The Outskirts
The Outskirts takes Joel, Tess and Ellie out of the Boston quarantine zone and across the ruined city toward the capitol building, where Fireflies are meant to collect Ellie. It is where you meet clickers and learn to slip past them with thrown bricks and bottles, on a route through downtown, the Goldstone Building and a history museum.
- Type
- Story
- Region
- Boston
Storylines
Part 3 of 12 in Main story
Good to know
- Chapter 3 of 12; August 3 to 4, 2033.
- Sections: Outside, Downtown, Museum, The Capitol Building.
- 13 collectibles: 9 artifacts and 4 Firefly pendants (Lenz's, Kiper's, Davidson's and Jiang's).
- Clickers show up for the first time inside the Goldstone Building.
- Enemies: FEDRA soldiers, runners and clickers.
- A soldier's scanner exposes the bite on Ellie's arm early in the chapter; she says it is three weeks old.
Sections in order
1. Outside: past the wall and the army patrols. 2. Downtown: across the city and through the Goldstone Building. 3. Museum: a fight through the Freedom Museum of Boston. 4. The Capitol Building: the meeting point and a flooded subway.
Outside
You leave through tunnels under an apartment block and climb out beyond the wall, which is Ellie's first time outside. A patrol detains the three of you, Ellie stabs a soldier during the scan, and Joel and Tess kill both soldiers in the scuffle. The scanner shows Ellie is infected, but there is no time to argue: more troops arrive, and you sneak through the trenches and drop into the sewers. Tess's list and a patrol routes map are found here.
Downtown
Tess sides with Ellie about pushing on, and Joel follows. A chasm forces you into the leaning Goldstone Building, where Tess explains clickers to Ellie and you learn to distract them with thrown objects. A dead army patrol shows what stalkers can do, then a crowd of runners blocks the far end of the building. A subway station beyond holds dead Fireflies, a Molotov and a note. Four artifacts and Lenz's pendant are in this stretch.
Museum
A wave of infected chases the group into the museum. A floor gives way and leaves Joel alone with clickers, and you work through the exhibits until you hear Tess and Ellie under attack behind a door. A big fight follows before the three climb to the roof. The medical pamphlet and Kiper's pendant are here.
The Capitol Building
You reach the State House to find a dead Firefly outside and the rest killed inside by the military. Joel and Tess argue over what to do next while she searches the bodies for directions to the lab. This section holds two artifacts, the Firefly orders and a smuggler note, plus Davidson's and Jiang's pendants. The way out runs through a flooded subway.
Tess stays behindSpoilerShow
Tess reveals she was bitten in the museum fight and that her bite is already worse than Ellie's. She asks Joel to take Ellie to Tommy, who will know where the Firefly lab is, then stays to hold off the soldiers so Joel and Ellie can escape. Once out of the subway, Joel tells Ellie never to bring Tess up again.
- BostonBoston, Massachusetts is the first region after the time skip and the city where Ellie grew up. You play The Quarantine Zone and The Outskirts here, and Left Behind's flashbacks with Riley take place in the same city. FEDRA holds the North End as one of the last working quarantine zones in the country.
- Freedom Museum of BostonThe Freedom Museum of Boston is a history museum about the American Revolutionary War that Joel, Tess and Ellie cut through in the Museum section of The Outskirts. A wave of infected chases them inside, and you fight clickers and runners through its exhibits.
- Massachusetts State HouseThe Massachusetts State House, usually called the Capitol Building in the game, is where Marlene sends Joel and Tess to hand Ellie to a waiting Firefly group. It is the goal of The Outskirts and gives the chapter's last section its name.
- The Goldstone BuildingThe Goldstone Building is a damaged downtown Boston skyscraper that Joel, Tess and Ellie climb through in the Downtown section of The Outskirts, because a chasm blocks the street. It is packed with infected, including stalkers, runners and clickers.
- Bolt-action rifleThe bolt-action rifle, also called the hunting rifle, is Joel's long-range gun, taken from a dead Firefly on the second floor of the Capitol building in The Outskirts. Its armor piercing upgrade makes it one of your best answers to armored soldiers and bloaters.
- Lead pipeThe lead pipe is the toughest breakable melee weapon in the game, lasting nine hits. Joel can first pick one up in The Outskirts while clearing infected on his own, and another lies where Ellie drops it after hitting Bill in Lincoln.
- Molotov cocktailThe Molotov cocktail is a crafted firebomb made from alcohol and a rag, the same ingredients as a health kit. One hit kills almost any enemy outright, and the pool of fire it leaves kills anyone who walks through it.
- RevolverThe revolver hits harder than the 9mm but fires slower, and it is the pistol Joel draws in scripted scenes. You pick it up in The Outskirts from a dead soldier in downtown Boston, next to his field ops log.
- Davidson's Firefly PendantDavidson's Firefly pendant lies underwater in a stone rotunda in The Capitol Building section of The Outskirts. It belonged to Melinda Davidson and is easy to swim past.
