Should I let my daughter play The Last of Us remastered?

Yesterday, my daughter asked to play The Last of Us.  I played it through on PS3 when it came out but will be getting the PS4 version for my birthday shortly (so the opportunity is there).  

The game is an 18 and my daughter is almost 13.  As a general rule of thumb, I take ratings on media that I am familiar with (which games certainly are) as a guide, rather than as a drop-down verboten rating.  There is plenty of content that I wouldn't let her play but TLoU, to my mind, is a a well-scripted, story-driven tale with strong characters. In that sense, I think it is an 'important' game, so whether I allow her to play it is still up for grabs. My daughter is intelligent and mature for her age and we would play the game together, sharing the pad (I figure I'd do the more complicated game-y bits).

If she'd asked to play GTAV I wouldn't even be posting this - I'd say no.  But TLoU is different, I think.  I am also firmly of the belief that the same content in a film would result in a 15 cert - I've a theory that as it is you the player doing stuff in games (rather than a bystander, as in films), that the BBFC 'uprates' the games.  For example, in Shadow of Mordor you do some horrible stuff to orcs and it has an 18 cert.  In The Hobbit, so do the dwarves but it has a 12 (I think).  Incidentally, I've only just started SoM so if there are worse things after the first few hours - no spoilers!


Anyway, who thinks I'm an awful parent for even considering this?

Hey    well my daughter is 13 as well and shes very into games, has her own ps3, 360, wii u, 3ds and vita. I tend to take ratings with a pinch of salt myself as well. My mum and dad raised me with the idea that if I wanted to play or watch something I went to them and regardless of the age they would look into it, think about it and get back to me with a verdict. This usually meant my mum would watch whatever it was while I was at school and then decide if she felt I was grown up enough and emotionally ready for it.

This is the exact same method I use with my daughter. I know who she is what scares her, what she thinks and I know what she is capable of processing and I use this to decide if she can handle something... this does mean that I cant really help here as I dont know your daughter in that way but yeah if you think shes ready for it then let her

I also agree with you tottally on the fact games are hated harsher than films, you could argue that in a game you can keep doing the most disturbing scene again and again but then you could pause rewind and rewatch part of a grahphic horror repeatidly.

I dont let my daughter play grand theft auto, I wouldnt let her play call of duty modern warfare 2 either but then I have let her Resident Evil 5 with me.

Age ratings on games and movies are really just guidelines, there is no science that says "all people under 18 will have problems with this". Regarding The Last of Us, only you will really know if your daughter is old enough to play the game. From memory, there is smattering of strong language and a bit of gore and there are a suggested themes like cannibalism and homosexuality in there too. However the game itself is pretty straight forward third person stuff and I could imagine that playing it together would be fun, prompting discussions around what you should craft with your limited supplies. And, after all, if ever there was a "father and daughter" game, this would be it since that is the theme of the relationship that is built up between the two main protagonists.

Thanks chaps.  I agree that ratings are guidelines and that parents should know best, if they are familiar with the media in question.  Though I'm pretty sure that the  parent buying CoD for their 8yo hasn't really gone into it in great depth!

I think I'm fine with the gore, as I don't recall it being over gory.  Swearing, not bothered at all - I took her up West Ham on Saturday and she heard *all* the swears . Funnily enough, we were talking about swearing on the journey home - she said she swears the least of her friends, yet my wife and often swear (in context of course) around her - no point being precious about swearing after they go to secondary school.  

And we are archetypal liberal parents, always having taught her that there are differnt lifestyles to those of her own family, so the gay theme is no issue.

Cannibalism - when she was trying to persuade me that she should play it in the face of my uncertainty, on the train to the football, she said 'it's not like there's cannibalism or anything'!  I just smiled and said 'spoilers' 

We did dress as Joel and Ellie for Halloween - https://twitter.com/40somethinggmr/status/528242152443490305.  After all, what is the point of having children if not for the cosplay possibilities 

AWESOME COSPLAY!

Are there settings in the game's options to turn off/reduce gore? Worth a look.

Cheers

I'd not thought about a gore switch (never having turned one off (on?) before). I'll have a look see.

I think I am very close to saying 'yeah, alright' to her requests.

There is indeed a gore option in TLOU, the video below shows the differences. It should be noted it's for the PS3 version, but I'm guessing it applies to the PS4 version as well.

Thanks for the heads up on the gore-less option - that's what I've went for. We started last night and she doesn't seem to be horribly scarred by the experience.  And she has learnt the life skill of now being able to make a shiv