I just finished playing The Last of Us Part II and I have a lot to say, though it is not what you think I am going to address. I know there has been controversy surrounding this title in terms of its direction of the story and the well-being of the people behind making this title, but I believe there is another issue with The Last of Us Part II that I do not see many people address. The rest of this post will contain spoilers about the game, so read the rest of this post at your own discretion.
First, I am going to address the elephant of the room. I liked the direction of the story, and I am okay with the murder of Joel near the beginning of the game. The Last of Us Part II should not be another re-hash of Joel and Ellie's adventures, and I am glad that the story has taken this new direction. I also liked playing as Abby and using her perspective of humanizing what the gamer perceived to be the villain of the story. Ellie is on a mission to avenge Joel's death directly because of Abby's revenge for her father's death, who Joel killed.
I am not going to nitpick every aspect of the story, because I would be writing for hours, but I will say this: The story of The Last of Us Part II is the living embodiment of the famous quote "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Revenge consumes both Ellie and Abby so much that they nearly lose their own humanity. Abby was about to kill Dina as retaliation for Ellie killing her own friends, Mel and Owen, which she ultimately does not carry out. Later in the game when Ellie leaves her comfortable life to kill Abby and when that final confrontation happens, she does not drown Abby at the last minute. I, like many others who played this game, was confused at the ending when Ellie lets Abby live after all that searching, but then I think of that quote, and the story clicked for me (no pun intended). Therefore, to sum up, the story was well written and deep. Add in outstanding realistic graphics, beautiful landscapes, and a striking but believable ambience, and you have one of the unforgettable storytelling experiences in video games.
Now, I am going to talk about the gameplay. My biggest criticism of the first Last of Us game was that I found the gameplay to be stale and boring. Now, I will credit Naughty Dog with adding a little more variety into the gameplay, such as adding forced armed encounters, riding a horse, and driving a boat, but I still feel like the gameplay is a bit of a chore. Most of the game was just me opening every drawer and cupboard looking for supplies and ammo, which took me out of the interest of the story. Stealth gameplay is still the bread and butter of this game, and although you can go in guns and arrows blazing, the scarcity of ammo and supplies is the game subtly telling you that stealth will always be the best option. To me personally, I find repeated stealth gameplay to be a bit monotonous.
The Last of Us Part II is a video game that nails the non-video game elements of a video game, but when it comes to the true element that makes a video game a video game, the gameplay does not hold itself to the same high standard. This is an emotional roller coaster of a video game, but I do not want just a roller coaster. I want to be able to have some control in the unfolding of the story as I play the game, and The Last of Us Part II robs me of that. During my play through, I questioned whether The Last of Us should have been a video game series at all. I feel like The Last of Us would be better suited as a TV show or a miniseries.
The Last of Us Part II is a must-play for experiencing the story and the narrative, but the gameplay feels disconnected from that excellent story. The Last of Us Part II is one of the best video games at being a "non-video game" if that makes any sense.
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