The Last of Us Part II

When "Part 2" is added on to a sequel title as opposed to a sequential number many begin to wonder why it would alter the convention of just slapping a number onto the title and giving it a basic label. The Last of Us Part 2 is the most Part 2 thing ever; three days before Part 2 was released I finished the first game again, which I had not replayed since the game originally came out and had bought the Remaster in an online swap bundle never really intending to play it. Hot off the first game it was great to jump in where Part 2 picks up. From herein, spoilers will be cut loose, because to even discuss the experience the beginning hours of the game needs to be discussed.

Joel Miller is murdered within the first few hours of a game that begins with him telling the final moments of the previous game to his brother Tommy. The player then has control over Joel through a short, and frankly beautiful, horse ride. At this moment, Tommy assures his brother that he would take what he was told to the grave; as we have all been sworn to do, too, because we can't tell Ellie what we know about the last game. We all have a secret that our main protagonist isn't in on but is surely the topic of. As fans, the better half of the 2010s leading into 2020 was spent wondering what came of that ending. That ending isn't only an ending for Joel and Ellie, it was an ending (also beginning) for the game's second protagonist. Through the first couple of hours, the perspective passes from Joel to Ellie to Abby and then back and forth by the last two for the rest of the game. When we first meet Abby her team is outside of Jackson, unbeknownst to them; Abby learns this quickly and fires herself like a bullet to closing out the opening chapters of the game. To watch Joel get killed in the way that he was sucked on a personal level, Joel was our guy! This game sells the hatred it wants you to feel so fast that revenge is the only dish that need be served.

From this, we begin one of the best micro-open-world levels I've seen in a game; I was truly disappointed that each day was not its own matched experience. Seattle is told in a three-day structure where each day may very well be its own arc. To dawdle on the open-world would give a false hope that it is the wider part of the game, which it isn't, it is just one of the best parts. The opening hours of The Last of Us Part 2 both before and after the killing have brilliant moments of levity and excellent characters on either side of the antagonist/protagonist coin it beats out many other visually told stories. As said, three days in Seattle, right? Right. Those three days, however, are told over again from a different perspective. Abby's perspective. While Ellie hunts down Abby in what is the video game equivalent to Kill Bill, Abby is aloof to Ellie's presence through to the end of Seattle Day 3 on from her perspective. Days here are reminiscent of seasons in the first game. When you finish with Ellie on Day 3 you've left mountains of bodies whether they are infected, Scars, or Wolves. It is the Wolves which matter to Abby as this is the group her and the band of murder accessories (fellow accessories to murder?) she went to Jackson with throw their lot in with. Ellie seeks revenge while Abby goes on a redemptive arc she wasn't aware she needed nor we as those who hate her knew would be possible to attain. The structure, when put chronologically is, Abby arrives, does her business and leaves, Ellie arrives too late, still murders everyone. Abby has more going on than just Wolves and Ellie as she finds herself taking in a few young members of the Scar faction, named aptly by Wolves for the scars on their cheeks.

It is with the Scars that the game questions convention of what most Triple-A video games aim to unravel in their stories. These Scars are disavowed, a brother-sister coupling, as the brother was originally a sister but his body and soul said otherwise. In questioning himself he questions the entirety of the Seraphites (proper name) belief system and let's just say that this isn't a clan that has any time for that. While we as players are already attempting to unpack our emotions with Abby, we then have to unpack her assisting the seen as degenerates of a clan; the trio is an island unto themselves that they must protect. 2020 has brought the term "virtue signaling" to light and I can assure you that this isn't that, this isn't a headline-worthy tale but it is one I felt was handled well enough to have it exist and meld perfectly with the overarching issue. It is impossible to say that anyone comes out on top when all is said and done but I feel like all the characters are in agreement that what's done is done and there is a future where they can all be happy. Or at least breathe air.

The structure is questionable, as I will let loose a bit more below, but it works. It is a linear-non-linear story that benefits from how it unfolds. I stated above that using three days of micro-open-worlds would be great as we would have two characters and therefore two chances to take in the work the developers had done. Again, the excitement of a semi open-world is lit and burnt out all in one chapter of the game.

