The tricky-second-album problem has always been an issue for game designers and never has this been more apparent than with The Last Of Us franchise. The original took the gaming community by storm way back in 2013 with both critics and users alike singing its praises across the review sphere. It’s a rare thing for the second installment of a franchise to outshine the first. So did The Last Of Us – Part 2 attain the same dizzying heights as its predecessor? Well unfortunately that’s not as simple as a yes or no. In its first month the internet has been flooded with you-tubers and the like raging both for and against the sequel. One thing seems for sure though, there is no middle ground. There’s a marmite joke in there somewhere but let’s not go there…
To truly understand TLOU2 we need to first examine why the original game was so widely adored. The survival-horror genre appeared to be waning somewhat as the Resident Evils and Bioshocks of the world were no longer bringing anything new to the table. Not to say there wasn’t still a huge fanbase for those games, but originality was lacking. Then along game Joel and Ellie. Naughty Dog’s gambit at bringing a grounded and visceral quality to the genre with a heavy focus on story and character, not something usually prioritised by developers. Sure, everyone appreciates a decent story but for many gamers, myself included, it was always secondary to the gameplay itself. However, TLOU brought soul and depth to the characters we inhabit and consequently, as their relationship grew, so did our emotional attachment to it. This put an entirely new spin on the gaming experience. It became less about simply beating the game in pursuit of that completist satisfaction and more about rooting for our protagonists along their enemy infested journey, desperately wanting to see how their story unfolded. The further you got, the more you wanted to play, not because of its addictive playability (which is undeniable) but because the narrative was so compelling you simply had to know what came next. Like a book you can’t put down. A binge-worthy TV series. TLOU was the gaming equivalent. Plus the gameplay served to compound the realism of the story by throwing us into fights against one-hit-kill enemies with little-to-no ammo, limited resources and all of this taking place in a confined environment. The brutal kill animations when you succumb to the onslaught are, to put it mildly, wince-inducing. Add to this the precision world-building and refreshing take on the apocalypse and you have yourself the game of the decade. This isn’t a game you play, it’s one you experience. You feel every kill, every character beat, every moment of relief as the action temporarily relents. Seven Years Later…
June 19th 2020 brought us the long-anticipated sequel. For years fans have been chomping at the bit to see what the next chapter had in store for Joel and Ellie. In this time, Naughty Dog drip-fed hints and teasers to keep everyone guessing. Now we finally have our answer and as you’ve probably gathered from our star rating, it’s everything we wanted and more. When I first sat down to dive into this game I felt a mix of nerves and excitement. Not being a particularly robust horror fan I toyed with the idea of playing it on normal difficulty. But where’s the fun in that? So I closed my eyes, held my breath, selected hard mode and began the game that would prove to be the most exciting, exhilarating and downright exhausting games I’ve ever had the pleasure to play.
Our beloved pair are a few years older this time around, Ellie being a young woman and Joel really starting to show his age. Their lives in the Wyoming-based city of Jackson are, to a degree, peaceful. Commerce and community are gently beginning to flourish and with a fortified base, the only real threat these days is a few packs of Infected roaming the outskirts which Joel and Ellie, among others, clear out during patrols. One, seemingly normal, patrol is where our story begins. We flit between playable characters regularly as the game routinely drops contextual beats through conversations and cutscenes but still maintains a heavy layer of mystery. After a powerful introduction, the real game starts. Playing as Ellie, we leave Jackson behind and with her long-time crush Dina, we make haste to Seattle. Dina and Ellie bounce off each other beautifully and it’s through their interactions we can slowly piece together the bigger picture of Jackson and the wider world. The game boasts a host of new characters, all of which have the depth and complexity we’ve come to expect. Of course our favourites (namely Tommy and Joel) reprise their roles, but the focus is very much on Ellie and her journey, much to the dismay of a select group of ‘fans’. I have to applaud Naughty Dog for sticking two fingers up to the homophobic misogynists of the gaming community (of whom there are many) and giving us a character that feels real. Deeply flawed, complex and jaded, Ellie is a shining example of why we don’t need to play as an angry white guy in order to relate to a character.
