Last of Us 2 main review *spoilers*

I apologize for being a bit late on this one. The game is a lot to digest 🙂 Anyway, Last of Us 2 deals with the direct consequences of Joel’s actions in the last game. Sure, he saved Ellie from almost certain death; but at the same time he condemned the human race to no hope for a cure; it’s a conundrum brought up, for instance, in the Star Trek movies, do the needs of the many out way the needs of the few, or vice versa? Or to put it another way, what goes around comes around-anyway-For Joel, the answer is fatal.

Although Ellie and Joel are still at odds with each other over Joel’s revelations, there are signs of healing. However, when Joel and Ellie are both out on patrol, Abby-the daughter of the surgeon Joel killed to rescue Ellie, who has been plotting her revenge for years-has finally tracked him down.

Ellie-who has fallen for a fellow survivor, Dina-manages to catch up with Joel and Abby, only to witness his horrifying execution at the hands of Abby.

After the incident-where Ellie and Joel’s brother Tommy are spared-they decide to head to Seattle to kill Joel’s killers, and Dina also tags along for the ride (Jessie also follows later). Abby and her group return to the Washington Liberation Front, a sort of evolution of the Fireflies, which is in a war with another faction, a religious cult known as the Seraphites.

However, things get complicated when Abby befriends two Sereaphite exile siblings, Lev and Yara, which starts to damage her reputation with the WLF. She starts to form a protective bond with them, similar in some ways to Joel’s relationship with Ellie, and this shows some of the softer aspects of the character, which makes the player question who is the real villain in the game (Or if there’s any real hero?) Ellie meanwhile kills many of the WLF, including many of Abby’s friends, which only makes things worse, and her desire for revenge for Joel is starting to affect her relationship with Dina. (We also see these WLF members from Abby’s POV, making many of them more sympathetic, such as a girl who seems to be just be doing guard duty and playing video games-until she gets into Ellie’s way) I’ll stop with the gameplay summary and get into more of the gameplay.

Although “Last of us 2” is largely linear and not really an open world sandbox, like the last two Uncharted games there are fairly wide open areas, such as the first part of the Seattle section of the game. These in part mostly have collectibles as well as optional dialogues, some of which lighten up the game’s dark mood. The graphics are naturally an improvement as well, with life-life motion capture. It’s worth noting that Ellie, who in the previous game kind of looked a bit too much like Ellen Page, now more closely resembles her voice/mo-cap actress Ashley Johnson.

The game also does well with the scenery, with the ruins of Seattle a mix of flora overtaking what’s left of the city, but also flooded in part from the nearby Pacific. There’s also a couple of missions set inside museums that are full of fun Easter eggs, once again dampening the game’s darkness.

The gameplay is largely similar to the original game, although with a heavier emphasis on melee combat, especially when dealing with human opponents (The zombies aren’t quite that easy to take down that way). Crafting and modifying weapons also is important, as well as conserving ammo, especially when dealing with the harder enemies such as the more mutated creatures.

Last of us 2 also of course uses stealth mechanics, which are a must when dealing with certain zombies who can sense sound or sudden movement, or if you don’t want to get into really bad odds when dealing with armed opponents.

The game also has wide-ranging “accessibility modes” for those who want a more casual/easier experience. Of course there’s also harder modes. Also like with most ND games, you can unlock a series of filters in the game which alter’s the games sounds and graphics.

Overall, TLOU2 is a worthy successor to the original, with several philosophical questions about the nature of revenge/violence, great graphics and gameplay. Granted, some of the subject matter might not be for everyone-not only the massive amounts of violence and generally depressing storyline but certain social issues the games addresses (Which I’d rather not get into) although a few of these were present in the original game as well. Some might also not like the loss of Joel, the character you played for the majority of the original (although there is a small amount of Joel playability during the beginning). It’s pretty much up to the own customer’s discretion.