The Last of Us Part 2 was recently delayed on account of distribution points surrounding the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Ironic for a game set within the aftermath of a viral outbreak that has introduced humanity to its knees.
It’s an enormous blow to followers who had been patiently ready for the game after one other delay earlier within the yr – particularly since we now do not know when it’s coming in any respect. All I do know is, after playing The Last of Us Part 2 at a preview event final yr, it looks like will probably be well worth the wait.
Just the opposite week, somebody claimed to have inside data of the game’s story, so we would as effectively decide it aside whereas we twiddle our thumbs. Potential spoilers comply with the video beneath.
The leak claims that the primary enemies of the game, the Seraphites, are a bunch of Christian extremists who homicide Ellie’s love curiosity as a result of they see their same-sex relationship as a sin. Let’s revisit the trailers and see how that holds up.
But first, what about that identify: Seraphites?
Medieval Christian theology says seraphim are angelic beings that sit on the high of the heavenly hierarchy. They defend the holy throne at God’s facet.
Now, “-ite” is used to indicate that somebody belongs. That means Seraphites are actually: “of angels”.
Just the identify already lends some credence to the alleged leak. So let’s check out the trailers.
The Last of Us Part 2 – PlayStation Experience 2016: reveal trailer
Even this authentic reveal trailer hinted on the game’s non secular themes with its track, Through the Valley. Here’s a passage from the Bible, Psalm, 23:4 – “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
And for comparability’s sake, the track: “I stroll via the valley of the shadow of demise; And I’ll worry no evil as a result of I’m blind to all of it. And my thoughts and my gun, they consolation me; Because I do know I’ll kill my enemies after they come.
“Surely goodness and mercy will comply with me all the times of my life; And I’ll dwell on this earth forevermore. Still, I stroll beside the nonetheless waters, they usually restore my soul; But I can’t stroll on the trail of the appropriate as a result of I’m unsuitable.”
The Shawn James track is a direct reference to that Bible verse, however there’s a key distinction between the 2. In the scriptures the author is taking consolation from the very fact God is at their facet. They are being guided by God – a employees being the normal instrument of a shepherd – via the Valley of Death.
In the Shawn James model, he isn’t comforted by God. He’s comforted by his personal ideas and his gun, whether or not a metaphorical firearm or not. He feels protected as a result of he trusts himself, and he’s blind to the evil of the world as a result of he’s grow to be desensitised to it. The track is about rejection of faith.
In this context, it could possibly be Ellie rejecting faith as she gears up for revenge in opposition to a Christian cult. “I can’t walk on the path of the right because I’m wrong,” could possibly be a mirrored image of how Christianity claims her sexuality is a sin.
The trailer closes with Ellie telling Joel that she’s “going to find, and she’s going to kill, every last one of them”, which additionally backs up the idea that this can be a revenge story and she or he’s planning to hit again after they kill her love curiosity, Dina.
The Last of Us Part 2 trailer 2
This trailer exhibits a handful of recent characters, although they clearly have a large significance within the game’s story. Why else would they get their very own trailer and not using a trace of Ellie or Joel? It additionally provides us our first take a look at the Seraphites.
One attention-grabbing factor in regards to the Seraphites is how they usually talk with whistles, identical to how a shepherd communicates with their flock.
In the Bible – Zechariah, 10:8 – God says he’ll at some point whistle to carry his flock again to Himself/faith: “I will whistle for them and gather them in, for I have redeemed them, and they shall be as many as they were before.”
Lead game designer Richard Cambier told me this after I requested him in regards to the Seraphites’ whistles again at E3 2018: “There are religious undertones to how they talk, but also in how they communicate using these whistles.”
This trailer exhibits an unknown lady being dragged right into a clearing the place she sees the our bodies of quite a few individuals, every of them hung and disemboweled. The unknown lady is pulled by a rope from her neck earlier than one of many Seraphites, known as Emily, locations a bucket at her ft so she doesn’t die.
Emily then pulls a knife and gestures to the corpses, telling the thriller lady that “they are nested with sin”. Perhaps this implies they had been killed as a result of they had been contaminated. The Seraphites seemingly see the cordyceps illness as a manifestation of 1’s sins, with the transformation right into a clicker as the ultimate stage of that corruption.
Just as the girl is about to get her abdomen lower open, Emily is distracted by a whistle as one other lady, known as Yara, is dragged into the clearing. Emily is aware of Yara and calls her by identify – it appears Yara was additionally a Seraphite who has defected from the group. Emily then asks the place the opposite “apostate” is, presumably speaking about Yara’s brother, Lev. An apostate is somebody who has denounced a non secular order.
After Yara spits in Emily’s face, she orders her henchmen to “clip her wings”, after which they take a hammer to her elbow. If the Seraphites are “of angels”, the clipping of her wings is each a discount of her mobility and a symbolic gesture.
Yara is then saved by Lev, together with the unnamed lady. Shortly after, they’re set upon by clickers, who Yara refers to as “demons”. This lends extra proof to the Seraphites seeing them as the ultimate manifestation of humanity’s sins.
The Last of Us Part 2 gameplay trailer
This trailer gave us our first take a look at Dina, who Ellie shares a kiss with throughout a group dance. The part I performed final yr additionally revolved round Ellie and Dina’s blossoming relationship.
After their kiss, the trailer cuts to gameplay and we see Ellie shanking one of many Seraphites within the neck. Again, we hear these whistles because the cult communicates in its personal secret language.
Once extra, we see somebody disemboweled as one of many Seraphites says, “They are nested with sin.” When Ellie is finally noticed by one, they name out a warning, pointing at Ellie and calling her “Wolf”. Obviously a wolf is among the largest threats to a shepherd’s flock. In the Bible, a wolf can also be a metaphor for evil males and typically even Satan himself – anybody who preys on god-fearing Christians.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” – Saint Matthew, 7: 15.
Towards the tip of the trailer, Ellie executes a person who whispers, “Noah, who is the sacrificed lamb,” which additional cements that this group are radical Christians. It’s going to be attention-grabbing to see how the viewers responds when it lastly releases.
Personally, I’m much more within the game now. The Last of Us is superb due to how grounded it’s, and making up a fictional faith for a game that’s meant to be set in the actual world, within the United States, would take away from that. I simply hope Naughty Dog can pull it off with out having to dial it again to launch in a rustic the place these themes will seemingly generate controversy.
