The Last of Us Part 2 Review

The Last of Us, which has won the hearts of players, returned with its sequel, The Last of Us Part 2, after a 7-year wait. Unlike the theme of love in the first game, The Last of Us Part 2 stands out with its theme of hatred. Did the long wait pay off? We will try to answer this question in our review of The Last of Us Part 2 without giving any spoilers. Before diving into the review, I would like to mention that I arrived at the game’s release day without encountering any spoilers about the story, and I experienced everything firsthand without spoiling my enjoyment.

Story

The Last of Us Part 2
Ellie and Joel, who have settled in the town of Jackson where Tommy resides, lead a peaceful and tranquil life, having bonded with the townspeople. However, this tranquility is shattered four years later when someone dear to Ellie is brutally murdered. Driven by a burning desire for revenge, Ellie embarks on a long journey in Seattle. Along this journey, she will encounter the WLF and Scars factions and confront the physical, emotional, and psychological consequences of the events she experiences.

The story of The Last of Us attempts to convey that there is no black and white in the world of The Last of Us; in reality, everyone is composed of shades of gray. In this universe, there is no clear division between good and evil. Each character has their own reasons and is forced to do certain things in order to survive. Of course, these actions can have consequences at times. In short, The Last of Us universe is a double-edged sword.

Is a cliché story of a gay teenager being told?

Before answering this question, I would like to clarify that Ellie’s sexual orientation as a lesbian was established in The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC, which was released prior to The Last of Us Part 2. Some people who have not played the Left Behind DLC may mistakenly assume or criticize that Ellie’s sexual orientation was determined in the sequel.

If we come to the answer to the question, it would be a great mistake to describe the story of The Last of Us Part 2 as a “cliché story of a gay teenager” because the narrative has nothing to do with that. You will already deduce this from what I have written, but for those who are curious, I would like to point out that the number of LGBTQ+ scenes in the game is almost negligible compared to the entirety of the game.

Empathy Empathy Empathy

The story of The Last of Us Part 2 aims to encourage players to empathize with their enemies, and at times, this empathy can be taken to extremes. Personally, while I may have empathized with and understood the opposing side, that empathy never fully quelled the anger within me. I still felt resentful towards them and had the desire to kill them.

Graphics and Atmosphere

The Last of Us Part 2

As you mentioned, The Last of Us Part 2 was released exclusively for the PlayStation 4 console. Despite the standard model of the console having a power of 1.87 TFLOPS, we can see from The Last of Us Part 2 that it is possible to push the boundaries with exceptional optimization. I’m not sure of the exact methods used by the Naughty Dog team to achieve such impressive graphics, but I can say that the visuals are simply stunning. Particularly, the forest scene in Seattle have reached a whole new level. While games like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn were also visually impressive, if I were to rank them, I would place The Last of Us Part 2 at the top.

Character Models and Facial Animations

The Last of Us Part 2 features a talented cast of actors, including Troy Baker (Joel), Ashley Johnson (Ellie), and Laura Bailey, among others. With these skilled performers and the advancements in face capture technology by the Naughty Dog team, a remarkable result has been achieved. In the game’s cinematic scenes, the characters’ facial expressions and emotions are conveyed with great clarity. The character modeling in the cinematic scenes offers a high level of graphics, enhancing the overall visual experience.

Gorgeous Level Designs

The Last of Us Part 2, with its impressive and expansive level designs, effectively immerses you in a post-apocalyptic world and constantly reminds you to be alert through its atmospheric presentation.
Every moment you play the game, you are influenced by the environmental details and designs. Speaking for myself, there were many times when I couldn’t resist opening the photo mode and capturing screenshots of the landscapes I encountered.

Gameplay

The Last of Us Part 2

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the game, in my opinion, is the gameplay mechanics and character animations. The Naughty Dog team has truly outdone themselves, and it’s impossible not to appreciate the tremendous effort they’ve put into it.

Let’s start with the character animations. From the swaying of your character when they lose balance to their movements, weapon handling, and even the way they open and look inside a lootable cabinet, the character animations are incredibly realistic. Often, when trying to achieve realism in character animations, they can come off as unnatural or awkward. However, that’s not the case in The Last of Us Part 2. The character animations in the game are both realistic and seamless, truly enhancing the overall immersion.

