*** Spoilers for Last of Us 2***
I won't spoil the ending but the first 10 hours are fair game.
I've had this game on my mind for a while now. I take forever to finish a video game. When I buy a new game sometimes I can play it for weeks, grow tired of it, and put it down unfinished. For example I never finished Persona 5 despite playing the game for a while and really enjoying. Right now that game is at the top of my "I need to get back to playing this" list. With that said, it took me a few days to beat Last of Us 2. Now I know for some you pro gamers out there that is laughable as I'm sure some of you played and beat the game in a weekend. Last night I stayed up until 3:00 AM having been playing the game for a large chunk of my day off work. After it's conclusion I felt sad, I felt angry as well as relieved, and most of all I felt the love of an art form rush back in to me that has honestly been lost for a while. I used to play and beat every video game I touched when I was a teenager, but at 26 life is standing in the way of really enjoying the hobby. Games are 30+ hours long at this point and I find myself unable to find enough time to enjoy them all. Last of Us 2 made me make the time. Back when the first game came out I was 19 years old. I adored the game. I loved Ellie and Joel's adventure across America and I absolutely recommend anyone who hasn't played that game to play it. The first Last of Us was about finding love in the most hopeless world. A love that wasn't inherently good either. Joel damns the world because he has grown to feel love again. The whole mission of the first game was to get Ellie, a 14 year old girl who is immune to the global pandemic that has dismantled society to a group called the Fireflies so that a cure can be made. Then when Joel actually gets Ellie there it is revealed that in order to make the cure Ellie must die. Despite being a depressing cynic through most of the game Joel chose to rescue Ellie. He would damn our world in order to save his. Again, I love the first game. Then after that home run of a first game Naughty Dog decided that the the second game is about hate. It is about the kind of hate and anger that fully consumes a person. In order to save Ellie from the fireflies Joel killed the vast majority of them at the Salt Lake facility. He butchered the people that the whole game had conditioned us to view as the "good guys". Joel on the other hand has revealed that he hasn't been a good guy, he has murdered and robbed innocent people. Killing Ellie is of course terrible but it is also viewed regrettably as a price to pay for saving the world. Joel nevertheless savagely kills these people who would refuse him his redemption arc. Then in Last of Us 2 the daughter of the surgeon that we the player as Joel murdered named Abby hunts him down four years later along with her ex Firefly friends and beats him to death with a golf club. I flung my controller across the room. I yelled at the TV "you dumb *****, I want you dead, fuck off, fuck you, FUCK..." you get the idea. I actually avoided the spoilers that leakes online before the game released. It was a herculean effort but I did it. I saw how mad people were though. I even had my suspicions that Joel died since everyone was so mad and the marketing for the game kind of led me to think that. Although, I thought maybe he died at the end or the middle, NOT TWO HOURS IN! The story of Last of Us 2 has balls. The way Game of Thrones had balls before it didn't. Launching a revenge story where we the player play as Ellie only works if we already have a connection with the person she is seeking vengeance for. Joel is brutally bludgeoned to death and I was angry at this new character of Abby for doing it. I wanted to do the same to her. I wanted her and every single one of her friends dead. So when the premise of the game takes full form and I play as Ellie killing all of the people who had anything to do with Joel's death I was absolutely for it. I wanted all of them dead. I wanted a Death Wish style "get em" narrative, but damn it Naughty Dog that isn't what I got. Half way through the game you switch perspectives and play ten hours as Abby, Joel's killer. You learn who she is and who she was. How and why she became a killing machine becomes clear. Joel's violence created Abby. She is muscular because she has spent every moment since her father's death preparing to kill Joel. We the player learn that Abby and her friends are not monsters. After all they are ex Fireflies which we know were the "good guys" from the first game. Abby starts her player controlled journey as a hardened soldier who worships revenge. She has built her body into a killing machine (those arms bro, she is on some serious gear). Then through playing as her post revenge it's clear that her personal relationships have only suffered. They had been on the decline for years because revenge had consumed her, but despite fulfilling her mission she gained no closure for killing Joel. Now she has become consumed by a hate that has no anchor. Compare that to Ellie who is on a fresh quest for revenge. The intersection of story is where Last of Us 2 shines. Ellie is sacrificing everything for her personal vengeance. Friends die and loved ones become broken because she needs to kill Abby. By forcing the player to see the story through two opposing characters it is able to dissect the cyclical nature of vengeance. The final hour and a half forces the player to confront all the hate and love that they have built throughout the game (and first one honestly). Ellie has been denied her own agency. Joel took her life's purpose away. No matter what she does it will never mean as much as dying to save the world would have. Then Abby denied her ability to make things right with Joel and rebuild their relationship (their last conversation is heartbreaking). Recapturing control of one's life must happen so that one can be happy, but the need for revenge will always hinder the effort. I love the Last of Us 2 and I think if you enjoy quality works of art you should give the game a try. The Last of Us 2 made me feel hate and love in a real sense and if that isn't a great video game then I'm not sure what is.
