The Last of Us Part II

2025-09-20
I don't think a game has ever made me feel true hatred before The Last of Us Part II. I'm not talking about wanting to throw your controller through the TV because "Mario just won't fucking jump right! FUCK!" No I mean a deep, powerful loathing you feel in your core that threatens to turn off your higher order mental functions and unleash that terrifying chimp rage that lies dormant in all of us. And that's not even Part II's chief accomplishment. No, that's the first step in its dance. To rile you up so it might knock you off your feet because, what's this, that character I wanted to destroy I now understand? I...empathize with? The chimp and I trade places, again and again. I am smart and I am dumb and I am happy and I am sad and I crave blood and I seek forgiveness.

It is that perspective shifting that is Part II's greatest tool that elevates it from the first game's by-the-numbers Man On Fire (2004)-esque "father-daughter against the world" plot into something that zooms out much further to explore a whole cast of characters with conflicting and interweaving thoughts, feelings, and motivations. Of communities across an entire country over time. That's its able to juggle all of these and still make me spend a solid 30 minutes purposefully trying to kill off a character is insane to me. And it's for these reasons, whether you like what happens along the way or not, it is a landmark game.

And while the gameplay definitely took a backseat to the story for me, it was so much improved over the original that I was having a blast committing human rights violations waiting for the next plot beat to hit. Ahh that incredibly adequate stealth paired with gunplay with the most horrifically wonderful feedback of body part damage, sound effects, and voice acting coming from everything living you shoot at. To think that people had to work brutal overtime hours just so I could see 100 permutations of people and dogs with bullet holes and limbs blown off, and various states of singed flesh. It's enough to bring a tear to my eye (happy tears). Genuinely this might be the apex of dog murder in video games. Shooting off the arm of some unwashed dude who looks like he stumbled out of REI and then listening to him scream as he bleeds out is really just Excellent Stuff. Oh and let's not forget the emergent nature of AI where you stealthily shoot someone with an arrow, hear them start screaming, followed by their partners all yelling out and communicating with each other to figure out what just happened, and ultimately trying to figure out where you are. At times it reminded me of the best parts of original Halo or Max Payne 2 where you'd want to restart the same encounter over and over just to see how it could play out. But fundamentally as much as this stuff is great, I was really here for the story and eventually just turned the difficulty down to the bottom so I wouldn't get slowed down.

Ok let's jump into the spoiler zone with some of my favorite moments.

In general I really liked Dina and Ellie's relationship. They're such a fitting pair and their little jokes and Dina's love of and caring for Ellie is super heartwarming. The final scene with Joel where he says he'd do it all over again and Ellie says she'd try to forgive him is beautiful and had me tearing up. Isaac getting shot by Yara is great. Mel being a huge piece of shit and then getting killed while pregnant is great (lol get rekt, noob and noob jr). The flashback at the museum with Joel. The hats on the dinosaurs. Him giving her the perfect gift of the tape recording of the Apollo 11 liftoff. Beautiful. The scene where Ellie wrestles Nora to the underground portion of the hospital and Nora immediately gets infected from the spores and Ellie is fine. Incredibly cool as Ellie walks up with no mask on and Nora realizes she’s fucking with The Last of Us’ Neo. And then when Ellie just brutally murders her. Love it. One of those moments I'd be fist pumping in the theater like a dumb idiot. And at a high level, while it is a pretty grimdark tale of two characters where no one wins, there is some redemption for both which I love.

It's not without its problems. The retcon of Marlene to make her seem like she cared for Ellie's life was bullshit. I had just replayed 1 and everything she says in this game is at odds with what she says and does in the previous one. I know why they did it, to make Joel's actions seem that much more deranged and Abby's subsequent revenge that much more justified, but it still feels like horseshit. Don’t forget the tedious boss fights where you either stealth around and get potshot melee attacks off or have to counter in a specific pattern to progress.

And finally, maybe the most egregious, is the story being written in such a way that you have to do things that you as the player likely would never want to do. They spend the whole game warming you up to Ellie and Abby and then at two separate points force you to try and kill the other one. I would openly just try to walk away or not press the fight button and was either rewarded with the game basically being stuck or the game killing me. It just feels really shitty. And, you know, maybe that's pointing towards that I kind of disagree with how grim the story is. I feel like in reality a lot of these characters would have cut their ties and made their peace. I don't really buy that Ellie needed to go off and hunt Abby down. And even if she did, when she finds her in that state why wouldn't she make her peace. It's insane that she would have any desire to kill this husk of a human who's been enslaved and tortured for months.

For me these amounted to little more than speed bumps along the way of a truly epic, dog-blood filled journey. In a way I'm a little sad that the narrative is so good because it means it's a game I probably will never return to. But then it's because it's one I never need to return to.

2025-09-12
Include video of me trying to kill whats her face by throwing her off roof. Say what a monumental success it was in stirring up conflict in the player. what a journey it is. and murdering people feels great. I question anyone who dislikes it as someone who tried to meet it on its terms and went in expecting one thing and got another. The entire thing they were going against. Though it’s popular media it’s not popcorn chewing media for the masses. People try to dress up their disdain by saying it’s revenge porn and they’re missing the entire thing. Sad!

