Nostalgia Factor:
The original Last of Us is widely renowned as one of the greatest video games ever made. I've played through it three times now, most recently a few years ago when I gave it a glowing A+ review. I didn't ever expect there to be a sequel, but I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the announcement back in 2016.
In the months leading up to the game's 2020 release date, plot leaks and spoilers hit the internet. Everywhere you looked, people were sounding off on what they thought of The Last of Us Part II. I miraculously managed to avoid these spoilers, so I entered my 2021 playthrough of the game not knowing what to expect. All I knew was that on one hand the game was controversial and had polarized many fans of the original game - while on the other hand it raked in several Game of the Year titles and was overall praised by most major gaming news outlets.
What side would I stand on? Well, that is what this review is for.
As always, I don't shy away from spoilers in my reviews so if you haven't played this game yet and don't want to know what happens, you may want to come back and read this at a later time.
Story:
The Last of Us Part II takes place several years after the events of its predecessor. Joel and Ellie are living in a community in Wyoming, which you may recognize as Joel's brother Tommy's settlement from the original game. Things have expanded quite a bit. This is a community full of friends and family, and the characters are as close to knowing peace as they have in years. That all changes when Joel and Tommy disappear on a scouting mission. Ellie knows something is up, as it is unusual for Joel to not check in like that. She races off to his last known whereabouts.
Ellie arrives just in time to see Joel getting his head beat in with a golf club by a strong, muscular woman named Abby. Ellie and Tommy try fight these mysterious attackers, but they are helplessly outnumbered. The attackers claim they are only there for Joel, and after he is dead, they depart - leaving a grief-stricken Tommy and Ellie in their wake.
The next day, the attackers are identified by their badges as members of the WLF - a freedom fighting organization similar to the Fireflies that is based out of Seattle. Tommy leaves to track these killers down and get revenge. Ellie and her girlfriend Dina chase after him to lend their support. The first major section of the game is Ellie and Dina arriving in Seattle, where they try to track Tommy's whereabouts and see if he has any leads on the killers.
Ellie and Dina get caught up in a war between the WLF and a cult called the Seraphites - a religious group that sneaks around in silence and disavows use of technology or anything from the "old world". Our heroines take shelter in an abandoned theater, where Dina tells Ellie she is pregnant. Dina's ex, Jesse, arrives at the theater. Apparently, he had been following Ellie and Dina all the way from Wyoming. Ellie and Jesse head out to track down Abby, leaving the pregnant Dina to rest at the theater by herself.
Long story short, they don't catch Abby but they find her last known location where they are forced to kill two of Abby's known associates - one of them a pregnant woman. Injured in the battle, Jesse and Ellie return to the theater only for Abby to show up, kill Jesse, and attack Ellie and Dina.
Then the game cuts away from present events to take us to the past. That's right, all of a sudden we find ourselves in control of the game's villain - Abby.
Controlling Abby, we wander around the WLF camp which is a lot more organized than we are led to believe. Abby goes out on a mission to find a man named Owen, who has vanished. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that Owen discovered an abandoned aquarium and likes to hang out there. He and Abby have a romantic past, although now he has a new woman who is very jealous and also very pregnant (hint hint - she's the one later killed by Ellie). These flashbacks also reveal Abby in a different light. She's not just some monster who killed Joel - she is a caring and emotional person with a troubled past. Her father was the doctor that Joel killed to save Ellie's life at the end of the first game. All of a sudden, her quest for revenge becomes a lot more understandable and sympathetic.
Abby is captured by the Seraphites (or Scars - as the characters in the game call them) but is rescued by two kids/young adults named Yara and Lev. Yara and Lev were Seraphites themselves but were cast out of the group when Lev shaved her head and began identifying as a man to avoid an arranged marriage. Abby takes Yara and Lev to the aquarium with her, where they find Owen who is alive and well, but getting ready to leave Seattle to head to California where rumor has it the Fireflies are reassembling. Lev and Abby leave to find medical supplies which are needed to help amputate Yara's broken arm. They return and the amputation is successful, but when they catch wind of a WLF attack on the Seraphites' home base, Lev runs off to try and save his mother.
Yara and Abby take off after him, only to get caught up in a giant battle between the Wolves and the Scars. Lev is forced to kill his devoutly religious mother when she attacks him for betraying the Seraphites. Yara is killed helping Abby and Lev escape - which kind of makes the whole trip to the hospital and trip to the island seem somewhat irrelevant, but whatever.
Abby and Lev return to the aquarium to find Owen and his pregnant girlfriend slaughtered. A bloodied map leading to a theater is the only clue left behind. You see where this is going, right?
Abby and Ellie's paths merge in an epic smackdown at the theater. Abby wins, but decides to let Elli and Dina go when she finds out Dina is pregnant. Got to set a good example for Lev, right?
I thought this would be the end of the game because it fast forwards to the future where Ellie and Dina have returned to Wyoming and live on a ranch by themselves (and Dina's new baby). But nope, the story rolls on. Tommy shows up to tell Ellie that Abby has once again been spotted - this time in California. Ellie deliberates, but haunted by the PTSD brought on by Abby's actions in her life, she decides to leave Dina and the baby behind on her quest for revenge.