I won't spoil the ending but the first 10 hours are fair game.
I've had this game on my mind for a while now. I take forever to finish a video game. When I buy a new game sometimes I can play it for weeks, grow tired of it, and put it down unfinished. For example I never finished Persona 5 despite playing the game for a while and really enjoying. Right now that game is at the top of my "I need to get back to playing this" list. With that said, it took me a few days to beat Last of Us 2. Now I know for some you pro gamers out there that is laughable as I'm sure some of you played and beat the game in a weekend. Last night I stayed up until 3:00 AM having been playing the game for a large chunk of my day off work. After it's conclusion I felt sad, I felt angry as well as relieved, and most of all I felt the love of an art form rush back in to me that has honestly been lost for a while. I used to play and beat every video game I touched when I was a teenager, but at 26 life is standing in the way of really enjoying the hobby. Games are 30+ hours long at this point and I find myself unable to find enough time to enjoy them all. Last of Us 2 made me make the time. Back when the first game came out I was 19 years old. I adored the game. I loved Ellie and Joel's adventure across America and I absolutely recommend anyone who hasn't played that game to play it. The first Last of Us was about finding love in the most hopeless world. A love that wasn't inherently good either. Joel damns the world because he has grown to feel love again. The whole mission of the first game was to get Ellie, a 14 year old girl who is immune to the global pandemic that has dismantled society to a group called the Fireflies so that a cure can be made. Then when Joel actually gets Ellie there it is revealed that in order to make the cure Ellie must die. Despite being a depressing cynic through most of the game Joel chose to rescue Ellie. He would damn our world in order to save his. Again, I love the first game. Then after that home run of a first game Naughty Dog decided that the the second game is about hate. It is about the kind of hate and anger that fully consumes a person. In order to save Ellie from the fireflies Joel killed the vast majority of them at the Salt Lake facility. He butchered the people that the whole game had conditioned us to view as the "good guys". Joel on the other hand has revealed that he hasn't been a good guy, he has murdered and robbed innocent people. Killing Ellie is of course terrible but it is also viewed regrettably as a price to pay for saving the world. Joel nevertheless savagely kills these people who would refuse him his redemption arc. Then in Last of Us 2 the daughter of the surgeon that we the player as Joel murdered named Abby hunts him down four years later along with her ex Firefly friends and beats him to death with a golf club. I flung my controller across the room. I yelled at the TV "you dumb *****, I want you dead, fuck off, fuck you, FUCK..." you get the idea. I actually avoided the spoilers that leakes online before the game released. It was a herculean effort but I did it. I saw how mad people were though. I even had my suspicions that Joel died since everyone was so mad and the marketing for the game kind of led me to think that. Although, I thought maybe he died at the end or the middle, NOT TWO HOURS IN! The story of Last of Us 2 has balls. The way Game of Thrones had balls before it didn't. Launching a revenge story where we the player play as Ellie only works if we already have a connection with the person she is seeking vengeance for. Joel is brutally bludgeoned to death and I was angry at this new character of Abby for doing it. I wanted to do the same to her. I wanted her and every single one of her friends dead. So when the premise of the game takes full form and I play as Ellie killing all of the people who had anything to do with Joel's death I was absolutely for it. I wanted all of them dead. I wanted a Death Wish style "get em" narrative, but damn it Naughty Dog that isn't what I got. Half way through the game you switch perspectives and play ten hours as Abby, Joel's killer. You learn who she is and who she was. How and why she became a killing machine becomes clear. Joel's violence created Abby. She is muscular because she has spent every moment since her father's death preparing to kill Joel. We the player learn that Abby and her friends are not monsters. After all they are ex Fireflies which we know were the "good guys" from the first game. Abby starts her player controlled journey as a hardened soldier who worships revenge. She has built her body into a killing machine (those arms bro, she is on some serious gear). Then through playing as her post revenge it's clear that her personal relationships have only suffered. They had been on the decline for years because revenge had consumed her, but despite fulfilling her mission she gained no closure for killing Joel. Now she has become consumed by a hate that has no anchor. Compare that to Ellie who is on a fresh quest for revenge. The intersection of story is where Last of Us 2 shines. Ellie is sacrificing everything for her personal vengeance. Friends die and loved ones become broken because she needs to kill Abby. By forcing the player to see the story through two opposing characters it is able to dissect the cyclical nature of vengeance. The final hour and a half forces the player to confront all the hate and love that they have built throughout the game (and first one honestly). Ellie has been denied her own agency. Joel took her life's purpose away. No matter what she does it will never mean as much as dying to save the world would have. Then Abby denied her ability to make things right with Joel and rebuild their relationship (their last conversation is heartbreaking). Recapturing control of one's life must happen so that one can be happy, but the need for revenge will always hinder the effort. I love the Last of Us 2 and I think if you enjoy quality works of art you should give the game a try. The Last of Us 2 made me feel hate and love in a real sense and if that isn't a great video game then I'm not sure what is.
