The Last of Us Part 2 (TLOU2), Naughty Dog's (ND) latest installment is a beautifully crafted continuation of Ellie and Joel's adventure from 2013s The Last of Us. Snow deformation, simulated puddling, dynamic organic matter (brain/blood spatter), one of the best body-damage systems I have ever seen and particle effects that fill that static air with ambiance and dread. From a technical standpoint, TLOU2 is fucking gorgeous, accomplishing graphical fidelity that should not be possible given the out-of-date hardware of the PlayStation 4/Pro.

ND did compromise by sub-sampling TLOU2 to 2k/30fps, allow more details to be crammed in without killing it's performance matrix (4k/60fps isn't possible on PS4 hardware). With all that care and love put into minute details ND has crafted one of the most visually stunning title Sony's platform.

Many titles try to appease to the player's expectations, or better, what they wish would happen. ND abandons this notion; tearing down the very fabric of what is considered "comforting." In this grievous, post-apocalyptic world no one is guaranteed life. That idea is heavy-handed in a narrative that both gripped me, annoyed me, and fucking infuriated me (in the best of ways).

The timing of TLOU2 release was under unique circumstances. I remember reading articles about Kojima Production's anticipated Death Stranding (DS) and the underlying theories of what DS even was. At the same time, reports from Wuhon, China were illustrating the dangers of a novel virus (SARS-COVID-19) and it's mass spread month's to the turn of a new decade. The world watched as this virus eventually spread to a global-pandemic, staining the turn of the decade for the worse.

Video Games offer an escape from our sometimes perilous reality. They offer a level of engagement that a painting, books or television can't provide. The player controls the character on-screen. Player's empathize with whomever their controlling; they are instrumental in the actions of the fictional character's they're seeing. When they die, it's at the fault of the person holding the controller. That simple, yet powerful level of personal control is more engaging than sitting there consuming whatever the author has in mind for the reader or viewer. While gamers are at their whim in ways, we still control who the story is about.

ND created a post-apocalyptic world that feels lived-in. Believable. Small rooms offer so many subtle details in the environment, showing what life was like for the person who lived there. Toys from children astray on the ground from parents trying to calm them. A lonely father whom dies sitting in his favorite chair from the heartbreak of his sons abandoning him. A man, so concerned for his pregnant spouses well-being, he risks everything to gather medicine for her so she would make it (you can find both corpses). TLOU2s world is tragedy mixed with hope, woe and hopelessness.

I broke down the order of events to illustrate the only issue I had with the game, it's pacing. I've read countless reviews; ranging from people calling TLOU2 "Game of the Generation," to being tarnished as mediocre trash. Validation can be seen from both sides.

Story Analysis

(I lightly touch on story aspects, as to not write a synapses)

TLOU2 is split into four time-lines, that intersect merging into one (the present). The "Teen" sections are always a flashback to the past, with a corresponding "[Insert Amount of Time]s Ago."

Teen Ellie

These flashbacks show Joel and Ellie together; either scavenging for supplies or as a memory Ellie has of her surrogate father.

Adult Ellie

Present Day gameplay of Ellie. These event are titled "Jackson, Seattle Day 1-3, The Farm, Santa Barbara, The Farm (Epilogue)"

Teen Abby

These flashbacks show Abby with Owen and Jerry Anderson (her father). Events take place before and months after The Last of Us.

Adult Abby

Present Day gameplay of Abby. These events are titled "Jackson, Seattle Day 1-3, The Park, Santa Barbara."

Let's not talk about TLOU's endind and look at TLOU2 as a standalone unit. It starts off strong, very strong; strong enough that it cripples itself by coming off by it's intensity. Players waited seven years to return as Joel and Ellie; killing off Joel in the first two hours of play was bold. It was brutal, it was gruesome, it was emotional. Seeing Joel's death scene the first time left me feeling dread for the remainder of my day. "Depression the Game 2.0" was starting to leave it's mark.

Moments before Abbys' PGA Tour Debut, she was rescued by Joel and Tommy at a Ski Lodge. Hundreds of infected swarmed the Lodge, Abby suggested fleeing to where her crew was staying. The whole situation felt convenient and rushed. Having Ellie there to witness Joel's last moments was heartbreaking, which was a smart move. It helped set the player's mind-set towards hating Abby.

Ellie loses herself, traveling to Seattle, WA with reckless abandonment in pursuit of exacting her revenge for Joel's killer. Doing so, she kills hundreds of people, viciously, in pursuit of one person. Some of those kills are so macabre, it seems as if Ellie doesn't have any apathy for human life. Notably, the killing of Nora. Ellie drags her into an infected area, mask-less, slowly beating her to death when she finally catches her. The player is choice-less in doing this, adding the sense of Ellie's lack of humanity.

