The Last of Us. American Dreams: now in Ukrainian

A newborn child of the collaboration of SBT Localization and the publishing house MAL’OPUS will tell you a story from Ellie’s life, which emerged before the first episode of The Last of Us game. Although the second game divided the gaming community into two camps, it did not leave indifferent, probably, no gamer. Therefore, it is beyond the power of a mediocre tale. Furthermore, the comic story was written by the same person – Neil Druckmann.

With the condition that you know nothing about the universe of The Last of Us, there is presumably no better place to start getting acquainted than this comic!

Brief Description of the Project: The Last of Us. American Dreams.

Appearence

A hardcover with exquisite illustrations covers the comic. That is why it is so pleasant to hold this book. Furthermore, the printing of high quality and vivid colours contribute to this feeling as well. Summing up, it is a treasure for the bookshelf.

Story

The plot evolves around the true essence of the universe of The Last of Us. The reader will see together with Ellie all the dangers of the post-apocalyptic world in one day and one night, will meet outstanding characters (and read well-written and skillfully – could not be else! – translated dialogues), and will understand the basic rule: only the desperate will survive!

Image

The comic is drawn in a rather rough, conditional, almost childish style. Doubtless, it will not meet everyone’s expectations and appeal to everyone’s tastes, however, it perfectly fits the story of children in a brutal world. The drawings are made at a high level with a bunch of details and curiosities in the background, so you can devote considerable time to enjoy them.

What is worth to be highlighted, all such background details were localized and redrawn in Ukrainian, which makes the reading process even more gripping.

Localization Challenges

What is interesting about this genre, there are not that many words in comics yet each of them is twice worthy. The same is true for The Last of Us: American Dreams. It was necessary to translate succinctly without padding out. This forced us to respond to the challenge of finding the perfect translation, short and meaningful.

There were some other not typical challenges as well. First and foremost, there were sundry sounds. So how it should be ‘Vreet’? What do you think of ‘FWOOOM’? What should you do with ‘EEEEE’?

Secondly, the comic, as well as its sister games, does not avoid swear words. This has brought about an animated discussion about how far we can go with harsh swearing.

Overall Impressions

Everyone will find something special in the comic The Last of Us: American Dreams. Players, who already know Ellie’s story, will learn a little bit more about their favorite characters, and those, who make their first steps, will get acquainted with the main pillars of the cruel world created by Neil Druckmann, whereas comic book fans will enjoy the drawings and decorate their bookshelves.

Support the Ukrainian, support us, and support the publishing house MAL’OPUS, by purchasing comics or by any other means since it is always about more games, comics, art books, and other media in Ukrainian.

UKRAINIZATION OF THE UNIVERSE MARCHES ON!

P.S. short remark: perhaps I am the only one, who is so sensitive to chemical odours, but the comic has been in my drawer for the third day, unpacked, and still has a strong typography smell. Furthermore, it is so strong that I have a headache. Please pay attention to this information in case you might have issues with that. By the way, I did not have the same issue with Death Stranding.

Oleksandr Lukianov

November 14, 2020