None of this would work, though, if the game felt bad. It doesn't. In the story, we are at Part 2, but in the gameplay, I could say we're on 1.5. This isn't a slight against the game as I was not a major fan of the gameplay of the first game. There are no pallets to swim with and very few ladders or wooden boards to maneuver; this is filled in with locked doors and finding open grates or breakable windows. It's a real pick your poison kind of problem. Character development is still handled by finding parts and then workbenches or finding supplements and then enhancement magazines to give more skill trees to them dump those supplements into. By the time Day 3 comes for Ellie you have a powerful character with an arsenal of weapons and even more items to craft; then, Day 1 comes for Abby and you start the cycle over. This is still a collect-fest: parts, supplements, materials, notes, cards, coins, safe, oh my.

Notes and cards have the most depth of these collectible and will be the biggest draw for those returning from the first game. The writing of these notes is not only strong but it is diverse in the tales being told. A major video game release from the last year attempted notes and e-mails but they all felt like one person sat down and cranked them out, while here it could have all been one person writing it but you'd maybe question their sanity with the number of personalities on hand. Often, buildings would have stories unto themselves, neighborhoods would have correspondence strewn throughout. To follow each of these tales is to be given so many good presents that even when you open up the pair of socks you're not disappointed. I know I missed many of the notes, called artifacts, that they are a big reason for me to dive into New Game + so soon. The cards I mentioned are trading cards for comic book characters, they are okay but they don't hold a stick to the notes.

Combat encounters weave action and stealth together that a certain character's braid could be seen as another stealth video game character's bandana. It is possible to hide again when being found, and it is incredibly fun to be found again when you think you've found your hiding spot. At one point a character had literally pulled me out from underneath a car by my ankle. That was terrifying. Naughty Dog stated each enemy has its own name but I heard so many "David" and "Amir" callouts I grew tired of the feature fast. Death and destruction feel so good it makes a person feel bad. Each bullet feels satisfying and each bullet connection makes a person squeamish. The first time I noticed the absolute amount of gore and terror was when I'd shot a person's forearm off with a rifle and then had to hear them scream in agony for a good minute. When this happened the second time I shot the person in the head immediately after. A terrible solution to a terrible question. Silenced pistols, bombs, mine, knives, axes, bows, and shotguns are just a few things to list from the pockets and backpacks of war, and they all feel so different to use. Fireaxes can be a one-hit kill while crowbars take a few connections the same as silenced pistols have a few charges before the silencer breaks while bows may just not be as steady as needed. There is diversity in both the offerings and the results.

I employed a few of the accessibility features to enhance the gameplay. This list is massive and so specific that I think everyone should at least turn on some of these features. The first one I turned on was an arrow indicator slapped onto subtitles that'll show me the direction of the speaker. That may detract from the stealth nature for some, but, hey, I'm not here for a long time just for a good time. Another feature I enabled was combat indicators that would cause my controller to vibrate when aiming at an enemy or if I'm in sight. I did have a few others on or played with others from time to time, but I feel like these are my big go-to's. Maybe I'll turn on aim assist because I am honestly terrible at shooting. I can whack people with crowbars all day, though.

For as broken, rusted, and filthy everything is in the decades-deep pandemic that's ravaged the world, The Last of Us Part 2 is a beautiful video game. Sun rays glisten through windows and trees in ways few console games have achieved, rain and dust can be seen on a small and individual scale. With regards to the absolute nothing I know about video game development I can only assume that this game is a technical feat on many levels. To quickly detract from the visuals, this game drove me to the purchase of a mini soundbar for our bedroom so I could better hear the terrifying Clickers but also appreciate the awesomeness of having an enemy faction that communicates through whistles; this purchase was made whole when I plugged it in and was in a chapter of the game affected by a thunderstorm. Back to the visuals, which I can say are made better by the visuals. I gave my friend a bit of a vertical slice walkthrough of an area and he asked if I thought the game looks good. Personally, this is one of the best looking games every but is it weird to say that it looks so good because everything sounds so good? If the two didn't work in tandem the facade would break and no matter how good it looked a part of the puzzle would crumble and everything would feel off-balance. I didn't quickly detract, there, I know. When video game characters react to everything, like Assassin's Creed player characters touching every passerby or even Nathan Drake rubbing his hands on every single wall or empty doorway he passes through, it obviously looks different and breaks the illusion. That sin may be tapped but isn't siphoned for all that it has got; this means characters react to their surroundings in a logical way that isn't touch everything. Motion capture for this game had to have been a neverending pursuit. To break away from how characters move or interact, I don't want to leave this visual point without saying character models are incredible. The motion capture actors are portrayed on levels that have only been matched, I feel, by Death Stranding. These two video games are capturing the facial structures and movements of the actors when somebody purses their lips it actually lands as a realistic movement and not a visual oddity or glitch. With as recent as Death Stranding was, The Last of Us Part 2 blows it out of the water in capturing human movement from head to toe.

