THE LAST OF US PART II
Still undecided about The Last Of Us Part II? We’ve got all the reasons you need to look forward to 19 June
01 ELLIE AND THE FOUR SEASONS
Like the first game, The Last Of Us Part II changes with the seasons. Trailers and hands-on time with the game reveal very different climates and environmental changes. It seems the world will reflect the mood of the story. Who will we play as? Who’s the villain? Who lives and who dies? These questions will be answered when you play it on 19 June.
One big difference this time is technical: Naughty Dog is able to represent the different seasons even better visually because this game has been developed for PS4, late in the console’s life cycle, and the developer understands the tech perfectly.
It seems that the game will begin in winter, time progressing as Ellie makes her way north to Seattle. Most of the travelling we’ve seen so far has had Ellie and her companions on horseback, riding through lush forests, golden fields, and deep snow. We’ll go beyond ruined cities to see even more rural areas this time.
In the wintry portions of the game we’ve seen how Ellie leaves footprints
and pushes clumps of snow aside as she moves, suggesting it’s possible enemies can use these tracks to hunt her down as she tries to avoid being detected by her pursuers.
02 HORSING AROUND
Horseriding returns and it looks like it might be a bigger feature this time around. In previews we’ve seen Ellie on horseback across multiple seasons and environments, trekking through green forests and white snow. Many years after society fell apart, is this now the predominant means of long-distance transportation?
03 WEATHER REPORT
Not only does the game take place during various seasons, the weather effects are some of the best we’ve seen on PS4. The weather in turn affects how Ellie has to wrangle with the environment, so she gets muddy as she crawls through undergrowth.
04 GOLD STANDARD
You don’t need us to tell you how much you’re looking forward to the game, but it doesn’t get more official than winning five ‘most anticipated’ awards since it was announced, and being nominated for more. Do games get more anticipated than this?
05 AMONG THE WEEDS
Ellie can take cover in patches of long grass, crouch to remain unnoticed or even lie prone in the weeds. Who needs waist-high greenery?
06 HAVE A LIE DOWN
Stealth has been improved, and you interact with the world in much finer detail than in the first game. You can also hold e to make Ellie go prone at any time, enabling her to stay below human enemies’ line of sight and even to hide under trucks. The environment is your hidey-hole.
07 COLLECTOR HOARDER
No post-apocalypse is complete without collectibles to hoard.
Over here we don’t get the mega
Ellie Edition of the game, but the Collector’s Edition comes with a fantastic 12-inch statue of Ellie jamming on an acoustic guitar, plus a replica of her bracelet, a steelbook case, a 48-page mini art book, six enamel pins, an art print, and five stickers.
08 GUERILLA WARFARE
Even when you’ve been spotted you can lose your pursuers. While human enemies can communicate and investigate where they last saw you, figuring out where you might have gone next, they can be fooled so you can get the drop on them once again.
09 ERA-DEFINING
Coming at the tail-end of PS4’s life, The Last Of Us Part II represents the cutting edge of the console’s capabilities, bringing together everything Naughty Dog has learned over the years, and it looks beautiful.
10 A SOLO ADVENTURE (FOR NOW)
Plans for multiplayer (which features in the first game) were scrapped in favour of refining Ellie’s adventure. Coming in at a whopping 100GB file size (double that of the first game), this is going to be a epic journey crammed with detail. It remains to be seen if multiplayer could turn up as DLC or be expanded into its own project down the line.
11 FUNGAL INFECTION
Years after the events of the first game the brain-devouring cordyceps fungus is still a major threat, and the Infected are just as lethal as the physically healthy cult members. Since the first game the infection has evolved to create Infected that are even deadlier: faster, more resilient, and with brandnew mutations. But how else has it evolved? Does it have new ways of infecting hosts? Will Ellie remain resistant? Nature finds a way.
12 EL’ OF A GAME
Building on the approach taken by the excellent (and heartbreaking)
Left Behind DLC for the first game, Part II is all about exploring Ellie as a character, and seeing how she’s been shaped by this world and her experiences. But can this possibly be a positive thing? And how has Ellie in turn affected the world? This sequel is ambitious in its world-building, so you’d better expect some surprising twists in the storyline.
