The Last of Us Part 2

Back in 2013, I was eagerly awaiting the release of two games - Bioshock Infinite, and The Last of Us. At a first run through both, it was Bioshock Infinite that stuck with me the most, entangling me in a mind mindbogglingly convoluted and meta-textual melange of parallel universes and commentary on the very nature of how gamers each have their own unique experience through a game. It also offered jaw dropping revelations impacting upon the series as a whole, which had my mind racing and reading forum after forum on the meanings.

The first The Last of Us game swiftly followed, and my initial response was somewhat muted. It had exceptionally polished gameplay, and motion capture acting that was second to none, but par for the course for developers Naughty Dog at that point (although never with the emotional depth and range as demonstrated in that game). However, I found the overall plot to be too episodic and the larger picture to be all too predictable. It was crushingly disappointing to have second guessed the reason why the protagonist's companion, Ellie, was so important being the fact she was immune to the cordycep pandemic that had eviscerated the globe's population, and that she may potentially hold answers to developing a cure. The plot was also highly episodic, with the objective always simply being to get Ellie across the USA to the Fireflies to see if they can create a cure, and this didn't particularly have me racing to find out how the story would unfold. Yes, there was certainly a lot more nuance in the closing moments of the game, but for whatever reason it failed to land its emotional punches when intended.

On a replay of the game I conceded that overall it was a better game than Bioshock Infinite, having more engaging gameplay, and crucially gameplay that sat in tandem with the story it wanted to tell. Bioshock Infinite on the other hand was hamstrung by fairly rote FPS mechanics that did little to inform the story around it. What I took away most from my second playthrough of The Last of Us was a keen interest in seeing the fallout of certain character choices play out in a sequel.

To that end, The Last of Us Part 2 delivers in spades. If you know me well, the fact that I am comparing the emotional impact and moral fallout that the writers of this game put upon its characters, and by extension you, to those gut wrenching closing of the greatest TV show ever made, Breaking Bad, should tell you all you need to know about how much praise I have for this game. Part 2 is a truly epic, mammoth, gruelling gauntlet of physical and emotional torture wrought upon its cast of broken protagonists (none of them qualify as heroes), that managed to get me blubbing like a baby by the end. There are some gameplay quibbles, but they are so minor, and the one that stuck out the most - that the game could do with an hour or two cut for pacing - is probably incorrect, as the sheer weight of the trauma brought down on the characters only makes the ending hit harder.

From a gameplay perspective, things have not been revolutionised from part 1, with Naughty Dog simply refining the general loop of explore a semi-open world, often with a companion providing character development, encounter a group of enemies, be they viscous humans, or the nightmarish infected, engage in brutal stealth-action combat with limited resources, and repeat to the next story beat. In and of itself, the pieces do not sound exemplary on paper but each key piece works in tandem with the other. Story and gameplay are so perfectly melded.

Through exploring the world, most often with one of several companions throughout the campaign, the game is rarely silent. Your character and companion will engage in discussions on the objective at hand, or simply comment on their surroundings. Again, nothing revolutionary but the skill in bringing these characters to life cannot be understated with the lead roles of Ellie and Joel, played by Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, matched with impeccable motion capture make them indistinguishable from live action actors.

At the centre of the plot is the cyclical nature of violence, and through the various combat encounters the game does not shy away from plunging your hands in the blood, bone, and gristle of this world. On the harder difficulties, combat can be unforgiving, your bullets hit enemies just as hard as they hit you, and when they aren't firing at you, they are unleashing savage hounds to tear you limb from limb. When you strike back at your human adversaries, their screams of pain are truly haunting, and their calls out to their friends when they realise you have just picked off another one, works to humanise them. The encounters with the infected remain mostly similar to those in the first game, although there are a few new strains of infected, with one showing up in an extended scene which set my pulse racing, and searching for the nearest exist for my character.

On the story front, the game completely rights the major criticism I had of the first game - predictability and a lack of mystery. Rather than a straight forward destination objective, your quest will take time to unravel, and when the twists come they are shocking. And I can now look back at the first game and realise that the emotional sucker punches wouldn't land as hard as they do if the relationships in the first game had not been so impeccably built up. Again, the gameplay here is key, to the point that I can't think of another art-form other than through a video game that would allow the makers to accurately convey their thesis on moral perspective and the slow and subtle descent into immorality  As discussed above, the major theme of the game is cyclical violence, whilst also being a sombre meditation on grief, regret, forgiveness, and the fleeting nature of life and opportunity that we have to connect with those around us, for better or worse.  The game managed to get my cynical tear ducts a bit leaky early on, and a scene at the end of the game had them on full blast. I can count the times that art has gotten me this emotional on a couple of fingers and for this reason alone, I can't praise this game enough.