same Abby chapters.
Pricing: Around $50 on Steam at full price, often discounted. No free tier. About the same as a new AAA release.
Migrating from TLOU: Saves from Part I do not carry across to Part II, but Steam Cloud handles your Part II progress across devices. Your Part I trophies and stats stay attached to that title.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: If you have not finished Part II yet, start here. No Return alone is worth the price.
A Plague Tale: Innocence, best emotional sibling story
A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo Studio) trades infected Americans for plague-stricken 14th-century France, but the emotional core is unmistakable. Amicia and her younger brother Hugo flee the Inquisition through villages overrun by literal swarms of rats, and the relationship between them carries the same protective weight that Joel and Ellie did in the first game. The stealth puzzles are quieter than TLOU’s combat, but the dread sits in the same place.
It is a tighter, more linear experience, around 12-15 hours, and the sequel Requiem doubles down on the same formula if you want more after.
Where it falls short: The combat is light. Amicia’s sling is satisfying but the encounter design leans on stealth and environmental puzzles rather than the systemic violence TLOU is built around.
Pricing: Around $30 on Steam, frequently on sale for half that. No free tier. Cheaper than a new TLOU release.
Migrating from TLOU: No save crossover, but Innocence supports Steam Cloud so you can switch between PC and Steam Deck without losing progress.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: The closest emotional analogue to Joel and Ellie’s first journey, in a setting that surprises you.
Days Gone, best open-world post-apoc
Days Gone (Bend Studio) had a rough Sony-era reception that the PC release has steadily rehabilitated. Deacon St. John rides a maintained motorcycle through post-outbreak Oregon, dealing with marauder camps, cult enclaves, and the freaker hordes that the marketing always led with. The horde tech genuinely holds up. A 300-strong swarm boiling out of a mine entrance is one of the more memorable set pieces in the genre.
The character writing is the surprise. Deacon’s grief over his wife, his bond with his biker brother Boozer, and the slow-burn central mystery all work better than the reviews from 2019 suggested.
Where it falls short: The middle act drags. The mission structure repeats itself across the Oregon map, and players who want a tighter narrative arc will feel it.
Pricing: Around $50 on Steam at full price, regularly $15-25 on sale. No free tier. Comparable to a new AAA release at full price, much cheaper on discount.
Migrating from TLOU: Separate Steam title, no save migration. Cloud saves are supported, so a fresh install picks up where you left off across PCs.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: If you wanted The Last of Us with a bigger map and a motorcycle, this is the answer.
Metro Exodus, best atmospheric survival
Metro Exodus (4A Games) is the third in the Metro series and the one that finally opened the world up. Artyom and a band of survivors ride the Aurora locomotive across a post-nuclear Russia, stopping in semi-open regions tied together by linear story chapters. The pacing alternates between long quiet stretches and sharp horror beats, which is closer to TLOU’s rhythm than the more arcade-paced shooters in the genre.
Resource scarcity is the tension. Bullets are crafted from scavenged parts, masks crack, filters expire. Survival here is mechanical, not just narrative.
Where it falls short: Companion AI can be inconsistent. Allies sometimes break stealth or lose pathfinding in ways that pull you out of the moment.
Pricing: Base game around $30 on Steam, with an Enhanced Edition included free for owners. No free tier. Cheaper than a new TLOU release.
Migrating from TLOU: Separate Steam title with cloud save support. The Enhanced Edition shares progression with the original on the same Steam account.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick this if the slow tension of TLOU’s quieter sections is what stayed with you.
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series, best choice-driven drama
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series (Skybound, formerly Telltale Games) bundles all five seasons of the original series plus the 400 Days episode. Lee and Clementine’s arc in Season 1 is the most direct ancestor of the Joel and Ellie dynamic, predating TLOU by months and clearly influencing it. The full saga follows Clementine from child survivor to teenage guardian over roughly 50 hours.
The Definitive Series cleans up the technical issues that plagued the original releases, adds a graphics overhaul, and standardises the controls across all seasons.
Where it falls short: Gameplay is QTE-heavy and the puzzles are light. If you want mechanical depth from your post-apoc games, this is not it. The value is entirely in the writing and the weight of your choices.
Pricing: Around $40 on Steam for the complete bundle, frequently 60-80% off on sale. No free tier. Cheaper than buying TLOU twice.
Migrating from TLOU: No save crossover. Saves carry between seasons within the Definitive Series, which is the point: choices in Season 1 propagate to the end.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: The pure story pick. If you cried at TLOU’s endings, you will cry at this one.