13 BANG BANG
Ellie’s arsenal of guns can easily drop enemies provided you have enough ammo. But those unsilenced blasts will alert nearby enemies – especially Infected like Clickers. The bow’s a great alternative for silent but deadly arrow headshots. Take a bow.
14 YOU WOUND ME
An injury gauge keeps track of how beaten up Ellie is, though serious wounds have more of an impact than simply knocking points off a health meter. Get an arrow in the shoulder and you’ll need to deal with it, taking time to pull it out with u. But do you have time to get to cover first?
15 HEART EYES
Most of the early-game sections we’ve seen revolve around Ellie and her new lover, Dina, another resident of the Jackson settlement. We’ll follow them throughout their early runs for supplies in areas around the settlement, and get into trouble in the process, their connection visibly deepening as we play.
But this sweet romance is juxtaposed with relentless hatred from a new faction. We’ve seen Ellie dealing with cult-like enemies. She must crawl in the mud to take out both humans and the Infected. She’s fuelled by hate, on a revenge quest. Which makes us nervous about what fate might have in store, not just for Dina, but also the rest of the Jackson community. We’re going to see some tender moments for Ellie beyond what we saw in The Last Of Us and its Left Behind DLC, but we’re also going to see this world get grimmer than it ever has before. Bring some tissues – the crying kind.
16 BLOODY MURDER
We’re definitely on some sort of watchlist for writing this, but the ultraviolence in the latest chapter of The Last Of Us is sublime. And gross, horrifying, and more than a little uncomfortable. We’ve seen throats sliced and intestines cut out of bodies. No other game gets this grim.
17 SURVIVALLY CHALLENGED
The Survival skill tree enables you to upgrade things like Ellie’s health and the distance she can throw objects.
You can also use it to improve her listening range, allowing her to locate and identify enemies and items around her more easily, which is a must.
18 DIY SPECIALIST
Spending points in the Craft skill tree not only boosts Ellie’s ability to create things like melee weapons, it also unlocks useful tools such as smoke and stun grenades. It can even improve her speed when crafting on the fly. When you’re running low on arrows, you’ll appreciate it.
19 SNEAKING MISSION
The third and final skill tree, Stealth, gives Ellie the edge when it comes to staying quiet. It’s good for more than avoiding Clickers: faster stealth kills and prone movement speed help her dispatch enemies silently, and you can unlock a silencer for the pistol here.
“THE LAST OF US PART II REPRESENTS THE CUTTING EDGE.”
20 URBAN RECLAMATION
Five years have passed since the end of the first game, which also makes it 25 years since the initial in-game outbreak. We’re well into the post-pandemic period now, and that’s reflected in some of the environments Ellie has to navigate. Not just in terms of ruins, but also in how nature has reclaimed even more of the cities and other urban areas.
This played a factor in the first game too, but in both urban areas we’ve played so far we’ve felt the sprawl of nature in different ways. In some it can help Ellie, serving as useful cover. But it also makes some areas tough to navigate, closing off routes you would have expected to be able to flee through.
Help or hindrance, the scenery never looks anything but spectacular. The first game had some greatlooking vistas, but those in Part II are sometimes breathtaking, making us pause to take a look around. The mix of concrete and greenery is a unique art direction that sets TLOU2 apart from standard grey apocalyptic games. In showing how nature reclaims lost spaces, offering a vibrant, verdant world to set Part II’s story against, the game delivers a unique experience.
21 FAR FROM LAST
Besides the new game, a TV series based on the franchise is coming to HBO and is being co-written by creator Neil Druckmann. Ellie is confirmed to appear (probably alongside Joel), and events will cover the first game and might span into the second. It seems future seasons are a possibility, which suggests Part II is far from the last we’ll see of this world.
22 COME TOGETHER
While Joel and Ellie sometimes linked up with other survivors in the first game, the story was mostly just about the pair of them. In Part II, they’ve settled down in Tommy’s community in Jackson, and those new connections and people matter, and will affect the events of the game.
23 SAY HELLO
Inventive use of the intricately designed areas means you can get the drop on most enemies even when you’re being chased. You can quickly clamber onto rooftops, jump through second-storey windows, and squeeze between shop aisles to avoid your enemies. Ellie can be quick and deadly in the right player’s hands.