You Can Loot Around

As seen in the gameplay trailers, in The Last of Us Part 2, you can loot the environment by breaking shop windows or reaching inaccessible areas with the help of a rope. In such places, you can often find resources and occasionally come across weapon holsters or new weapons.
Speaking of ropes, the rope mechanic is not something that can be summarized in a single sentence, as it is quite detailed and realistic. The rope in the game can be stretched, slackened, tangled, and its shape is influenced by the objects it touches. It’s a testament to the game’s sophisticated physics engine and adds to the immersive experience.

You Can Dodge the Enemies

With The Last of Us Part 2, the dodge mechanic is introduced, allowing players to evade enemies and infected individuals during close-quarters combat. This dodge mechanic is not just a superficial addition; it has been seamlessly integrated into the gameplay. Whether you’re evading a single enemy or dealing with multiple attackers, the dodge mechanic operates smoothly without any hiccups or animation glitches. It provides players with a reliable and fluid means of escaping danger and adds an extra layer of strategic depth to the combat encounters.

NPC vs NPC

Actually, this event that we first saw in The Last of Us’ DLC expansion, Left Behind, has been further developed and expanded in The Last of Us Part 2. There are moments in the game where enemies and infected cross paths. In such situations, instead of engaging in combat with two different enemy types, you can create a diversion by throwing a bottle or brick, generating noise that attracts the infected towards human enemies. It’s quite enjoyable to witness the chaotic moments that unfold as infected attack human enemies.

Dogs

As seen in the released trailers, the game features trained dogs. These dogs are trained to track and locate enemies by scent, and they can pose quite a challenge. Unfortunately, as Naughty Dog previously mentioned, the decision to kill or spare the dogs is not entirely in our hands as players. Most of the time, you are forced to kill them.

Both Ellie and We Can Play Guitar

As seen in the game trailers, Ellie can now play the guitar. We encounter scenes where Ellie plays the guitar, which are quite well done. However, in my opinion, there could have been a few more of these scenes. I would have liked to see at least 1-2 more moments. But this is not a flaw in the game; it’s just my personal preference.
Not only can Ellie play the guitar, but The Last of Us Part 2 goes beyond that and allows you to play your own desired tunes. You can choose one of the provided notes using the analog stick and play the selected piece using the segmented touchpad on the DualShock 4 controller, corresponding to the guitar strings.

Weapon and Character Upgrades

The Last of Us Part 2

The Last of Us Part 2 features weapon upgrades, which were also present in the first game of the series. However, the addition of weapon disassembly and upgrade animations in this game adds both uniqueness and realism.
Character upgrades follows a similar system to the first game but with more variety. Just like in the first game, you can enhance your character in various aspects such as stealth and close-quarters combat by collecting supplements.

Every NPC Has a Name

In most games, non-playable characters (NPCs) are artificial characters. For example, in a shooter game, you need to kill the enemies you encounter, but these NPCs don’t leave any impact on you because you don’t know their names or who they are. This changes with The Last of Us Part 2. When you kill an enemy and their friends notice it, they react with statements like “No way, that’s Dave!” or “Damn it! Mike is dead.” These reactions make you realize that the people you’re killing are also individuals. Additionally, NPCs in the game are constantly interacting. For instance, when you are detected by an enemy, there are various dialogues exchanged among them, such as “Over there!”, “I’m closing in,” and “Copy that.”

Limb Dismemberment

When you shoot enemies with heavy weapons like rifles, you can witness dismemberment and their agonizing struggle. The same applies to infected. I once witnessed a infected caught in a trap, where their lower body was blown apart, but they still crawled towards me, determined to attack with their remaining strength. This game truly makes you feel the full impact of violence and brutality.

Collectibles and Encrypted Safes

If you’re someone who enjoys exploring the environment while playing a game, in The Last of Us Part 2, you’ll come across superhero cards and various notes from time to time. Superhero cards are collectible items purely for fun and trophy purposes, while the notes you find in the game are based on real-life stories. For example, by reading a note found inside a house, you can learn about someone’s life, their chosen sport, and the trophy they won in that sport. With a bit of further exploration, you can even see the actual trophy and the equipment they used in that sport.

