We see a degree of diversity that shouldn't be an accomplishment for game in the modern age. This thoughtfulness runs through the veins of the game. You feel empathy for the other side, and your feelings about the protagonists shift it's uncomfortable, and a true testament to Naughty Dog's storytelling.Įvery line in The Last of Us 2 earns its place, carefully considered and carrying emotional weight, with beautifully scripted scenes the inquisitive will stumble upon, but which players in a hurry could miss entirely. While other games have dipped their toes in the waters of fleshing out 'enemy' characters, providing them with a tragic backstory or some redeeming characteristic, The Last of Us 2 goes a step further. Perhaps the hardest pill to swallow is that we're forced to watch Ellie lose herself and what she cares about as a result of a vendetta, while being complicit in her violent actions, and then witness the consequences of those actions for others. "Every line in The Last of Us 2 earns its place, carefully considered and carrying emotional weight." More connects us than separates us, and Naughty Dog's nuanced storytelling exposes parallels between Ellie and those she sees as the 'other' in subtle but powerful ways. Instead, we embark on a story that blurs the lines between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys', often in a way that's hard to digest, and in which an 'us versus them' mentality becomes much more complicated when everyone is simply out to survive. You'd be forgiven for thinking this is a simple bloody revenge story, and Naughty Dog could have fallen into that trope. While The Last of Us primarily explored the relationship between Ellie and Joel, The Last of Us 2 goes far beyond that. Every emotional sequence is better played than spoken about – trust us. We're not going to tell you any more than that about the subsequent events in this review, because you really do need to experience it first-hand. Naughty Dog leverages the bond we developed with Joel and Ellie in a way that has you truly feeling the heartbreak on both sides.Īfter a series of harrowing events, Ellie leaves Jackson in search of revenge, heading to Seattle in pursuit of members of a new militia group that has popped up in place of the Fireflies: the Washington Liberation Front (WLF or Wolves for short). Immediately we become immersed in the lives of the characters again, even though their relationship has changed drastically from when we left them. However, the relationship between Ellie and Joel is becoming strained, with Ellie having doubts about what really happened with the Fireflies, and Joel struggling to loosen the reigns on the (now grown) woman that he once put his life on the line to protect. Ellie and Joel now live alongside Joel's brother Tommy in a settlement in Jackson County, where they've built lives the best they can considering the dangerous and unpredictable state of the world. The Last of Us 2 picks up the story roughly four years after its predecessor. "Every emotional sequence is better played than spoken about. The pair return to Jackson, but Joel lies to Ellie about their escape, telling her that the Fireflies had found other immune people and that they couldn’t find a cure, so she was free to go. Joel, who's definitely not on board with this plan, kills all the Fireflies and flees with Elllie, who, on this long journey, has become like a daughter to him. However, Marlene, the head of the Fireflies, tells Joel that Ellie is being prepped for surgery and that, in order to find a cure, the infected part of Ellie’s brain must be removed – which would ultimately kill her. So, long story short, the pair travel to the hospital, where they find the militia group. Turns out the Fireflies are in Saint Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. But when it turns out that the Fireflies at that location have been killed, Joel and Ellie travel to Jackson County, Wyoming to enlist the help of Joel's brother Tommy, an ex-Firefly, to locate the group. During the journey, it comes to light that Ellie is immune to the infection that has ravaged the globe, and that the Fireflies want her so they can attempt to develop a cure. The Last of Us saw grizzled smuggler Joel tasked with escorting angsty teenager Ellie through a post-apocalyptic United States on a mission to find a militia group known as the Fireflies, who are residing in the Massachusetts State House outside the quarantine zone. Further develops the relationships built previously.Explores tribalism and revenge, and blurs the lines of morality.
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