This article is for individuals who have performed and completed The Last of Us Part 2, in addition to individuals who don’t care about spoilers. Basically, we’re going to search out and we’re going to spoil each final one in every of them.
Sam White: Now we’ve each truly completed The Last of Us Part 2 it looks as if the right alternative for us to get into [SPOILER ALERT] the nitty gritty. I feel lots of people are going to be keen on how Part 2 offers with a bunch of various components – each when it comes to the unique and the way new characters are dealt with – so I suppose we must always begin firstly. What did you make of the opening?
Kirk McKeand: It’s attention-grabbing how Naughty Dog left this breadcrumb path to comply with within the trailers, deceptive gamers a bit. I totally anticipated the game to open with the winter dance, one thing unhealthy to occur, and for a revenge story to spawn from that. But no, it opens by immediately coping with the top of the primary game: Joel killing the Fireflies and mendacity to Ellie.
It’s actually understated – a stark distinction to the prologue of the unique – however it tells you extra about Joel as a personality than the opening of the unique. “I saved her,” he tells Tommy, his brother, because the digicam cuts to footage of the hall, slick with blood and useless Fireflies piled up. His misinform Ellie on the finish of the primary game was arguably his greatest sin – outdoors of doubtless dooming the world – however now he’s mendacity to himself as effectively. I cherished it, although I do suppose the precise “game” has a big leap in high quality as soon as the human enemies are launched.
SW: Yeah understated is correct. But I like how up entrance it’s. You know from the get go that the game goes to take care of this lie. And it units up this pressure that Ellie is, sooner or later, going to search out out. Also, the whole opening sequence, while you’re driving by way of the sundown, is simply beautiful. Gustavo’s soundtrack is fucking superb. What did you consider the best way the game offers with the following few hours? Lots occurs. You get launched to Abby, and naturally, Joel faces a squelchy demise.
KM: Yeah, that opening is gorgeous – the writing and the visuals. I needed to snicker as a result of the game is like, “press L1 to gallop”, and I used to be like, “I don’t think I will”. I simply wished to soak in it.
Abby’s introduction is sensible. You management her fairly early on and also you don’t perceive her motives. She’s with this group who really feel like aspect characters, however you actually bond with them over the game. Early on, you hate all of them.
Joel clearly isn’t a very good man, however there’s a kindness in him and he does care about Ellie. I really like that he retains a e-book, An Idiot’s Guide to Space, on his bedside. He’s dedicated to studying Ellie’s pursuits in order that they have some frequent floor. But he’s completed unforgivable stuff. Even outdoors of the ultimate scene of the primary game, there’s that bit the place they’re ambushed by raiders on the roadside. Ellie asks how he knew it was an ambush and he replies, “I’ve been on both sides.” He’s a killer and a torturer. His fondness of Ellie doesn’t absolve him of his sins. But nonetheless, when he’s mendacity there on the ground, leg shattered from a shotgun blast, hair sticky with blood, you are feeling what Ellie feels.
You can’t assist however hate these newcomers who did this to him. The writers do an excellent job of placing you on her aspect at that time, which is the place you could be for the later stuff to have such an influence. I’d additionally like to the touch on the response to his dying that performed out throughout social media: individuals had been actually offended concerning the spoilers. They referred to as it “bad storytelling”. But absolutely the very fact they care a lot a few fictional character’s dying is simply testomony to the writers at Naughty Dog. This developer creates a number of the finest characters and tales in games. If you actually have that reference to Joel, why doubt the writers now?
SW: Yeah Joel’s dying was a mixture of feelings for me. I didn’t actually really feel sorry for him, however that scene harassed me out. My coronary heart was racing, I felt anxious. It occurs so shortly, so potently. I feel lots of people would anticipate this form of act to take a couple of extra hours to construct as much as, however it’s swift and unrelenting and it hits you arduous (it hits him tougher lol). I additionally appreciated that the game covers up quite a lot of that scene till a lot later.
The reality Ellie can’t hear Abby and mates vouching for her to stay, just for her to then go and kill quite a lot of them afterward, is desperately unhappy to me. I feel I empathised with Abby prior to quite a lot of gamers will. I do know one of many important issues at Naughty Dog is that maybe some gamers received’t empathise together with her. But I feel if the game had been to make me select, I’d actually battle, which is a testomony to how sturdy the character constructing is. I used to be positively extra Team Abby than Team Ellie on the finish.
Did you want Abby from the get go? What did you consider how the game is structured and the way it offers with these views?
KM: I empathised with Abby’s reasoning, however not her strategies. She went too far. After all, Joel and Tommy did save her. But even she is aware of she crossed a line. Her mates have a look at her otherwise afterwards. But that’s the primary theme of the story isn’t it – how far would you go for some payback, and what are you prepared to lose?
Once I’d spent some correct time with Abby, I truly most well-liked her to Ellie. Like you say, Ellie is fairly fucked up by the top. She solely cares about revenge. Obviously a few of that’s introduced on by the PTSD of seeing Joel killed in entrance of her, however she principally forces Abby to combat after she already spared Ellie’s life earlier. Right on the finish, Abby is malnourished and weak. Ellie has a knife, Abby doesn’t. Abby simply desires to save lots of her good friend, Lev, however Ellie desires to combat. It’s poetic that she will be able to’t comply with by way of, however Ellie loses all of it for some blood. Even two of her fingers, which suggests she additionally loses the primary connection she needed to Joel – the power to play that guitar he’s sprucing up for her within the opening scene.
