The Last of Us Part II is an action-adventure game set five years after the events of The Last of Us. The player traverses post-apocalyptic environments such as buildings and forests to advance the story. They can use firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. The game intermittently switches control between Ellie and Abby, and also briefly Joel in the opening sequence. The nimble nature of the player character introduces platforming elements, allowing the player to jump and climb to traverse environments and gain advantages during combat.
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over hated. really fun gameplay
A weird game. The raw gameplay is exceptional and there are incredible character moments with Abby and Lev as well as during the few Joel and Ellie scenes we get, but ultimately the game fails for me thematically. The game fails to use its mechanics to tell its story in any kind of interesting way, shooting any kind of profound effect this game could have had on me in the foot.
Fun game. Story was ok. Definitely not worthy of goty though lmao
This review contains spoilers
Yeah this is not very good. And not because I hate Abby or because of Joels death. To be clear I don’t even like TLOU1. I thought it was boring; and for the exact same reasons I think this one is too. But at least TLOU1 had the stellar relationship of Joel and Ellie to fall back on, as well as it’s storytelling. TLOU2 has none of that.
There’s 3 parts to a TLOU game - gameplay, looting, and story. To start, the main reason i don’t like this game - gameplay. This was terrible in the first and is no different here. When you’re not watching a cutscene or fighting, you walk around slowly in rooms. Going up to every single wall and shelf and drawer and pressing triangle. Occasionally opening a safe with a code i read off a note left 6 feet away. Looting is like 1/3 of this entire game and all I am doing is pressing triangle to pick up a pair of scissors 300 times.
Another 1/3, is when I’m fighting. And when I’m fighting, I am crawling around the edges of the arena, or crouching behind a piece of cover and shooting someone in the head before just relocating. Not to mention there are always like 40 guys looking for me for some reason. This gameplay is so slow and unexciting, and if you’re not bored of it by the 3rd hour, you will be by the 20th. I just don’t see the appeal of this. If I wanted stealth, or shooting, or puzzles - there are like a trillion games that do these things better. So again, same problems as the first game, but at least I could grow with 1’s characters with the last 1/3 that makes up of The TLOU formula.
But the Last of Us 2 just flops in this aspect too. Completely inconsistent, nonsensical writing that clashes with its core themes time and time again. Again, this is not because of Joel’s death which so many fans seems to claim is an attack on themselves personally. I do not particularly care for this character due to my lack of love for the first game. In fact, I think the death was necessary for the story to move forward. It makes sense for his arc, his consequences, and adds a great drive and hook. But the way it’s done is not clever, or satisfying, or even ‘realistic’- its shock value. Ellie then goes on to get revenge. And in her revenge she kills all of Abby’s friends. Slaughters 100s of people in her way - a lot of them innocent and uninvolved - and then when she finally has her chance to kill the one she hates, she lets her go. It just doesn’t make sense narratively. She’s obviously furious and will stop at nothing, and then just….decides to stop, at nothing. To stop the cycle of revenge? She just killed many people minutes before reaching Abby. Do none of these people have loved ones that now want to go after Ellie? Ugh it’s just so forced, messy and inane.
Not to mention Abby’s story is pretty bad. You play as her in a flashback throughout the time of Ellie’s quest. And during it, the game shows me all of her friends and literally none of them (bar Lev) are likeable. And even if they were, why would I care? I killed them all 6 hours ago. Surely it would make more sense for me to get to know them in Abby’s campaign BEFORE killing them all as Ellie when I do not know them and as a result their deaths would hold some emotional weight??
In fact, it feels like the structure of this game is all completely wrong and thrown together. The pacing is just terrible. Play as Ellie, then Abby, now Ellie when she’s 15, now Ellie present, now 17yo Ellie, and back to present Ellie. It’s jarring. Not to mention the most erratic pacing jerk i’ve ever felt - in getting to Ellie’s conclusion of the story, where tension is highest, just to be ripped back to Abby 3 days ago where she is just walking around picking up sandwiches. This sucks gameplay wise too- making all of your progress in Ellie’s weapons and upgrades be reset, and then this happens AGAIN later on.
And this decision to swap to Abby isn’t justified with an interesting side to her story. It literally starts with her crying over some guy called Danny, who I think i’m supposed to care about? Then proceed to chase after and have sex with a man who is actually the boyfriend to a pregnant woman. And after that we get involved with a war between a militia and cult for some reason. It’s not explained why this war is even occurring. Hell, the group leaders don’t even get any screen time or development. It’s just a thing that is happening. The only interesting part of Abby’s story is when she finally intersects with Ellie. Compare these random events with TLOU1’s crafted, purposeful story, or even the best TLOU2 side character with literally any TLOU1 side character, and it’s all terribly meaningless.
I can see what they’re going for here with the dual, clashing protagonists, and it’s interesting. But it just misses the mark on literally everything for me narratively, and the exploration and combat is still just as bad as ever. Please just play Metal Gear Solid 3 if you want a great stealth shooter that tackles consequences for your actions.