Let me give a stupid anecdote as an intermission, apologies, as I do not have a video ready for this one, but I will be as brief as the stupid moment I had. Ellie will throw out barks to note what she sees, even noting when finding someplace new and then when leaving that same place with all of the loot inside. Occasionally, this is may a few seconds delayed. This delay led me to charge a room full of about five or six infected in the same method Leeroy Jenkins had in video games-past. If not for the game's dodge mechanic I would have been toast fast. Instead, I employed an odd dance of dodging the flailing arms and coming in with a quick strike. Melee weapons have few charges before they break and from there the pocket knife Ellie carries is used; this was my fight of those few charges and then slashing away with the small blade. When I had bested the infected in this dumb luck fashion I could not help but giggle. It was some of the most fun I had playing the game.

My biggest complaint with the game is that it does feel too long and suffers The Return of the King failure of having too many endings. What felt like the ending continued into another gameplay segment, and then what should have been a climax was ruined by a literal punch in the face, and with that, we were back at it again. The epilogue has a couple of rapid swaps that it feels like even the developers were trying to find the best time to be done but then just had another brain lightbulb illuminate and then they kept pressing with more content. This content isn't bad, in fact, it is where solace happens or understanding is obtained, but the false hope of a happy ending was so forcefully ripped away the director's and story writers may as well have spat on your face. My wife has labeled Uncharted 4 as Take the Long Way Around while The Last of Us Part 2 may as well be equal to We'll Burn That Bridge When We Get To It.

I lied. My biggest complaint is the spoilers and the absolute garbage that has spilled since. We can spill beans, we can spill tea, but what we can do is be rationally understanding during these times. The way we learn this information sets precedent for what we hear/read and feel. Out of some dumb thought, I spiraled and began scrolling. I felt disbelief and disappointment; the difference between reading spoilers for a video game (possible false ones) and actually playing the game is a vacant hole. This point is especially amplified when it is Naughty Dog because through stills and text all of the nuances they inject into a title are lost and while reading Joel dies may drive one to anger actually watching him get killed is a heartbreaking experience where the anger is just a continuation of this feeling. Loss is felt not just observed in black text on a white background. At that point, the rumors were also that Ellie would be killed, obviously, that didn't happen, and it was at this point I quit searching. Again, haplessly scrolling a page for keywords probably worked more in my favor than breaking down everything that was out there. I knew what Abby had done before I ever played as her, I didn't come into the game hating her, but when she performed the act trust me I did. Also, the vitriol thrown at portrayals of characters by gender, body type, or action is completely asinine; the game should be viewed through a wider lens than just one's own eyes.

As impossible as it is to say let me lay it out here: there is no world in which The Last of Us Part 3 exists. That doesn't mean that The Last of Us 2 or even The Last of Us 3, whichever naming convention they choose to utilize, doesn't exist. Ellie's tale, I feel, especially with the introduction of Abby, is over and with it so is Joel's and there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever. By the end, Abby is on a boat most likely sailing to meet up with Fireflies, Ellie has retired her revenge quest and has nothing but a fresh start, while Joel is dead. Through the game, we experience hatred, love, and empathy. At no point was I ever able to forgive either character I played as for the atrocities they had committed but in a setting where law or order was absent, I could empathize with both characters in their reactions. This feeling something I can feel for a video game character, especially after watching the character I spent approximately thirteen hours with a few weeks ago get whacked with a golf club. Redemption was had by the time all was said done and there is nothing more I want to experience from these characters as they have gone from the lowest of lows to at least some sort of level ground. I hope Naughty Dog sees the redemption they deserve, as artists they are stellar, and as creators, they are leaders in their craft. If The Last of Us Part 2 were the last video game developed they would be leaving on top. I thank them for this damn game because it turned around my fading love or scattered affection for the medium.

Naughty Dog broke my cycle of just finishing a game and deleting it from the console by instead giving me something so damn, so worth experiencing, that I dove into New Game+. See what I'm doing here? Too many endings.

Disclaimer at the end: This review was written in the most non-linear fashion because as I type I'm unpacking more from the game I played, the game I experienced, and how horribly social media has portrayed this damn game. I did a lot of ranting and if you made it this point I just want to reiterate that I love this damn game.