The difference in console plays a big part in the experiential nature of the game. My PS4 sounded like it was about to take off when I first booted it up but after cranking the volume on the TV and tuning into the opening scenes, the frantic fan noise wasn’t an issue. It does however demonstrate how much juice this game is demanding, and if you have eyes, then you know why. This is the best looking game I’ve ever played. The attention to detail that Naughty Dog have become renowned for is on full display here. Each environment has a unique and distinct feel composed through diverse colour palettes, creative decay and subtle passive animations as Ellie interacts with her surroundings – Footprints in the snow, the sway of a leaf as she brushes past a bush, the splash of a puddle as she runs through the rain. This meticulous construction feeds into the legitimacy of the game and helps the player remain absorbed in the action for the whole session.
Such thoroughness is also present in the sound design and score which not only adds to the differentiation between locations, but this game simply wouldn’t carry the same heft without such masterful audio. You can almost feel the weight of the rain, the kick of a shotgun, the terrifying scream of a clicker. The sound design is accompanied by a powerful score, drawing a good deal from the first game’s gentle guitar and voice soundtrack (this time we hear our characters actually perform some bangers) but also adding some darker, set-back score to create tension. I said before this game is exhausting and an essential part of that is the relentless pulsing that lies underneath the sound effects during encounters. It doesn’t allow you to rest and you can feel the uncertainty in your stomach.
And we haven’t even talked about the gameplay…
This is where TLOU2 really shines and for me, claims its place among the greatest games of all time. There is a slickness and fluidity baked into every aspect. From stealth to firefights. From climbing and jumping (yes there’s a jump button this time) to the fan-favourite activity of scavenging for resources. Every element from the first game remains but is enhanced. Refined. Crafting becomes fundamental to success and with more options of what to craft, deciding how to use your ingredients is a nerve-wracking choice. Do you use the rag you just found to help create a silencer, health kit or molotov cocktail? Not knowing what lies around the corner means you could make a molotov when you really needed a silencer. All of these realistic intricacies complement the grounded nature that Naughty Dog have painstakingly constructed. Additionally, there are plenty of new (and really fucking fun) weapons to get to grips with and with the return of the work-benches, you can upgrade and customise them to suit your play-style. Add scopes so you can pick off foes from a distance or increase ammo capacity for those close-quarter skirmishes. Either way, like the first game, there aren’t enough parts to be found to fully upgrade more than one or two weapons so your choices will have a permanent effect going forward. Choose wisely. Or choose unwisely and somehow muddle your way through by the skin of your teeth like me…
Unsurprisingly, the infected prove to be some of the most challenging enemies in the game with new classes such as the Shambler, emitting toxic gasses as you desperately scramble to keep your distance. As before, Infected can hear you if you’re not careful and especially if you use non-silenced weapons, so deciding between stealth and force is a perpetual question. It’s worth noting that playing it on hard seems to lean more into the stealth elements. Getting spotted usually means getting outnumbered, whether against Infected or humans. Speaking of which, there are some interesting new factions introduced this time round and we learn about them through the lenses of various characters, each with their own perspective and biases. The different groups all have their own distinct approach to combat. Whether they use dogs to sniff out your trail, forcing you to keep moving, or they make use of arrows that can impale and continuously damage you if you don’t take the time to treat the wound. And if, like me, you feel so inclined, you can find and read notes that contextualise these new factions and demonstrate the moral ambiguity of their newly-formed ideologies in an elegant and authentic way.
Lastly, it would be rude not to talk about the performances because without such an outstanding cast, these games just wouldn’t be the same. Troy baker and Ashley Johnson reprise their roles as Joel and Ellie and both deliver exquisite, emotionally vulnerable performances (as if we expected anything less). It’s not all down to our leads though, supporting characters also take on some of the emotional heavy lifting with Shannon Woodward and Stephen Chang voicing Dina and Jesse respectively, Ellie’s friends and co-habitants of Jackson. There are also some impeccable turns by a handful of others but to talk about them would be to wander into spoiler territory.
Ruling – I could go on and on about this game and I’ve only done the one play through. I imagine on a second run I’d uncover more hidden depths that I missed the first time. Suffice to say The Last Of Us – Part 2 is nothing short of a masterpiece. The gameplay is exceptional, the audio-visual experience, unparalleled. It’s layered, morally challenging, heart-breaking and raw. A game saturated with ugly themes of rage, hate and revenge. If you thought the first game was dark, you ain’t seen nothing yet.