Lot of bad faith takes and reviews. Annoying it was a lightning rod. I avoided playing for a while due to this. Even more annoying it still is.

Compare people liking RDR2 to disliking LOU2. They do similar things and yet people love one and hate the other. Some percentage be bigots. Bad faith.

Maybe acknowledge this stuff being a thing quickly then give my take.

Good screencaps from reddit. Either they’re stupid. They just want simplier, happier stories. They actually give it a fair shake and didn’t like grimdark and/or pacing whatever. Or they like it.

Say you relish that the dumbest people on earth will say TLOU1 is better than TLOU2.

??? (2022?)
What a wild ride of a tale. And really that's why you should play this game. Because sure the gameplay is pretty fun. Basic platforming and puzzles, some upgraded gunplay and stealth over the original but fundamentally I just turned the difficulty down to the bottom so I wouldn't get slowed down with the story. Because it's an epic story.

I initially actually wanted to bounce off. First because they almost immediately kill off Joel. And in an incredibly brutal fashion. And beforehand and afterwards they make you play as the person who kills him. Now of course this is the point but I just really hated it. I had just replayed The Last of Us and my love of Joel was strong. It felt emotionally manipulative. But then you get back into playing Ellie and start to get the release of getting revenge on killing tons and tons of WLF and I found joy again. You get to find out bits and pieces about the rise of the WLF as well as furthering the relationship between Dina and Ellie, with finding out Dina is pregnant. You get to learn about the fucked up situation in Seattle with the Scars slowly being alluded to and then expanded upon. And it's good.

And then Abby shows up again fucks everything up and THEN you have to play has her again! What the fuck?! I throw up my hands and then I start playing again. And you know what? They did a fucking excellent job fleshing out this group of friends who came to hunt down (and brutally murder Joel) and you can fucking understand why. I mean the writing is so wonderful. Almost every characters is so drawn out and fully realized you could imagine having a conversation with them.

Some of my favorite moments? In general I really liked Dina and Ellie's relationship. They're such a fitting pair and their little jokes and Dina's love of and caring for Ellie is super heartwarming. The final scene with Joel where he says he'd do it all over again and Ellie says she'd try to forgive him is beautiful and had me tearing up. Isaac getting shot is by Yara is great. Mel being a huge piece of shit and then getting killed while pregnant is great (get fucked noob). The flashback at the museum with Joel. The hats on the dinosaurs. Him giving her the perfect gift of the tape recording of the Apollo 11 liftoff. Beautiful. The scene where Ellie wrestles Nora to the underground portion of the hospital and she immediately gets infected from the spores and Ellie is fine. Incredibly cool as she walks up with no mask on Nora realizes who the hell she is. And then when Ellie just brutally murders her. Love it.

Yes it's truly an epic tale for both characters in a grimdark world where no one wins but there is some redemption for both of them which is great.

I've skipped over the gameplay but I will say it is very fun as always. Blowing the heads off enemies just never gets old. The sheer gore and viscera is wild. That and the emergent gameplay that kicks off when you have Infected meeting with WLF or Seraphites is fantastic.

Oh and I haven't even touched on that this is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. I mean Naughty Dog just is a powerhouse of making these absurdly gorgeous environments. And I think Matthew Castle said this but it's amazing what they'll build to basically throw away. Case in point there's a scene where you're riding a horse through the flaming town of Haven as the WLF and Seraphites murder each other. It's such an amazing visual spectacle and it's over in like 30 seconds.

Some detractors. I thought the retcon of Marlene to make her seem like she cared for Ellie's life was bullshit. Everything she says in this game is at odds with what she says and does in the previous one. I know why they did it but it feels like horseshit.

Oh lord, the shitty boss fights. They just keep doing this. Either stealth around and get potshot melee attacks off or you have to counter in a specific pattern to progress. Just tedious.

And finally, maybe the most egregious is due to the way the story is written you have to do things that you as the player likely would never want to do. They spend the whole game warming you up to Ellie and Abby and then at two separate points force you to try and kill the other one. I would openly just try to walk away or not press the fight button and was either rewarded with the game basically being stuck or the game killing me. It just feels really shitty. And maybe that's getting the core of the fact that I kind of disagree with how grim the story is. I feel like in reality a lot of these characters would have cut their ties and made their peace. I don't REALLY buy that Ellie needed to go off and hunt Abby down. And even if she did, when she finds her in that state why wouldn't she make her peace. It's insane that she would have any desire to kill this husk of a human who's been enslaved and tortured for months.

But you know what? Those complaints are minor as hell because it truly is one of the most epic stories period. And the fact that that story is inside a game as fun and as gorgeous as this one is mind blowing. Well done Naughty Dog. Now I'm just craving The Last of Us 3 which I'm sure is another 5 years off.