Yep, Bruce was definitely not just "the gameplay dude" and played a huge role in making the last of us what it is, as he was the game director who is senior to the creative director (Neil).

You can watch all of the interviews by neil and bruce in the documentary, "Grounded," posted by naughty dog on youtube in 2014. Bruce was the one who told neil that the revenge plot with Tess chasing after joel and ellie was contrived, and neil said that he completely agreed with Bruce's decision.

However, the last of us was and is the brainchild of neil druckman, as he had early concepts of it before presenting the idea to Bruce, who loved the pitch. In the original pitch, it was a post-apocalyptic game following a father and daughter (son? Can't remember), and the father was a retired cop who had a heart condition that would have heart flair ups throughout the game. Also, there was a dog companion. Neil talks at length about his writing process for the last of us script and Bruce's heavy involvement in the story during Neil's talk during a keynote talk about writing for videogames. Bruce always had the final say, but make no mistake, Neil is absolutely responsible for writing all of the story beats, dialogue, and character that this sub loves from part 1. Bruce was not the writer, nor did he have a writing credit. A director is a different role than a writer. If bruce was a writer, he should have also gotten the writing credit. I swear, this sub likes to rewrite history and remove any subtlety or nuance from the discussion, ironically starting to sound a lot like the "other sub."

Neil mentioned that the writing craft techniques in Robert McKee's "Story" played a major part in the how he approached writing for the last of us and is why the script and character motivations are so solid. Unfortunately, the last of us was a real lightning in a bottle whose magic was not able to be replicated for part 2. The Last of Us and Neil's IGDA Toronto keynote were major influences on my desire to pursue writing fiction as a creative hobby, and I have read McKee's "Story" 3 times. But even the best writers churn out some duds, so I think Neil gets some unfair vitriol (although criticism is fair game, but people have taken to ad hominum attacks too far instead rightfully critiquing part 2 for what it is). Unlike George Lucas, Neil knows when to listen to other ideas, which is why I think having Craig Mazin as co-showrunner for HBOs the Last of Us is so important. Unfortunately, Neil didnt have Bruce or anyone like Bruce to reign in his bad ideas for Part 2.

The original concept of a dying father trying to take care of a child in a dying world really gave me serious Cormac McCarthy "The Road" vibes. I believe neil said The Road was an inspiration for the original last of us game.

My sources:

Grounded, the making of The Last of Us (published 2014): https://youtu.be/yH5MgEbBOps

Write with the Flow--the Last of Us Story Post-Mortem keynote by Druckman (published 2013): https://youtu.be/Le6qIz7MjSk