Intro
I finally got around to playing The Last of Us Part II about a week ago, and in the close to thirty hours that I spent playing it I had one of the best gaming experiences of my life. Since finishing it, I have been thinking about what it did right and where it could do better, and here I’m going to give you my unfiltered opinions on it.
You should keep in mind that this is all coming from someone working in the games industry, and my viewpoints by no means reflect those of the general audience video games usually target. That said, being able to make correct judgments about games and why they succeed or fail is something my livelihood depends on, so I am reasonably confident in the validity of my opinions.
Lastly, the reason it took me so long to play this game, even though I generally try my best to play any noteworthy game that comes out, is because of the poor reviews it got from players. I had mistakenly assumed that the majority of people didn’t like it, that it was a bad game, and had totally forgotten about one of the most severe issues the game industry is grappling with today: review bombing. I couldn’t have been more wrong. More on this later.
Story
In case you are worried about spoilers, let me tell you that there won’t be any. I don’t feel like I need to give away important plot points to talk about how good the story is.
Story is the pride of The Last of Us series. Story was the main selling point of the first part, and in the second one Naughty Dog successfully continues to push the boundaries of good storytelling in games. I’m not sure if it was THE best story I’ve come across in the world of entertainment, but even as a movie it would still have been a great story. As a game, though, it really raises the bar for what’s possible.
It picks up shortly after the end of the first game, and in many ways is a direct continuation of it. That said, I liked how much bolder the overall theme of the story had become. Instead of going for something innocent and safe like the father-daughter story of Part I, it deals with much more violence, negative and destructive emotions, and some truly “adult” issues that make it much darker in tone.
Throughout the story, there are many points where it’s clear the writers decided to make bold, new decisions as to where to take the game next. I fully support their decisions, however controversial some of those choices have been. What mattered most to me about these decisions was that the writers were trying to break away from the norms and safety of standard storytelling and what themes should and should not be discussed in a game. These decision were at the center of what some people hated about the game, and it’s understandable. What’s really sad is that a vocal minority then decided started a movement to destroy the popularity of the game, and somewhat succeeded—the game was subjected to one of the harshest instances of review bombing in the history of video games. All I can say is that I have deep respect for the developers of the game, for not playing it safe and actually trying to do something new.
There was just one part of the story that felt like a heavy-handed move by the writers, and which for me was the most negative thing about the game. At one of the most decisive and dramatic points in the story, it suddenly just cuts to a few days before and you are forced to play as another character not just briefly, but for several hours. It’s true that by doing that I became more emotionally invested in that character’s side of the story as well, and that in turn did set the stage for a great ending, but, nevertheless, the change of pace was too sudden and very unsatisfying. It was the only part in the game where I didn’t feel like continuing it.
The length of the game was another thing that continued to amazed me. Everything about the game was so impressive that every once in a few hours I thought that was it and there was no way they could have produced more content of this caliber in the couple of years that they had to build the game. I was surprised every time. The fact that they managed to make close to thirty hours of story of this quality is incredible. It’s important to note that the scale of the story was much broader than Part I, and it makes sense that the writers made more mistakes given the scope.
Last but not least, I really liked the ending and how everything came together. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, so you’ll just have to take my word for it, at least for now. Just know that it’s worth it.
Aesthetics
The Last of Us Part II, even though it came out in 2020, has unmatched graphics, period. There were certain points in the game where I felt I could take a screenshot and pass it off as real. The environments and the attention to detail is fantastic, but where the game truly shines is the realism of its characters.
The game’s graphics, and how a lot of players weren’t blown away by them, made me realize that we are now at an unfortunate point in the history of video games, where if you manage to get really close to reality, your graphics have a reasonable chance of just being called “good”, not taking into account how incredible a feat it really is to make a game look “real”. It seems players are starting to take for granted that AAA video games should look at least as good as movies.
The game’s music and sound design continue to be incredible. I also found it really enjoyable to listen to the game’s soundtrack while doing other things, just like I did with Part I. Also, the voice acting was of the highest quality I’ve seen in video games, and I found no issues with it. It made the story that much more believable.
Gameplay
One of the issues I had with Part I was the overall feel of the gameplay. It often felt repetitive, and I frequently found myself viewing it as a spin-off of Uncharted with a few gimmicky gameplay mechanics tacked on. Part II felt different. Even though I knew the story was still the main point of the game, I couldn’t help but deeply enjoy the gameplay and the combat. Unlike the first part, it actually felt very addictive, and could stand on its own even if there were no story. The inclusion of the “No Return” game mode—where you just fight enemies in waves in a roguelike fashion—is a testament to just how good the gameplay has become. It’s actually fun.
Closing Thoughts
The Last of Us Part II is THE most impressive game I’ve ever played. I only have respect and best wishes for the folks at Naughty Dog. They continue to push the boundaries of game development, and the whole industry benefits because of their work. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. It pains me to think how much more successful the game could have been if it hadn’t been for all the hate it received.
What we have here is one of the most impressive feats of video game creation in history, whose success has been badly damaged by hate and review bombing. If you look at the kind of reviews that have brought down the average score of the game on websites such as Metacritic—which at the moment shows an average user score of 5.8/10—you’ll see that a big part of them gave it an unbelievable 1 out of 10 just because they didn’t like a specific detail about the story. I believe part of it has to do with the fact that players have come to take games for granted, and don’t take into account what it takes to make an objectively good game of this scale. One particularly funny review gave it a 2 out of 10 instead of a 1, because “it otherwise has okay graphics”. Once you play the game for yourself, you’ll understand just how absurd these comments are. I hope we can find a cure for this problem, or the industry is going to continue to suffer from this disease.
Just play it. It’s incredible.
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