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition, best survival sandbox
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition (Undead Labs) is the systemic counterweight on this list. There is no Joel, no Ellie, no scripted central story. You build a community of survivors, each with their own skills, fatigue, and limits, and you keep them alive across a procedurally pressured open world. Members die permanently. Bases need fuel, food, medicine, and morale. Plague hearts have to be cleared or your settlement gets overrun.
It is also the multiplayer-friendly pick on this list. Up to four-player co-op lets you bring friends into your community for raids and supply runs.
Where it falls short: The jank from launch is still present in patches. Animations, vehicle physics, and some UI corners feel rougher than the AAA competition.
Pricing: Around $30 on Steam for the Juggernaut Edition, often included with Game Pass. No standalone free tier. Cheaper than a new AAA release.
Migrating from TLOU: Separate Steam title. Cloud saves work for solo communities; co-op sessions persist on the host’s save.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick this if what you want is the genre stripped of authored narrative, with permadeath and your own decisions filling the gap.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human, best mobility-heavy combat
Dying Light 2 Stay Human (Techland) is the high-energy entry on this list. Aiden Caldwell parkours across a ruined European city by day and survives infected swarms by night. The traversal is the headline feature. Wall-runs, paraglider chains, and grappling hooks turn the city into a vertical playground in a way no other zombie game does.
Techland has supported the game with years of free content updates and a paid expansion, so the current build is meaningfully larger and more polished than the launch version.
Where it falls short: It is long and occasionally bloated. The faction-choice system has fewer real consequences than the marketing suggested. The central story can feel stretched, especially in the middle.
Pricing: Around $60 on Steam at full price, regularly discounted to half that. No free tier. Most expensive pick on this list at full price.
Migrating from TLOU: Separate Steam title with full cloud save support. Cross-progression with consoles is not available on Steam.
Download: Steam
Bottom line: Pick this if you wanted the freaker hordes from Days Gone but with the freedom to climb a building and drop on them from above.
How to choose
Pick Part II Remastered if you finished Part I on PC and have not played the sequel yet. No Return alone justifies the price, and the PC version is the cleanest release of the game.
Pick A Plague Tale: Innocence if the protective bond between Joel and Ellie is the part of TLOU that sticks with you. The setting is completely different, the feelings are not.
Pick Days Gone if you want post-apocalyptic open-world freedom with real character writing underneath it. It is the most underrated game on this list.
Pick Metro Exodus if the quiet, scarce, atmospheric moments of TLOU are what hold you. The resource pressure is the tightest of any pick here.
Pick The Walking Dead: Telltale Definitive if you want pure story and you do not need mechanical depth. It is the cheapest emotional gut-punch on the list.
Pick State of Decay 2 if you want the genre as a sandbox rather than a story. Permadeath and co-op make every run yours.
Pick Dying Light 2 if you want speed, verticality, and a city to climb. It is the loudest pick on the list and the one most willing to be a video game first.
If you have not played the No Return mode in Part II Remastered yet, start there. It is the closest official thing to a Factions revival, and Naughty Dog has kept patching it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best The Last of Us alternative on PC right now?
For the closest emotional match, A Plague Tale: Innocence. For the closest mechanical and tonal match, Days Gone. If you want something to play this week and you have not touched the sequel, The Last of Us Part II Remastered on PC is the obvious pick.
Is there a game like The Last of Us with multiplayer?
Part II Remastered’s No Return mode is the closest first-party answer. State of Decay 2 is the strongest co-op survival pick on this list, with up to four players sharing a community. The fan-made Factions revival for Part II is still in development and not officially supported.
Are any of these games free on PC?
None of the seven have a free tier. State of Decay 2 is often included with Game Pass for PC, which is the cheapest legitimate way to play it. Several of the others, including Days Gone, Metro Exodus, and Dying Light 2, drop to under $20 during seasonal Steam sales.
Is The Last of Us Part II worth playing on PC if I bounced off it on PlayStation?
The PC release does not change the story, so if the Abby chapters or the structural choices were your issue in 2020, they will still be your issue in 2026. The Remastered build does add No Return, which is a self-contained reason to come back without re-engaging the main campaign.
Do any of these games run on Steam Deck?
A Plague Tale: Innocence, Metro Exodus, and The Walking Dead: Telltale Definitive are Steam Deck Verified and run well. Days Gone and Dying Light 2 are Playable with some setting tweaks. Part II Remastered and State of Decay 2 are less consistent on Deck and benefit from a desktop or laptop.
Which has the best story after The Last of Us?
A Plague Tale: Innocence for the central relationship, The Walking Dead: Telltale Definitive for the long-arc consequence drama. Both lean on writing rather than mechanics to land the impact, which is the same trick TLOU pulls in its best moments.