Abby is trying to find traces of the Firefly movement, which was rumored by her late friend Owen to have started up again in California. She and Lev are captured by a terrifying group of violent, slave owning bandits known as Rattlers. Ellie arrives just in time to save them after they've been tied to poles and left to rot. Not satisfied on her revenge tour, Ellie forces Abby to fight her by threatening an unconscious Lev. Abby and Ellie engage in a brutal, violent battle that leaves Ellie with two fingers bitten off and Abby nearly drowned and with multiple stab wounds.
Ellie just up and decides that this circle of violence is all pointless, and leaves Abby and Lev behind. They disappear in a boat, presumably to resume their hunt for the Fireflies. Ellie returns home, only to find that Dina has packed up her things and left. Ellie finds her old guitar and forlornly thinks of Joel while strumming a few cords with her injured hand.
The game ends.
Gameplay:
If you've played the first game, you shouldn't have a hard time picking this one up. It handles almost exactly the same. One major difference is that the stealth mechanics have been refined. Also, things are a bit more "open world" this time around. An area early in the game has you checking out locations on a map trying to explore everything and figure out where to go next. But overall, this is still a pretty linear game.
You run around, you explore, you go from point A to point B to advance the story. Expect a lot of walking and a lot of talking. Not gonna lie, I was a bit bored from time to time as I played this game. I'm all for immersion and good character development but sometimes you just got to pick up the pace to keep people entertained. This game definitely has some pacing issues.
Combat is fun and challenging. I enjoyed adapting my strategies as I went from human enemies to non-human ones. There's something inherently satisfying about picking off enemies one by one. Even if they see you, you can find a place to hide until they stop looking for you. Then I'd pop out and do the same thing over again. Just getting involved in straight up firefights is very satisfying too. There are a lot of ways to tackle this game's combat and no particular way is considered right or wrong. It's up to you to decide how you want to play.
I can't say the combat didn't get repetitive though. Every time I'd enter a big open area with lots of small hiding places I'd think - here we go again. It was obvious a big fight was coming. And there are SO MANY fights in this game that they started to become a bit dull after a while. You can only do the same thing so many times over and over again before it begins to get boring.
Boring is never a word you want to hear when playing a game. I was really invested in the stories of Ellie and Abby and I was always on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. But the problem is that the game oftentimes takes way too long to get there. And it really got in the way of my enjoyment of this title.
Graphics:
I have nothing to complain about here. This is truly a fantastic looking game. I've been blessed to play such gorgeous games lately, namely this one and the Resident Evil 3 remake. They may be two of the best-looking games I have ever played. The characters look great. It is easy to forget these aren't real people as you're playing. They are so realistic, well portrayed, and brought to life so wonderfully.
The environments steal the show, however. The level of detail that went into this game is just amazing. Entire cities and neighborhoods are brought to life with astonishing detail. If you ever wanted to see what the world would look like after an apocalyptic event, you need look no further than this game. The mix of old businesses and buildings overrun with wildlife and decay is truly a thing to behold. The interiors of the game are just SO well detailed. Some of these locations look like they could have been lived in or occupied by real people - down to the dishes in the kitchen and the posters on the walls.
Not only does the game look astonishing, it is very atmospheric as well. The feeling of dread as you walk around in an abandoned building with nothing but a flashlight is hard to put into words. I'd suggest playing this in the dark with headphones on. You will lose yourself in the world of this game.
Sound:
Naughty Dog spared no expense when it came to the presentation of this game. Everything I said about the graphics rings true for the sound as well. The characters are brought to life by some truly remarkable voice acting. Joel, Ellie, Abby, and all of their friends and enemies feel like real, breathing people. I can't offer enough praise for this game's cast. Whether they are talking, fighting, singing, or just shooting the shit - they are all super believable as characters.
The sound effects match the atmosphere created by the game's visuals. When you're in a dark underground tunnel - it SOUNDS like you are in a dark underground tunnel. Water dripping from the ceiling, the splashing sound as you run through a puddle, the growl of a nearby enemy. This is all A+ stuff. I love how the NPCs communicate as well, calling out the names of their fallen comrades in battle. The Seraphites and their coordinated whistling while they stalk you through the playing field helps to create a harrowing experience as well.
The music is subtle but effective. Honestly, this game doesn't really have any iconic or memorable musical tracks like a Final Fantasy or Resident Evil game. But it isn't trying to, either. This game is all about atmosphere, and I would say it succeeds immensely in that regard.
Overall:
This is a great game. There is no way around it. The graphics are amazing, the characters are well-written, the story takes you places you're horrified but also thrilled to go. And mainly - it is a ton of fun to play. This is not a flawless game, however. I already mentioned the pacing issues, the repetitive combat, and the fact that I got bored from time to time. Don't expect me to give this game a perfect score because I am not going to.
But it is still a great game. I didn't realize how all-consuming this title was, how much it had gotten into my head until I had finished playing it. My mind kept coming back to Ellie and Abby, and where they were going to go and what they were going to do next. I couldn't stop thinking about the game. I wanted more more more content from the wonderful and dark universe of The Last of Us. To me that is a sign that a game is truly a great one when it gets in your head like that.
I'm not going to say this game is flawless, but I am not going to say it's not exceptional either. And clocking in at about 25 hours or so to complete (I'm very thorough and check out EVERYTHING), I'd say it is well worth the price of admission. I plan to come back to both this game and its predecessor at some point in the next few years... maybe before part three comes out. Please let there be a part three. Hey, I can hope, right?
Final Score:
A
