Review: The Last of Us Part II is a bold yet flawed swan song for PS4

The Last of Us Part II has a lot of pressure on its shoulders. It has to follow up one of the most beloved video games ever made, justify its very existence, and be a mighty hoorah for the PS4. Many felt that the first game ends in a way that should have never been continued but here we are… seven years later.

The Last of Us Part II picks up four years after the events of the first game, Ellie has grown into an adult and her relationship with Joel is currently on the rocks. She’s found companionship in others within Jackson but the tension between her and Joel is something that clearly weighs on her internally.

She’s conflicted with how to feel about him. There’s resentment but also this love for him that she can’t shake. After a traumatic incident near the start of the game, Ellie’s life is changed forever and she sets out on a revenge filled quest. Of course, this is the brutally raw world of The Last of Us though… so it’s not going to be heroics and satisfying John Wick-esque kinds of revenge. It’s filled with pain and suffering for everyone involved, including Ellie.

Despite definitely being a game about hate and revenge, it’s a game deeply rooted in love. Like the first game, it’s about what love does to us. Love is powerful enough to give us all those really great feelings but also strong enough to corrupt us. Love has the power to make us do things we may not normally do. The hatred in this game is a consequence and result of loving. It’s a feeling that you can be punished for having in this world because it’s relentless and unforgiving.

This downward spiral Ellie goes on causes her to truly lose herself and become someone she wouldn’t have. Joel tells her in the first game that she doesn’t know what loss is and while I think he was a bit ignorant saying that, I think in this game she truly understands the meaning of what he was saying. She now feels that extreme, sickening loss that he felt in the first game.

The Last of Us Part II is violent, messy, but real. It doesn’t give characters heroic deaths. It doesn’t have a lot of triumphs. Its message is cold but necessary which is probably why some felt it’s not satisfying because it’s not really meant to be gratifying. It’s not checking boxes for a revenge story. Naughty Dog wasn’t setting out to do the formulaic story that we all know and I think that’s why it mostly works.

When you look at it for what it is rather than what you may have wanted it to be, I think it’s incredibly impactful. It’s not groundbreaking in terms of all of fiction but I think it’s doing something a lot of other games wouldn’t dare to do. It delivers something true rather than theatrical.

This hate-filled story isn’t the “misery porn” some have made it out to be. It’s a commentary on the toxicity of hate, both towards those who have wronged us and resentment we hold toward those we love. It’s about how maybe sometimes we need to let things go and not live with the hate that burns in our heart because nothing, not even “getting even”, can extinguish that fire.

I was initially wary of the tone and story of The Last of Us Part II. Marketing it as a game that’s not meant to be “fun” and just relentlessly bleak felt wrong. Not because there isn’t room for those kinds of stories but because the thing that made the first game so good and why it resonates so much is because the dark world is contrasted with these beautiful human moments between Joel and Ellie. It’s what we’re fighting for, to get back to those moments. To make those moments the normal again rather than this struggle to survive.

While they may be a bit more sparse in terms of quantity, those kinds of moments are still found in The Last of Us Part II and are where the game undoubtedly shines. There’s an extended flashback sequence between Joel and Ellie around a quarter of the way through the game that strips it down to just a character moment. No killing, no violence, no misery, just a chapter of a pure wholesome father/daughter relationship.

Despite not being particularly sad, this chapter got to me on an emotional level more than any of the game’s deaths or intentionally sad beats. Not that those moments don’t work either but this connection that Naughty Dog taps into between these two characters, the way it pays off really small things from the first game, the ability to create such levity in such bleakness. It’s nothing short of masterful.

The Last of Us Part II’s ability to resonate is truly incredible. This PS4 exclusive brings out emotion in a way no other game has ever done to me. In my half a decade of reviewing games, there hasn’t ever been a game that made my throat swell up like someone was wrapping barbwire around it this many times in the span of 20 hours.

The writing is authentic and rarely theatrical. The way it makes you hurt as just a passive viewer is remarkable and this doesn’t even have to be through violence. There are some words exchanged between Joel and Ellie that made me pause the game just to have a good cry for a couple of minutes. It’s well written and Troy Baker delivers this career-defining performance that feels vulnerable. If you’ve ever been in a fight with a loved one and said something truly spiteful to them and seen their face, instantly spawning a sick feeling in your chest and stomach, you’ll recognize that here and be just as affected.

Some have noted Joel is a different character than the first game and that’s true. It seems intentional, though, and not some weird oversight from writer Neil Druckmann. Druckmann has lived with these characters in his head for a decade, to think he just forgot everything about them seems ignorant to believe honestly. Is it possible? Yes. Did it happen here? No, I don’t believe so.

