Despite being released all the way back in 2013, The Last Of Us is still one of the more beloved games Naughty Dog has ever released. Its popularity on the PlayStation 3 caused the developer to release a remastered PlayStation 4 version which has kept people playing the survival horror game ever since. Over time, game mods pop up and a recent post on Kotaku brought to light a particularly interesting one by a YouTuber named Freako.

By laboriously digging through the game’s files, Freako was able to locate the files that control the NPC (non-playable character) skins and was able to apply them to the primary playable character, Joel. Some of the NPCs don’t work too well with wonky movements and glitchy interactions with other characters. This is, of course, expected as NPCs are usually designed with a specific set of movements and characteristics and don’t need as much detail as the playable characters. Surprisingly, a lot of things seem to work well when the Tess NPC is applied as a playable character.

Now, this is probably due to the amount of missions and interaction players have with Tess during the game. We see her run, fight, climb, jump, and shoot just like Joel does, so her NPC code has got to be more in depth compared to others (like the cut-scene Infected Clicker). But it does make us wonder if there was ever a plan to have Tess be just as playable as Joel was. The ability to choose either Joel or Tess would have given another layer to the game but may have also taken away some of the more emotional moments Joel had with Ellie since part of his journey is protecting her in ways he failed to do so with his own daughter.

Though Tess [SPOILERS] died a hero in the first game, the upcoming The Last of Us Part II is still in the works and–like most sequels tend to do–may involve new elements to game-play.

Do you think playing as Tess would have changed the game entirely? Are you excited for The Last of Us Part II? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Naughty Dog