{"id":1174470,"date":"2026-02-13T15:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=556829"},"modified":"2026-02-13T15:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:11:06","slug":"the-last-of-us-stalkers-may-be-even-smarter-than-in-the-video-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-last-of-us-stalkers-may-be-even-smarter-than-in-the-video-game\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last of Us\u2019 Stalkers may be even smarter than in the video game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ellie
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Last of Us <\/em>seems to introduce a new type of infected<\/a> \u2014 new, at least, to people who have yet to play developer Naughty Dog\u2019s video game. It\u2019s early on in The Last of Us<\/a><\/em> season 2 when Ellie and Dina, on patrol, enter an abandoned grocery store to pick off a couple infected. When Ellie falls through the second-story floor and onto the main level, she quickly realizes that she\u2019s<\/em> being hunted.<\/p>\n

These, as fans of The Last of Us Part 2<\/a><\/em> know, are Stalkers.<\/p>\n

The Last of Us<\/em> creator Neil Druckmann<\/a> hinted at the inclusion of the evolved infected type in an interview with Empire Online from March<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s kept certain parts of their brain alive, so they are smarter,\u201d he said. \u201cThey coordinate and hide and do things that we\u2019ve never seen any other infected do on this show.\u201d And the show\u2019s version differs somewhat from its game counterpart \u2014 for starters, the audience sees it hunting Ellie before she does, so we see a lot more about what goes into its stalking skills.<\/p>\n

Ellie can hear the Stalker before she sees it. It sounds noticeably more human than the eerie sounds of Runners and Clickers<\/a>; it more resembles a human moan than anything else. Stalkers are dangerous in the game because part of their brain is still alive: They won\u2019t just run directly at a human, instead opting to hunt their prey very similarly to how humans \u2014 like Ellie and Dina \u2014 hunt infected. They can stay low, under cover, to keep from being seen. They hide and bait humans out to make the perfect attack. The one that attacks Ellie has fungus growing out of its head like a crown, but otherwise looks pretty much like a human \u2014 albeit a pretty beat-up one.<\/p>\n

Moments before Ellie encounters the Stalker, she and Dina are making a plan to bait out an infected. Then the scene is flipped on its head, when the Stalker does the same to Ellie. Naturally, Ellie and Dina report the infected back to the Jackson council<\/a>, who are somewhat skeptical of the claim.<\/p>\n

In the world of the show, Stalkers seem to occupy a middle space between Runners (the super-fast infected) and Clickers (the infected that use echolocation due to mushrooms in their eyes); Runners are the fast, aggressive type that seems to be acting on pure animal instinct, while Clickers are an advanced form of the fungal disease, which relies on other senses to make up for extensive fungal growth. Stalkers have brain activity, but keep the same athleticism as Runners, as the fungus hasn\u2019t limited their body just yet.  <\/p>\n

There\u2019s only that one Stalker in the first episode of The Last of Us<\/a><\/em><\/em>\u2019 second season, but given the introduction, it\u2019s likely we\u2019ll see much more \u2014 either here or in the freshly greenlit season 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Last of Us seems to introduce a new type of infected \u2014 new, at least, to people who have yet to play developer Naughty Dog\u2019s video game. It\u2019s early on in The Last of Us season 2 when Ellie and Dina, on patrol, enter an abandoned grocery store to pick off a couple infected. When Ellie falls through the second-story floor and onto the main level, she quickly realizes that she\u2019s being hunted. These, as fans of The Last of Us Part 2 know, are Stalkers. The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann hinted at the inclusion of the evolved infected type in an interview with Empire Online from March: \u201cIt\u2019s kept certain parts of their brain alive, so they are smarter,\u201d he said.…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1174471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1174470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Last of Us\u2019 Stalkers may be even smarter than in the video game | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Last of Us seems to introduce a new type of infected \u2014 new, at least, to people who have yet to play developer Naughty Dog\u2019s video game. 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