The Last Of Us, Part II: review, why it’s a PlayStation must’have
The Last of Us, Part II is one of most powerful and brilliant games ever, with characters more interesting and complex than usual, but it certainly isn’t for everyone.
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During the four years they worked on the original The Last Of Us game, and six years they spent on The Last Of Us Part II, the team at Naughty Dog did a lot of research into pandemics.
Little did they know that they’d be releasing the sequel in the middle of one.
While COVID-19 isn’t exactly a pandemic of mushroom spores that take over people’s brains, turning them into zombies (based on the real-world Cordyceps fungus), it certainly wasn’t great for anyone involved. That was particularly felt at the studio when the game’s release had to be delayed from April to this week.
One of the things that amused Neil Druckman, vice president of Naughty Dog and game director on The Last Of Us Part II, was seeing some of the unexpected consequences of a pandemic that the researchers hadn’t anticipated.
“There’s way too much toilet paper everywhere in the first game,” he says.
“In the second game we’re very conscious about having no toilet paper; there shouldn’t be any toilet paper.”
More worrying, though, were the things he did expect, aside from the obvious.
“There’s similarities in the stuff that’s happened here because we spent a lot of time researching the Spanish flu and how towns closed themselves off and became xenophobic,” he says, noting that a pandemic really brings out the best and worst in people.
“The game taps into those universal feelings of tribalism and how we sometimes lack empathy. Those are the kinds of things that we felt the game was ripe to explore with interactivity.”
The true inspiration for the game, which follows the now late-teenage Ellie from the original Last Of Us, was from something dark that happened in Druckman’s youth, growing up in Israel.
“When I was about Ellie’s age (in Part II), I saw a video that was captured of a person being lynched in a horrible, violent way, and the people that were doing it were cheering,” he says. “And then that affected me on such a deep level, and such an anger rose that I was like, ‘oh man, if I could just push a button and make them feel what they’re doing, I would push it in an instant’.”
Years later he reflected on that incident, and realised how “messed up” his desire for those people to get their comeuppance was.
“I’ve lived a pretty privileged life, pretty safe life for the most part, and yet my mind was easily able to tip in those thoughts for people I don’t even know. I don’t know the victim, I don’t know the people who perpetrated that. And then you start thinking what would happen if that was done to someone who you truly cared about?”
During the lead-up to the release, there was a major online leak of spoilers covering most of the story. After working on the game for six years, Sony and Naughty Dog were very tight with NDAs and embargoes trying to keep all details out of the media and off the web until people could experience the game for themselves, which is why none of the pre-release reviews have been able to say much. That’s why it’s so surprising that Druckman is insistent that spoilers won’t ruin the game.
“It’s really not about twists, which is why no spoiler can take away the experience of playing and being with Ellie and Dina, and hearing their conversations.”
REVIEW OF THE LAST OF US PART II
Overall: 4.5/5
Available: now on: PS4
Price: $99.95
Reviewed on: PS4 Pro
The Last Of Us Part II is the hardest game I’ve ever played. Not because the difficulty was too high (though, it did have its moments), but because of the emotional and moral complications throughout.
The first 13 hours took me weeks to force myself through, because I cared so much about Ellie and her companions, but the brutality of Ellie’s actions and realism of the violence was too much. You kill a lot of enemies in terrible ways in games like Call Of Duty and Battlefield, but those enemies rarely have names, families and pets that you know about as you stab them in the neck and hear them die.
Those feelings of disgust and discomfort are deliberate, though. You’re supposed to start the game feeling enraged and ready to do anything for revenge, and then have the horror of your actions dawn on you, until you’re begging human enemies not to come closer because you just can’t do it again. The dogs were the worst.
During those weeks I found myself dreaming and thinking more about this game than practically any other I’ve ever played.
On the flip side, the rest (another 12-14 hours or so) was emotionally far easier for the most part (with some notable exceptions), and occasionally felt like filler that was labouring the point. I blew through those hours in only a few days, occasionally breaking to mourn characters I’d grown to love.
Back in 2013, the original game was undeniably the best PlayStation exclusive of all time (and arguably still is). This sequel explores some of the consequences of particular actions from that game in a way few, if any, big games have.
If that sounds vague, that’s because of the iron-clad embargo reviewers needed to agree to, because it’s best enjoyed without spoilers.
Although the original was lacking on the gameplay front, Part II excels in it, with new mechanics and immersive, intuitive combat. Even better is that this is the most accessible PlayStation game ever, with more than 60 accessibility options to aid players with vision, hearing and physical impairments.
It’s a game everyone can play, whether or not they should is up to them.
VERDICT
The Last Of Us Part II is the most powerful and brilliant game I have ever played, with characters more interesting and complex than usual. However, I wish that brilliant game wasn’t wearing so much padding, and the brutality means that it certainly isn’t for everyone.
The Last Of Us Part II is available for PlayStation 4 now.