Halfway through The Last Of Us Part 2, players should expect a paradigm shift. You know what they say love and hate are two sides of the same coin. Trauma can change even the best of us and in a post-apocalyptic world like in The Last Of Us Part 2, that’s even more truth to that. It gets better once you comprehend that all of these characters are meant to be flawed human beings, even the protagonists Joel and Ellie. Heck, I personally have mixed feelings about the story and where they decided to go with the plot myself, but everything ultimately lines up with the inherent themes of the narrative, and in service of it. I won’t lie many fans will probably hate and abhor what Naughty Dog has done with their beloved characters. It’s not hard for me to predict that the narrative choices made by Naughty Dog in this game will likely be extremely divisive to many fans of the original. The moral and philosophical conundrums in The Last Of Us Part 2 aren’t exactly subtle, but the game also subverts the idea of conventional protagonist and antagonist roles, twisting these tropes. It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted or squeamish. The violence is visceral and graphic as well heads get bashed in, and gallons of blood will be spilt. You can choose not to kill the dogs, but it’s not like the game has a non-lethal option or alternative for stopping them. In The Last Of Us Part 2, you’ll be killing human beings and even dogs. While other current-gen games like Sony Santa Monica’s God Of War also depicted similar levels of violence and blood, that game featured acts of violence against beasts and monsters that don’t exist in real life. I’m not ashamed to say that I sometimes squirmed a little watching the gratuitous and near-realistic violence in The Last Of Us Part 2. In the original The Last Of Us, it was a matter of survival for Ellie a kill or be killed situation, but now it’s entirely her own personal and independent choice to pursue these ‘antagonists’ for revenge. The lines start to blur, and what happens when you can’t distinguish between good guys and the bad guys? The consequences of her actions (and of those closest to her) are real. In her mind, the ends justify the means and violence begets violence. Throughout the game, Ellie performs questionable actions and unspeakable acts of violence to achieve her mission. Things aren’t as clear cut or as black and white in the sequel. In fact, hate is what drives Ellie on her new adventure, and, as a result, the game’s narrative is more complex than the original, where all Ellie and Joel were concerned with was safely reaching the Fireflies to make a potential cure for the Cordyceps virus. The themes being explored in The Last Of Us Part 2 (as previously-revealed by game director Neil Druckmann) are hate and the cycle of violence. While I can’t reveal what happens, this tragic event spurs Ellie onto her new journey. Things start to become relatively normal for Ellie, until one day when disaster unexpectedly strikes. She now has friends and potential lovers, like Dina (whom she kisses in the previously-revealed Paris Games Week trailer) and Jesse, the Asian guy who can also be seen in one of the trailers. While the first game was pretty much the adventures of Ellie and Joel, the second game introduces a bunch of new characters, many of which have been revealed in promotional trailers and material for The Last Of Us Part 2.Įllie is no longer tied to just Joel for human companionship. The Last Of Us Part 2 takes place five years after the end of The Last Of Us, which means that we’re treated to an older Ellie and Joel who have settled in the peaceful town of Jackson in Wyoming. If anything, it could even be considered as one of the best games this generation has had to offer to date. Does that mean The Last Of Us Part 2 is a bad game? Hell, no. How can a sequel possibly live up to that? Well, the folks at Naughty Dog have done their damndest to make The Last Of Us Part 2 a worthy successor, and it surely comes close. To this day, Naughty Dog’s brilliant masterpiece is still widely-regarded not only as one of the best video games in history but also one of the games that’s meant to be a testament to how the medium should be seen as an art form, just as much as movies and music. It’s still unbelievable how much of a pop-culture juggernaut it has become since it originally launched for the PS3 back in 2013. Genre : Action-Adventure, Survival Horror, Tear-Jerker Review originally published on 12th June, 3:01 pm.
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