He has grown softer due to living in a well-run community for half a decade. He doesn’t have to live daily by the skin of his teeth. He has grown to trust again. He has a full-blown house, a group to rely on, and so on. This is an evolution of Joel. I’m sure he’s emotionally bogged down by the fact the girl he risked everything for resents him as well. He’s still ready to jump in and channel some of that rage when he needs to though, particularly when Ellie is in danger.

I also don’t think his overall softer feel comes out of nowhere either. Despite his violent actions at the end of the first game, the spring chapter of The Last of Us shows an upbeat Joel that is trying harder to connect with Ellie. This carries over into the second game. It’s not some oversight from Naughty Dog, this seems to be an oversight from players who weren’t paying attention to his overall evolution.

There is a major third player in The Last of Us Part II. Her name is Abby and she’s the antagonist of the story. This is a character you’re meant to hate and without giving anything away, she’s what causes a lot of the problems of the game. There is a great deal of effort made to see her point of view. While you’re likely not meant to totally side with her, the game spends an incredible amount of time trying to create an argument for her.

There are elements I like about her, particularly one or two of her allies, but her overall inclusion can feel draining. I give props to Naughty Dog for what they attempt to do with her because it does almost work but it still brings the game down and holds it back.

The Last of Us Part II has major structural issues. For the first half, you build and build to the big climax and crescendo of the game. Once it seems like the game is nearing its conclusion, it pulls the rug out from under you and deflates that build-up and reveals that you were only half-way through the game.

Naughty Dog then, somehow, does find a way to successfully rebuild its way up to the true climax of the game but it’s a bit of a drag to get there. The pacing of the narrative makes some sense but it doesn’t work and actually works against its enjoyability. On a story level, I respect it but as a video game, it feels like it needed significant trimming. You could keep a lot of the story beats during this second half but cutting down the big gameplay sections would’ve really helped it.

If this section was just the third quarter of the game and not the entire second half, it could’ve been more impactful but it stretches itself out to the point of being fatiguing. It doesn’t help that the gameplay remains static and actually regresses in some areas.

Without going into why, you lose all of your upgrades and weapons during this large section. You have to rebuild yourself back up except all of the stuff you have now is far less enjoyable than what you had in the first half. The weapons aren’t as cool, the craftables are less interesting (with one or two exceptions), and the upgrades are less worthwhile.

It feels like Naughty Dog only thought about the story side of the second half of The Last of Us Part II instead of thinking about it as a game. It has two great setpieces during this second half but otherwise, it felt like a total slog to play. You do the same stuff you were doing for the first 10 hours except with less cool gear.

This is really unfortunate because the gameplay is probably the apex of Naughty Dog’s tenure. It combines the sandbox elements and fluid movement of the protagonist like in Metal Gear Solid V with the savagery of the first Last of Us. That raw rage Ellie harnesses is in the palm of your hands and as a player, you feel that fever too. I found myself feeling bloodthirsty at the start, like a wild animal being let off a leash.

It’s vicious, scrappy, and dirty. It’s the exact kind of gameplay The Last of Us Part II needs, especially when it opens itself up to large play areas like a middle-class neighborhood with enemies scattered throughout. You can set traps, use handmade silencers or arrows for long-range stealth, or get up and personal with a sharp switchblade to the throat, unleashing this broken dam of blood.

The rush of energy you get scrounging for supplies in the heat of battle to quickly craft a molotov or an extra shotgun round to save you from certain death is exhilarating. Naughty Dog creates a level of tension and excitement that makes palms sweat and the heart race.

The game’s AI is admittedly quite hallow-headed. They can actually detract from that tension. This is an issue the first game suffered from and The Last of Us Part II does make improvements but also still struggles to make enemies competent. They’ll literally stare at you as you murder their allies or watch you lay down in some shin-high grass and lose sight of you. There are some settings to adjust this but playing on the default moderate settings made me realize how stupid they seem to be.

It also became increasingly annoying to watch them walk in the same short paths instead of moving around relatively large environments. You will be using bottles and bricks to distract enemies a lot but maybe more than you should have to.

As I played, especially towards the end, that aforementioned blood lust went away. I actively wanted to put down my arms in some key moments but couldn’t and I think removing the agency is incredibly important. Not giving you choice to what you do is essential to The Last of Us Part II. This isn’t about you or what you want to do. This is about Ellie and the consequences she faces because of what she has done, not because of what you’ve done.

You are merely Ellie’s arms and legs, she’s still in complete control of everything she does and the path she has chosen to go down. There is no good ending, there is no bad ending. If you give the person to make what might be the “right choice”, you lose the message of the game. It becomes something else entirely.

The Verdict

The Last of Us Part II tells a deeply upsetting, bold, and powerful story that is sadly held back by painful pacing issues. The game’s structure not only holds it back narratively but also from a gameplay perspective as well. Still, Naughty Dog’s PS4 swansong often operates at a level many other games never have and likely never will.