The Last of Us 2
An astonishing, absurdly ambitious epic.
If 2013’s The Last of Us was a road trip turned twisted coming of age story, The Last of Us Part 2 is its revenge western companion piece. Set five years after the events of her pan-American odyssey with Joel, an indescribably traumatic opening episode leaves Ellie hellbent on a crusade to hunt down those responsible for a seemingly unforgivable crime. This pursuit takes our teenage heroine away from the rural pastures of Jackson County and deep into the urban overgrowth of Seattle, a city that experienced a very different kind of societal breakdown to The Last of Us’ Boston, and thus poses its own unique threats to Ellie’s survival.
I won’t divulge any more details beyond that, but suffice to say that what starts out as a fairly straightforward tale of retribution morphs into something far more complex, surprising, and sinister. As with the original game, Naughty Dog cunningly exploits the interactivity of its medium with masterful assuredness, forcing players to take a cold, hard look at every action they make as Ellie, with all the discomfort and distress that entails.
The resulting 25 hour campaign is as full of controller-dropping ‘holy crap’ moments as it is the quiet, contemplative scenes of immense poignancy that the studio is known for, many of which are enough to leave a lump in the throat, if not render you a bawling wreck on the couch. As a contemplation of the thin line between justice and vengeance, and an uncomfortable plunge into the darker shades of the human psyche, The Last of Us Part 2 is unforgiving in its depiction of violence, nihilism, and the nebulousness of morality in a world without laws.
At the heart of it all, however, is Ellie, once again textured with incredible warmth and humanity by Ashley Johnson, in the kind of performance that we’ll still be talking about years from now.
Naughty Dog’s PS4 swansong is an astonishing, absurdly ambitious epic that goes far and beyond what we could have imagined for a sequel to an all-time classic.
Alex Avard