At the mid-point in TLOU2, it goes back three days to Abby's perspective, but does so moments and an encounter between Abby and Ellie. The rancor I felt after the screen faded black and returned with the caption "Seattle Day 1" was immense.

Abby is massively humanized in the second half of the game, extensively to a point where it seems like manipulation. An example; in the first half of the game Ellie's only interaction with dogs is the killing of them, during the latter, you get to play fetch. To put it bluntly, Ellie BAD, Abby GOOD. Which, looking at it objectively, is true; if not for fans of the series already having a seven year attachment to Ellie.

The second-half forces Abby into numerous near-death experiences that seemed "convenient" for the narrative. One incident has Abby (acrophobic) fall from a construction crane onto the top of a glass adorned skyscraper on for it to have a full swimming pool underneath, breaking her fall. Situations like that felt cliché, and while being massive spectacles, didn't add anything to the overall plot.

Yara and Lev are two characters that Abby encounter who save her life from their own people (Seraphites). Uncharacteristically, Abby throws herself in suicidal situation; like checking Seattle's Cordyceps Ground Zero for surgical equipment, just to save them. It provided amazing sections of game-play, but dragged on TLOU2's second half, when referenced to the narrative situationally, Abby's portion could have ended hours before it actually did.

Abby's story-half felt fluffed out with filler, but it does have some amazing set pieces, some of the most impressive moments in ND's career. Filler aside, she did develop a meaningful relationship with Lev which sets up the narrative for a Part III, emulating the relationship Ellie and Joel had prior to this release. Abby is well written as a character, but forcing the player to hate Abby for the first half really made it hard to care for her character; the manipulation to make the player care for her didn't really add much depth to her other than showcasing that she's human.

Ending Summary: Spoilers

I read/watched several reviews about TLOU2 ranging from hating it to calling it an outright masterpiece. Never have I played a game that left me confused as to how I felt about it's conclusion. Placing myself in Ellie's shoes, I wouldn't have walked from Jackson WY, to Santa Barbara CA on foot for over a month, almost dying in Las Vegas to let Abby go. I'm jumping ahead though.

Tommy, again, showed himself to be uncharacteristic; going to Ellie almost in a panic about information of Abby's whereabouts. At this point in the story I can understand his mannerisms more than the beginning of TLOU2. Abby not only killed his brother, but she left him a cripple at the conclusion of Seattle Day 3. Tommy deserved better than this as a character.

My previous statement set ups my final thoughts for TLOU2 as a whole. Despite it's filler in some parts of the story, and despite some of it's polarizing character development; TLOU2 showcases some truly believable characters in situations not for the squeamish. It makes you perform actions that are cripplingly disgusting, coercing you to perform actions that are of questionable moral standing.

I wanted Abby to die, I really did. Abby got her revenge at the beginning and Ellie turned into an neurotic mess. Ellie is solely responsible for killing all of Abby's loved-ones in her quest to avenge her surrogate father. She lost touch of her humanity after loss, and Abby gained hers back after several losses by saving Lev out his personal hell. Both of them didn't get what they deserved and all those killings, on both ends, were meaningless.

We'll have to wait till Part III to see the conclusion to Abby, Lev and the wandering vagabond tease by the New Game+ screen.........

Joel Miller

"And at the final moments, to look into Ellie’s eyes the best I can, that’s what I want to be the last thing I ever see, to look at something that makes me live." -SpacemanGray, excerpt from his fiction of Joel Miller's Final Moments. (the piece was lost to hard drive failure).

Joel Miller will go down in history as one of the most charismatic and well loved characters of the last two console generations. Miller is flawed, he is detached, he is human. The titular tale told in TLOU showed a broken father turned into arguably a villain, damning the human race so he could regain a sense of his life before 09/27/2013.

In saving Ellie he learned to live after 20 years of moral instability and "survivin'." I was personally left for seven years questioning Miller's choices in TLOU. He performed the most selfish act just to re-establish a sense of normalcy in the fucked up reality he lived in. I loved him for it. His compassion for one person showed no boundaries and he would literally do anything for a loved one.

Miller's death was gruesome, embarrassing and sudden. While his killer deserved their revenge, I will miss the simplicity and fervor to his character. To never see him in another title is saddening, but I will treasure his journey in TLOU, and his cameo in TLOU2 for years to come.