Chapter 755: This Is Not a Mistranslation
Chen Mo’s Weibo post was extremely simple.
“New game: *The Last of Us*. English title: *The Last of Us*. Note: This is not a mistranslation.”
That was the entire body text, just two sentences.
The players were all pretty baffled. Why specifically note that it wasn’t a mistranslation?
Many players initially thought the translation was quite fitting. Doesn’t the English title just mean “The End of America”?
But soon, players with better English explained that the English name literally translates to “the last person to survive among us.” The Chinese and English titles really didn’t mean the same thing.
Only then did many players understand. No wonder Chen Mo had specifically noted it wasn’t a mistranslation. If he hadn’t, someone would definitely have mocked his English proficiency.
If you strictly translated “The End of America” into English, it should be *The End of the USA*. In short, “us” should be changed to “ica” or “U.S.” If you used “us,” it would mean “we.”
However, since Chen Mo had already said it wasn’t a mistranslation, that meant the Chinese and English names were never meant to be the same thing. The two names weren’t translated from one another; they were chosen separately.
Many players were wondering, why go through the extra trouble?
But on second thought, they found the two names quite interesting.
If you used a direct translation, whether from Chinese to English or English to Chinese, it seemed like you’d lose the original meaning. If it were called *The End of the USA* or *The Last Survivor*, while still decent, it wouldn’t be as memorable or catchy.
So, having the Chinese title be *The End of America* and the English title be *The Last of Us* actually seemed quite fitting!
In truth, the final say on a name’s meaning always rests with the creator. Whatever the creator calls it, that’s what it is. Just like the famous author Jia Pingwa. The character “wa” (凹) originally doesn’t have the pronunciation “wa,” but in his name alone, it’s read as “wa.”
Reading it that way doesn’t make you seem uncultured; on the contrary, insisting it should be read as “ao” is what makes you look uncultured.
In simple terms, these matters are decided by the person involved.
That was Chen Mo’s situation now. The official Chinese title was *The End of America*, so naturally, no one would say the Chinese name was a mistranslation. Instead, they’d feel there was a wonderfully clever connection between the Chinese and English names. At first glance, it seemed like an accurate translation; on second look, it was a mistranslation; but in reality, the author had deliberately chosen two names, both of which were fitting and easy to remember.
…
Many players felt that Chen Mo’s game title was quite bold!
*The End of America*… Was he going to bring about the world’s destruction or something?
Many people, upon seeing the title, assumed it would be a disaster or war theme. But the earlier rumors had already spread far and wide—it was most likely a zombie theme.
America after a zombie outbreak? Yeah, that sounded about right! So, were the rumors actually true?
The players clicked on the video one after another.
…
After the Thunder Game Studio logo, there was a brief black screen.
A woman’s voice whispered, “What if it’s true?”
The screen appeared. On a chaotic street, people were frantically running for their lives. Flames blazed by the roadside. The screen shook violently, as if you could feel the panic of the people running.
But this short four- or five-second scene was completely silent—muted and oppressive.
The screen went black again. A low male voice said, “Do I need to remind you what’s out there?”
Sunlight streamed into a dim room. On a rusted cabinet, a distorted shadow appeared—humanoid, walking upright, but constantly swaying, emitting a chilling roar.
“A long time ago, I used to have people I cared about.”
The scene shifted. A middle-aged man and a young girl walked through a lush forest. Then came a close-up of the little girl. A girl who should have been in school was expertly loading a pistol.
At some point, a faint background music gradually faded in. The simple guitar seemed to carry a subtle melancholy, telling a story.
“But now, that damn thing has only one use: getting you killed.”
After that came many fragmented conversations.
“I need you to sneak something out of the city.”
“She’ll be a liability, Joel.”
“I just need some basic gear to get going.”
“I’m guessing it’s about the girl?”
“It’s definitely about the girl.”
“It can’t be worse than staying here, right?”
“We’ve just been scraping by, Joel.”
“No, we’re trying to survive!”
“This is our chance!”
“Don’t say it, Tess!”
“You’re taking a huge risk.”
A body hanging from a tree.
Armed thugs.
An abandoned mansion.
Joel and Ellie hid behind a wall, while a thug with a shotgun searched for their location.
“What do we do now?”
“Don’t waste a single bullet.”
Zombies, thugs, poison gas, bloodstained knives, homemade bombs…
“After everything we’ve been through, all the effort we’ve put in, it has to mean something, right?”
With Ellie’s final question, the screen went black, and the video came to an abrupt end.
…
After watching the promotional CG, many players were completely confused.
What was all that? They couldn’t understand it!
Clearly, the main technique of this video was “fragmentation”—breaking the game’s complete story into many pieces, interspersed with character dialogue, giving players snippets of the plot without any spoilers.
But just from this video, the players didn’t get much useful information. They also didn’t see where the game’s highlights were.
The combat system? Gameplay? Character development? Nothing seemed particularly special.
The only possible highlight was the story, but that wasn’t revealed at all.
Some players were trying hard to deduce the plot of *The End of America* and even managed to infer a few things from the video.
It was indeed a post-apocalyptic world after a zombie outbreak. The protagonist seemed to be this middle-aged man, Joel. From what he said, it was clear he had endured many struggles to survive in this apocalypse, had lost someone he loved, and was now entangled with a little girl.
Beyond that, there was no other concrete information to be found.
Many players felt a bit disappointed. Although this promotional video was decent, it wasn’t as stunning as when *Uncharted* first came out.
From the video, there weren’t many eye-catching settings. Josh Wilson had added plenty of special weapons, special zombies, and survival mechanics to his game. But here, *The End of America* just seemed like a very ordinary, traditional zombie theme!