I’ve not too long ago been watching our video individual taking part in by way of the unique and he or she simply bought to the bit the place Sam will get contaminated and turns. Before that, he asks Ellie what she’s afraid of. At first she laughs it off and says “scorpions”, however then her extra critical reply is, “I’m scared of being by myself. I’m scared of ending up alone.” Now Dina and J.J. are gone from the farmstead when she lastly returns house, she’s misplaced that connection to Joel. It’s very unhappy. It’s extra unhappy than if Ellie died on the finish, even. I really like that even strains that you simply’ve forgotten from the unique game are made stronger by Part 2 – I feel it positively deserved that distinction as a Part 2, somewhat than an peculiar numbered sequel. It’s a narrative that asks: what would the fallout of the unique game be?
SW: Yeah watching her lose the whole lot is heartbreaking. Ellie is dropping her purpose to stay, and Abby is discovering hers. I really like how that Pearl Jam music is used as this reference level for Joel too. And I believed it was so devastating how, proper on the finish, you realise Joel and Ellie made up. I feel some individuals will say that the game has a transparent ending after which goes on for a couple of extra hours, however I feel that’s fully the purpose. Ellie and Dina get to a spot that’s for anybody else the right life, for the fact they stay in. The farm home is gorgeous, they’ve peace, and so they’re taking care of a child. It’s the top for a standard individual – however not for her. That last stretch in Santa Barbara is meant to, in my interpretation, really feel like one step too far. The game is making you are feeling this bizarre dissonance between leaving that idyllic place and going again to one thing horrible.
In phrases of her companions, I believed they had been good. I really like Jesse – he’s an superior character that you simply empathise with nearly immediately. And Dina is fantastic. At first she jarred me a bit as a result of she’s clearly making an attempt arduous to get Ellie to fancy her, however by the top I used to be in love together with her. I believed Shannon Woodward’s efficiency all through was unbelievable; particularly in that scene on the finish the place she’s begging Ellie to remain. She nailed that.
Mechanically, I feel the companions had been approach higher to combat alongside as effectively. They helped kill contaminated extra effectively and solved puzzles, and it felt such as you had a human individual there with you somewhat than simply an NPC ready for the following narrative beat. Speaking of companions, what did you consider Yara and Lev?
KM: Two of my favorite characters within the game, truly. You don’t actually know something concerning the Seraphites earlier than you meet them (apart from the very fact they minimize scars into their faces, talk in whistles, and pull individuals’s guts out). Obviously they’re extraordinarily bigoted, and so they’ve twisted the phrases of a smart girl to go well with their very own strategies – very similar to some do with the scriptures from actual religions. Their blatant transphobia is disgusting, and it’s painted as unforgivable, which I feel is essential. We even have an article on the trans illustration within the works from one in every of our good freelancers.
Lev – performed by an unbelievable trans actor, Ian Alexander – is making an attempt to flee this cult. Lev and his sister, Yara, are outcast as a result of Lev shaved his head and started figuring out as male. When you meet them, you’re pressured collectively, however Abby decides to go and save them from the Seraphites. It’s not romantic in a standard sense, however it’s sort of a Romeo and Juliet story, the place these individuals from totally different teams that hate one another come collectively and realise their teams are each bullshit in their very own distinctive methods.
I additionally love how they’ve been raised with their very own language in order that they don’t get a few of Abby’s slang. When she teaches Lev what “cool” means, and Lev later will get blended up and says, “that’s cold”. Loved that. Lev and Abby’s scene on the skybridge is one in every of my favourites within the game as effectively. Lev appears fearless – this tiny teenager – the place Abby – this ox of a girl (please suplex me) – is shitting herself. That little contact the place if you happen to look down when up excessive as Abby, the display distorts and he or she begins to shake – I like these particulars. And then relating to Abby switching sides – or extra like saying fuck you to each of them – I’m glad it was Lev who survived and never Yara. It looks like Abby and Lev have a greater dynamic, and Lev’s story was solely simply starting. As for different characters, Owen is my absolute boy and I’d take a golf membership for him.
SW: It’s attention-grabbing you say that, as I do know there was quite a lot of dialogue internally as to which character out of Lev and Yara would die. Initially it was Lev, however I feel for a similar causes you say, Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross determined to alter it. They truly had quite a lot of arguments about that. In the ultimate model, Yara’s dying looks like the top of an arc such as you say. She’s saved her brother from their mom, who’s so religious to the Seraphites that she attacked Lev when he returned to the island. Whereas Lev has simply discovered who he’s, and I feel the story is so much stronger for it.