- Evacuation LeafletThe Evacuation Leaflet is an old FEDRA warning on the right-hand pavement in downtown Boston. Once you climb the collapsed street and Tess and Ellie start talking about the bombing, look by the base of a traffic light a car has hit.
- Field Ops LogThe Field Ops Log is a soldier's patrol record inside the Goldstone Building, the tilted skyscraper downtown. Climb the stairwell toward the fifth floor; it lies beside the second dead soldier, along with a couple of 9mm rounds.
- Firefly MapThe Firefly Map is a note on a dead Firefly in the subway station downtown, on the stairs between the two escalators. It is the body to the right of the one carrying a Molotov cocktail.
- Firefly OrdersFirefly Orders is a note on a dead Firefly at the bottom of the stairs you take after the cutscene in The Capitol Building section. Look to the right and behind you at the foot of the steps.
- Jiang's Firefly PendantJiang's Firefly pendant rests on a shelf in a flooded room in The Capitol Building section of The Outskirts. It belonged to Shiyao Jiang, and getting there means a short swim.
- Kiper's Firefly PendantKiper's Firefly pendant sits inside a display case in the Museum section of The Outskirts. It belonged to Michael Kiper, and you reach it by edging along a narrow ledge.
- Lenz's Firefly PendantLenz's Firefly pendant dangles from a tree on the terrace outside the Goldstone Building in the Downtown section of The Outskirts. It belonged to Joseph Lenz and must be knocked down.
- Medical PamphletThe Medical Pamphlet is a CDC leaflet inside the truck blocking your path outside the museum. Push an object against the truck to climb over, then look back: the opening is on the right side and the pamphlet is to its left.
- Note to DerekThe Note to Derek is a scrap in a drawer behind the register of the first shop on the left in the subway room full of clickers. It holds the combination for a safe close by.
- Patrol Routes MapThe Patrol Routes Map is a marked-up FEDRA map on the floor at the bottom of the elevator shaft early in The Outskirts. Step off the elevator, turn right and check the litter between the water tanks and a pallet against the fence.
- Smuggler NoteThe Smuggler Note is on the dead smuggler Ellie takes her flashlight from, in the flooded subway near the Capitol. After swimming under the debris and the train, look to the left of the tunnel.
- Tess's ListTess's List is the notepad where Tess tracks her and Joel's smuggled goods, and it sits on the side table next to a gas lantern in the apartment where Joel napped, at the very start of The Outskirts.
- Ellie WilliamsEllie Williams is the 14-year-old girl Joel is hired to smuggle out of Boston, and your companion for most of The Last of Us Part I. She was bitten weeks earlier and never turned, so the Fireflies believe her immunity could lead to a vaccine. You play as her in the winter chapter and in the Left Behind DLC.
- FrankFrank is Bill's former partner in Lincoln. You learn about him in Bill's Town through the Note from Frank, and he also turns up earlier in The Outskirts as the contact named in a smuggler's note.
- Joel MillerJoel Miller is the man you play for almost all of The Last of Us Part I. A hardened smuggler in the Boston quarantine zone, he takes a job escorting 14-year-old Ellie out of the city, and the drop-off turns into a year-long trip across the country to find the Fireflies.
- RamirezRamirez is a FEDRA patrol soldier who catches Joel, Tess and Ellie just outside the Boston wall. The ambush happens in the Outside section of The Outskirts, and it is the moment Ellie's infection scan becomes a problem.
- Tess ServopoulosTess Servopoulos is Joel's smuggling partner in the Boston quarantine zone and your companion through the first two chapters after the prologue. She is the one who talks Joel into taking Marlene's job, and she escorts Ellie with him across downtown Boston toward the Capitol Building.
Related missions
Image: Naughty Dog / PlayStationStoryThe Quarantine Zone
The Quarantine Zone starts the story proper 20 years after the outbreak, inside Boston's military-run zone in August 2033. As Joel, now a smuggler, you and his partner Tess slip outside the wall to track down Robert, a dealer who owes them guns, and end up taking a new job from the Fireflies.
- Story
Bill's Town
Bill's Town brings Joel and Ellie to Lincoln, Massachusetts, a small town that Joel's paranoid contact Bill has rigged with traps to keep the infected out. Bill owes Joel a favor, so you team up with him to find a working car, which means a trip through a clicker-filled graveyard and an infected high school.
Image: Naughty Dog / PlayStationStoryBus Depot
Bus Depot opens in the spring of 2034 as Joel and Ellie walk into Salt Lake City, aiming for the Fireflies at Saint Mary's Hospital. The route runs along a highway full of dead cars, through the Logan James bus station and an abandoned quarantine zone, and down into a flooded tunnel full of infected.
- Story
Jackson
Jackson is the short closing chapter of the main story: you play as Ellie, walking through the woods with Joel toward Tommy's settlement in Wyoming in the spring of 2034. It has one section, the Epilogue, and one collectible, the comic Singularity.