The Last of Us Part II

Previously on The Last of Us

It’s been seven years since The Last of Us was released on the PS3 in June 2013. I picked it up during release month, was hooked by the title card, then Cait and I passed and played through the story in a week.

Never had I experienced a video game’s design and storytelling so expertly intwined. The characters were multi-dimensional and believable more often then not. Within minutes of loading my save, I would slip into a space where I wasn’t playing a game so much has witnessing a story unfold.

The older I get, the less time I can justify playing games (sucks). So I have a dwindling tolerance for games that waste my time. The game exhibited forethought, logical, and subtle visual/aural cues to guide you through world. Some might perceive the gameplay as too soft, but I appreciated almost never having to back track, rarely felt like I lost momentum.

There’s no avoiding this: the action in the game is hyper-violent by mainstream media standards, and in many cases hyper-realistic. And in most cases, it is hyper-gratifying to shiv a Clicker or a human enemy. Naughty Dog achieves real tension throughout, and maintains with a steady ramp in difficulty that peaks in the final battle.

Can I get a encore?

The open-ended conclusion, critical and commercial success, and players salivating for more time with Joel and Ellie made a sequel all but a certainty. Then a couple weeks ago, after a couple delays, it arrived. I installed on launch day.

And I wasn’t disappointed. Everything that hooked me about the first game was immediately apparent. The character models and environments were rendered in greater detail. Essentially every aspect of the game is improved in Part II; at the same time it honors the story of the first game by and making the events and the characters’ choices matter.

A certain plot point has caused a stir on social media and a wave of review bombing. As far as I can tell, none of the haters have a legitimate complaint about the game. They view it as a personal affront on their fandom for the game. I find this confusing in 2020. It’s a post-Ned Stark world, and we have to live with that.

I found the end of the story to be a gratifying, fitting, and a flicker of hope in an consistently harsh environment. As the credits rolled I dreaded that the experience was over. But it was a damn fine week.