Additionally, the game features locked safes with combination codes. These safes usually contain resources and notes, and the code to unlock them can be found through small environmental clues, although at times it can be quite challenging to figure out.

Thoughtfully Designed Level Designs

The Last of Us Part 2 boasts meticulously designed levels that offer a lot of options when encountering enemy groups. When faced with an enemy group, you have several choices. You can engage them directly in combat, stealthily eliminate them one by one, or proceed silently without harming anyone. At times, you come across doors from which the sound of infected can be heard. This is where the NPC vs NPC dynamic, which I mentioned earlier, comes into play.

Impressive Details

The Naughty Dog team has worked through some things down to the smallest detail. There is a very fine craftsmanship, from the real-time progress of a clock in the game, to the waves caused by the falling of the pieces into the water when you shoot a bullet into the wall, to the traces on the floor when you walk or crawl on a dusty ground, to the blood and brain fragments that flow on the wall when you spray the head of an enemy close to the wall, and even to the fact that the hot blood of the enemy you kill in a snowy place melts the snow.

Accessibility

In the game’s accessibility options, you can adjust the subtitle size, color, and whether the direction the conversation is coming from is shown in the subtitle. Similarly, the HUD size and color can be adjusted, but these are just the basic aspects. What impressed me the most about The Last of Us Part 2’s accessibility options were the features designed to make gameplay easier for individuals with visual or hearing impairments. The navigation option provides verbal directions to guide you to your destination, and you can visually perceive surrounding sounds. But it doesn’t stop there. For those with visual impairments, there are features like audio text and various visual modes. In the visual modes, the colors of objects and enemies are simplified and made more distinguishable, while the audio text feature reads aloud even the smallest text in the game. In addition to these, there are numerous other options available. I was delighted to see that the Naughty Dog team prioritized players with visual and hearing difficulties, and The Last of Us Part 2 is the most accessible game I have ever encountered.

Additionally, you can create your own difficulty mode in the game. Depending on the level of challenge you want to experience, you can adjust factors such as resource availability, your character’s resilience to attacks, enemy difficulty, and many other things. After all, life doesn’t treat everyone equally.

Sound and Music

The Last of Us Part 2

The Last of Us Part 2 has come a long way in terms of sound compared to the first game of the series. From the music of the game to the sound of a clicker, you hear it very smoothly and feel it literally inside you. In addition, as someone who has played the game with a quality headset from the beginning to the end, I can say that the sound map in the game is very successful. I say sound map because you can perceive very clearly where the sounds coming from the environment are coming from.

The music for The Last of Us Part 2 is once again composed by Gustavo Santaolalla, who also composed the music for the first game in the series. After the success of the first game, it was a good move to choose the same name again. Gustavo Santaolalla has delivered another impressive work in this game, touching both our souls and emotions, just like he did in the first game.

Additionally, in The Last of Us Part 2, we see a brief snippet of the successful artist Shawn James’ song “Through The Valley.” This song was already sung by Ellie in the announcement trailer of The Last of Us Part 2, and we were expecting it to be featured in the game.

Final Word

The Last of Us Part 2

Before concluding our review of The Last of Us Part 2, I would like to summarize the article with a few sentences and provide an honest overall evaluation. I can clearly say that The Last of Us Part 2, which I have eagerly awaited for 7 years and gave me goosebumps with its announcement trailer, did not present the story I expected. The Naughty Dog team chose to tell a different story and present it in a different style.

After finishing the game, my days have been consumed by thoughts of it, and I find myself listening to its music regularly. While I still have a few reservations, each passing day makes the story of the game more meaningful to me. In short, The Last of Us Part 2 can be described as a game that surpasses current generation titles with its graphics, level design, gameplay mechanics, and character animations. It can be considered a game of the next generation that delivers the promised experience and more.

The Last of Us Part 2
PROS
Stunning graphics
Impressive and clever level designs
Realistic and well-crafted character animations
Impressive character models and facial expressions
Accessibility options for those with visual and hearing impairments
AI
CONS
There were 1-2 parts that I found missing in the story and some points in the story could have been constructed differently.
9.5
GAME CHANGER
0
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