If you don’t enterprise onto social media, you is likely to be unaware {that a} good chunk of The Last of Us Part 2’s plot leaked two months previous to the game’s launch.
Spoilers comply with the video under:
If you do go onto social media, you’ll know. You’ll know as a result of a Twitter account with a Joker avatar tweeted pictures of Joel bleeding out on the ground at you, together with some joke about golf.
While it occurs inside the first few hours, Joel’s loss of life is the factor that kicks off Ellie’s revenge mission, organising the remainder of the game. It’s a giant, impactful second – one that might have been greatest to expertise for your self.
It additionally began what’s now was months of toxicity within the debate across the game. Some individuals noticed the leaks, determined they didn’t just like the story, and made up their thoughts. Even now, if we put out an article in regards to the game, somebody will inevitably put up one thing about Joel’s loss of life.
So how did these leaks affect Naughty Dog? Creative director Neil Druckmann defined on Kinda Funny’s newest spoilercast under. We’ve pulled out the related quotes in the event you’d somewhat learn than watch the video:
“The thing that was really hard was when the leaks happened and you see that scene came out,” Druckmann stated, referencing Joel’s loss of life by the hands of Abby. “The love that folks have for this character, and that’s all they’ve is that, and [the fact you] then play as the person who killed them. And they lose their shit. Understandably. Then we simply have to sit down there for 2 months being like, ‘There’s extra to it, however we are able to’t say something proper now’. They simply dwell with that frustration and anger. That was exhausting. That was actually fucking exhausting.
“It was one of many worst days of my life when the leak occurred. I noticed it occur in actual time. I noticed when it hit YouTube. We’re all panicking, asking them to take it down. Then there’s a lag so it takes like an hour to take it down. It had perhaps a thousand views when all of it acquired taken down. Then you simply sit there and your fucking coronary heart sinks, and also you’re like, ‘It’s on the market, it’s solely a sure period of time till it blows up’. A couple of hours later it’s all over the place and also you’re beginning to get hate on each social media you’re on, and shortly that turns into loss of life threats, anti-Semitic remarks, and simply craziness I by no means may have anticipated. I knew individuals would get upset at a personality they love dying. I by no means thought it could attain this type of hate? I don’t know the way to describe it, even. Frustration?”
Druckmann says the studio knew there can be some followers who can be offended with how Joel is killed. They knew it could be polarising. But they weren’t ready for what occurred.
“The thing that was hard to see is then people kind of dug their heels in the sand and took this position like, ‘I already hate this game, no amount of context is going to change it for me’,” Druckmann defined.
On one stage it proved to the studio that the scene works. Naughty Dog wished the gamers to really feel how Ellie felt in that second: offended, hateful, disgusted. If web feedback across the leaks have been a yardstick for hitting these feelings, it was a hit.
“At some point, it took a few days, you realise the worst happened,” Druckmann continued. “The worst method this game might be offered occurred – our worst concern. Because we did so much to try to protect this story.”
We wrote again when it occurred that you shouldn’t judge The Last of Us Part 2 by the leaks. You can learn our review of The Last of Us Part 2 to see if that was sound recommendation.