At the very least - this game is beautiful. It’s gorgeous, wonderfully acted, incredibly accessible, and has a great score too. However, part of me feels it’s a little too good looking. Knowing Naughty Dog has employees sleeping in the office for weeks at a time with their awful crunch culture, just for rope physics to be shockingly realistic, or gun upgrade animations to be borderline fetishistic. It’s not worth it. The game doesn’t need these things, and it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth if anything. It really is true that people want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who work less and are paid more.
I’ll never understand what people see in Naughty Dog games. The only reason I bought this was because I love the HBO show adaptation of the first game. And now I don’t have much to look forward to.
There’s 3 parts to a TLOU game - gameplay, looting, and story. To start, the main reason i don’t like this game - gameplay. This was terrible in the first and is no different here. When you’re not watching a cutscene or fighting, you walk around slowly in rooms. Going up to every single wall and shelf and drawer and pressing triangle. Occasionally opening a safe with a code i read off a note left 6 feet away. Looting is like 1/3 of this entire game and all I am doing is pressing triangle to pick up a pair of scissors 300 times.
Another 1/3, is when I’m fighting. And when I’m fighting, I am crawling around the edges of the arena, or crouching behind a piece of cover and shooting someone in the head before just relocating. Not to mention there are always like 40 guys looking for me for some reason. This gameplay is so slow and unexciting, and if you’re not bored of it by the 3rd hour, you will be by the 20th. I just don’t see the appeal of this. If I wanted stealth, or shooting, or puzzles - there are like a trillion games that do these things better. So again, same problems as the first game, but at least I could grow with 1’s characters with the last 1/3 that makes up of The TLOU formula.
But the Last of Us 2 just flops in this aspect too. Completely inconsistent, nonsensical writing that clashes with its core themes time and time again. Again, this is not because of Joel’s death which so many fans seems to claim is an attack on themselves personally. I do not particularly care for this character due to my lack of love for the first game. In fact, I think the death was necessary for the story to move forward. It makes sense for his arc, his consequences, and adds a great drive and hook. But the way it’s done is not clever, or satisfying, or even ‘realistic’- its shock value. Ellie then goes on to get revenge. And in her revenge she kills all of Abby’s friends. Slaughters 100s of people in her way - a lot of them innocent and uninvolved - and then when she finally has her chance to kill the one she hates, she lets her go. It just doesn’t make sense narratively. She’s obviously furious and will stop at nothing, and then just….decides to stop, at nothing. To stop the cycle of revenge? She just killed many people minutes before reaching Abby. Do none of these people have loved ones that now want to go after Ellie? Ugh it’s just so forced, messy and inane.
Not to mention Abby’s story is pretty bad. You play as her in a flashback throughout the time of Ellie’s quest. And during it, the game shows me all of her friends and literally none of them (bar Lev) are likeable. And even if they were, why would I care? I killed them all 6 hours ago. Surely it would make more sense for me to get to know them in Abby’s campaign BEFORE killing them all as Ellie when I do not know them and as a result their deaths would hold some emotional weight??
In fact, it feels like the structure of this game is all completely wrong and thrown together. The pacing is just terrible. Play as Ellie, then Abby, now Ellie when she’s 15, now Ellie present, now 17yo Ellie, and back to present Ellie. It’s jarring. Not to mention the most erratic pacing jerk i’ve ever felt - in getting to Ellie’s conclusion of the story, where tension is highest, just to be ripped back to Abby 3 days ago where she is just walking around picking up sandwiches. This sucks gameplay wise too- making all of your progress in Ellie’s weapons and upgrades be reset, and then this happens AGAIN later on.
And this decision to swap to Abby isn’t justified with an interesting side to her story. It literally starts with her crying over some guy called Danny, who I think i’m supposed to care about? Then proceed to chase after and have sex with a man who is actually the boyfriend to a pregnant woman. And after that we get involved with a war between a militia and cult for some reason. It’s not explained why this war is even occurring. Hell, the group leaders don’t even get any screen time or development. It’s just a thing that is happening. The only interesting part of Abby’s story is when she finally intersects with Ellie. Compare these random events with TLOU1’s crafted, purposeful story, or even the best TLOU2 side character with literally any TLOU1 side character, and it’s all terribly meaningless.
I can see what they’re going for here with the dual, clashing protagonists, and it’s interesting. But it just misses the mark on literally everything for me narratively, and the exploration and combat is still just as bad as ever. Please just play Metal Gear Solid 3 if you want a great stealth shooter that tackles consequences for your actions.
At the very least - this game is beautiful. It’s gorgeous, wonderfully acted, incredibly accessible, and has a great score too. However, part of me feels it’s a little too good looking. Knowing Naughty Dog has employees sleeping in the office for weeks at a time with their awful crunch culture, just for rope physics to be shockingly realistic, or gun upgrade animations to be borderline fetishistic. It’s not worth it. The game doesn’t need these things, and it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth if anything. It really is true that people want shorter games with worse graphics made by people who work less and are paid more.
I’ll never understand what people see in Naughty Dog games. The only reason I bought this was because I love the HBO show adaptation of the first game. And now I don’t have much to look forward to.
I hate this with a passion.
910/1000