Owen is one other good one. At first he irritated me a bit. He comes throughout like a little bit of a dick. He’s flippant and doesn’t seem all that heartwarming. But then when you get into it and determine what he’s like, he’s one in every of, if not my favorite newcomers in the entire game. The sequence with the aquarium is good. And you get a few pretty little flashbacks to him there, like when he’s adorned all of it for Christmas. Like, he’s a little bit of a knob not prioritising his pregnant girlfriend who’s clearly struggling, however I suppose it’s the post-apocalypse so the conventional guidelines on monogamy may be out the window? I feel it’s a very good instance of how gray the entire game is. People simply make decisions and there’s by no means actually a way of anybody being good or unhealthy, they’re all simply coping.
I’m keen on what you made from the set items. This game has a LOT of them. What did you make of moments like Ground Zero, or the skyscraper sequence, or heading to the island to get Lev again?
KM: The Island was most likely my favorite gameplay sequence in the whole game. It felt a bit like Metal Gear Solid, with you snaking by way of the grass whereas two totally different factions wage warfare throughout you. It made the world and stakes really feel larger than you – such as you’re trapped on this battle and making an attempt to get out, killing by necessity. As for Ground Zero, I feel it’s such an amazing idea. I wasn’t anticipating a boss combat within the game, however I feel it really works. There’s solely the one, until you rely the bloater within the Ellie flashback, and it’s not such as you’re having to shoot a glowing weak level or something. It’s simply this terrifying mass of flesh and claws, and you need to use the whole lot you need to maintain it away. It’s atmospheric as hell.
Oh, I simply realised there may be one other boss – Ellie. I couldn’t consider it while you combat her as Abby. She kicked my ass so many instances. It’s genius that you simply’re totally on-board the Abby practice by this level. I genuinely wished to make Ellie pay for killing the individuals who I bonded with by way of the second half of the game. Your loyalty jumps in every single place and it’s extraordinarily good.
SW: Yeah for me the boss combat was possibly the one a part of the game I bought pissed off. I really like the lore facet of that complete sequence, heading down into the hospital that housed the primary contaminated in Seattle 25 years in the past. It was actually scary, and also you didn’t know what you had been going to search out. The setting jogged my memory of Alien a bit, and the boss itself was Best Of Resident Evil. But the darkness down there irritated me when it got here to combating that boss. Did you realize he’s referred to as The Rat King? I discovered his identify within the mannequin viewer within the game’s extras on the primary menu, which you must take a look at by the best way as a result of the idea artwork is superb. But yeah, as soon as I discovered a path to navigate round and keep away from the boss, it was wonderful, however I feel it’s the one time in the whole game I actively had a second of not having fun with myself.
As for that combat with Ellie and Abby, oh my god. It was so tense. At first I believed you form of may take care of Ellie like every regular enemy, so I charged at her, and I had my face completely fucked up by Ellie’s shotgun. Learned from that one fairly shortly.
We’re happening a bit now so I suppose we must always speak about the way you suppose this game stacks up, general, in opposition to the primary. And additionally whether or not you suppose it’s going to be the form of game that defines the PS4 in the identical approach the unique did the PS3?
KM: Totally. I feel it’s possibly the very best game I’ve performed this whole technology. My feelings had been in every single place. It’s testomony to the writers how what’s maybe my favorite scene in the whole game doesn’t even characteristic any of the superb stealth and fight. Joel takes Ellie to an deserted museum for her birthday and also you stroll across the exhibit studying dinosaur details. You put a hat on a dinosaur and fiddle climbing the skeletons. Then you head upstairs and it’s an area exhibit. Joel has introduced a cassette recording of the moon landings with him, Ellie places an area helmet on, and so they strap right into a touchdown module whereas she lets her creativeness run wild.
It’s Ellie as we noticed her in Left Behind – a correct child. It’s earlier than she discovers the lie Joel advised and he or she’s completely satisfied. It’s pretty. It made me really feel emotions. It was most likely probably the most impactful second for me, and that’s in a game full of impactful moments. It’s additionally intelligent how they pepper that part with assets to maintain the strain up. Naughty Dog actually took the criticisms of the plain fight arenas from the primary game onboard. It’s only a masterpiece. I really feel like we may simply speak about it forwards and backwards eternally, however about 90 p.c of the individuals studying this is able to have checked out ages in the past. Me and you might be The Last of Us, running a blog into the apocalypse.
SW: Nah mate they’ve simply learn my bits, it’s wonderful.
But yeah I completely agree. I feel it’s mechanically a far stronger game than the primary, positively probably the most satisfying game that Naughty Dog has ever made. Stealth, fight, exploration; all good. It’s additionally my favorite when it comes to construction. Never seen a game do that form of factor earlier than, and for the staff to drag off quite a lot of satisfying narrative beats that had quite a lot of baggage connected to them was exceptional.
The approach they handled Ellie discovering out concerning the lie simply felt fully pure. It didn’t really feel like some massive second that needed to occur to please followers; it felt just like the form of revelation a standard individual might need. And introducing Abby is courageous and I hope individuals dig it. It’s a singular game and managed to keep away from fan service or any sense of pandering to boring concepts. Itmight not have that stunning ending, however the whole lot else about its story says extra about individuals and relationships. You know what I imply? Kirk….? Kirkkkk? KIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRK!
KM: Never speak to me once more.