24 THE SHAMBLING DEAD
New Infected, Shamblers are an evolution of the fungus that makes the world of Part II even harder to survive in. Like Bloaters they explode on death, but they’re faster, their pusclusters oozing a cloud of spores as they get close. They’ll really put your ability to stay alive to the test.
25 BLESS THE JESS(E)
Dina’s ex, Jesse may play a larger role in the story than Naughty Dog has let on, particularly as he was one of the first new characters to be revealed. It certainly feels like he’s got a lot invested in Ellie’s need for revenge, and it may be about more than Dina.
26 KNOW THINE ENEMY
Human enemies you come up against, primarily the Seraphite cultists, all have unique names. As they hunt you down they call their friends by name to co-ordinate looking for you, smartly figuring out where you are. And because they all have unique names, it feels like you’re killing a real person. Keep track of those names; they may come back to haunt you as the story evolves.
27 ACTION-READY
With Infected and human enemies after Ellie’s blood she’s got to be ready for action. Even when prone Ellie is able to ready her weapon, popping off quick shots with her bow while grounded. It’s especially handy as a last line of defence.
28 VERTICAL SLICE
While Ellie can hide closer to the ground now, increased verticality within scenes changes how you can pick her routes through places. You can clamber over abandoned vehicles to reach new areas, or head upwards to break enemies’ line of sight.
29 SILENT BUT DEADLY
Groups of Infected can be dangerous, but a lot of the time you can sneak past them. You need to stealth past Clickers, throwing objects to distract them just like in the original game. Now, however, you can grab and lob objects like glass bottles while you run.
30 WEAPONS EXPERT
A lot of Ellie’s gear might be cobbled together, but she’s become an expert cobbler by this point. Not only can she craft new grenade types, she can knock up some extra varieties of ammunition as well. Explosive arrows might draw a lot of enemy attention, but it can blow away (heh) the competition when Ellie lands in a pinch.
31 WHAT’S IN A NAME
Director/writer Neil Druckmann has been keen to emphasise the title “Part II” is important, rather than a fancy way of referring to a sequel. The story directly complements the first game, building on its core themes. Remember, Ellie and Joel killed a lot of people on their journey: are they the heroes or villains of this world? Druckmann has been clear nothing in these games is black-and-white.
32 PILL POPPING
Outbreak survival 101: take any tablets you find. As in the first game, if Ellie finds pills she can chow down on them to improve her skills. Presumably she already has some sort of pharmacy skill, or she’d be hiding from Clickers at heaven’s gates already.
33 PROJECT RESISTANCE
Ellie’s uniquely resistant to the cordyceps fungus, which is why the Fireflies wanted to cut her up and find a cure at the end of the last game. Joel stopped this, and never told Ellie the truth, giving her no chance to say whether she wanted to sacrifice herself to cure humanity or not. Does finding out about that cause a rift between her and Joel?
34 JUNK DEALER
As you move around, keep one eye out for junk Ellie can use to craft things like tools and upgrades. Sometimes you’ll have to weigh the cost of scavenging for material versus the danger of patrolling enemies.
35 THE SERAPHITES
Members of the mysterious
Seraphite cult seem to be Ellie’s main antagonists in her revenge quest. Far from angelic, they perform ritual sacrifices, displaying mutilated bodies around their camps to ward off “demons”. That’s what they call the Infected, who they believe to be a punishment for humanity’s sins. They also scar themselves to seek atonement. Heavily armed and relentless, they have no qualms about putting down humans outside the cult, either with a bullet or as part of their sacrifices. At one point we see them suspend someone from a lamppost, then disembowel him. The corpses might not be to ward off Infected, but an offering to keep them satisfied.
It’s still not clear how the cult formed or what its goals are, but Ellie makes enemies of the members, which makes it likely they’re somehow involved in the reason she embarks on her revenge quest in the first place. And they’ll put her to the test, as their smart AI means they can organise their groups to systematically hunt her down once they know she’s in the area, and even pull her out from cover. Sometimes it might be better to run.
“EVEN WHEN PRONE, ELLIE IS ABLE TO READY HER WEAPON.”