Reviews

My opinion about The Last of Us part 2 and why I hate the story, it's gonna be long and filled with spoilers:

I loved every Uncharted game and I had even more love for the first Last of Us game. So far Naughty Dog had never let me down and trust me I wanted this to be good too. Even if it probably wouldn't have been as good as the first game, I was hoping I'd still love it. I did happen to see the leaks and I wasn't sold on the story, yeah I was always afraid for Joel eversince they announced the game, but I was hoping they wouldn't go that predictable route and if it had to happen, it would have been done in a way the character deserved, since he was very loved. Unfortunately I already knew Joel's death was gonna be brutal, I knew Abby's motive, I knew we were going to have to play as Abby which I hated, I knew we were going to have to fight Ellie which I hated even more. In spite of knowing this, I still had this little bit of hope, the hope that they would do it in a way that it would be rough but amazing.

After I started playing it I hated to find out Joel was being killed so early on in the game, it feels so rushed, like they couldn't wait to get rid of him. They completely did him dirty, made him fall for a trap which isn't like him at all, made him die at the hands of a group of cowards who were all in favor of Abby torturing him in a disgusting way for some sort of reason, and to top it off have someone spit on him... so they want me to feel angry, yeah they did that, but more at Naughty Dog for choosing this path than anything else.

The next part is the part I did enjoy, I was angry so I was happy to hunt them down, there are amazing details in the game, and some very suspenseful moments and jump scares. All good, until, you have to switch to Abby... A very unlikeable character which they are trying to make you sympathize with, her daddy saves a zebra, what a good guy, right? Then he rationalizes killing a young girl, a child, without her given consent by the way, for an experiment to hopefully make a vaccine. Not to mention that killing a patient for any reason is highly unethical, which every doctor knows. A vaccine that is very overrated because if a bloater gets you, or a clicker rips out your throat, or a runner smashes your brains in, what good would a vaccination do you? But let's say it did work, let's pretend a 100% they would be able to make as much as they wanted with guaranteed succes of saving peoples lives, it's not very likely the fireflies would just go and "save the world", it would just mean they had means to control and conquer the world... it would just mean they would have power. Abby said if it was her she would want him to do the surgery, but her dad never said he would, because a real loving father wouldn't kill his precious daughter (all he may have left in the apocalypse), he would take her and run, and you know it. Just like Joel did with Ellie. So Joel went to get Ellie and Abby's dad threatened him, he got shot and died. Just like almost all of the fireflies, yet Abby seems to somehow know a guy named Joel Miller did it, hunts him down for years with a group who, again, apparently agree Joel deserves the most horrific death... I find this whole plot ridiculous and poorly written.

So not only do I not agree with Abby and I don't feel bad for her because I already know what she did to Joel, it's just bad writing to have her do something so disgusting to our favourite character and afterwards try to get me to sympathize. Not gonna happen, especially with a very short flashback. So then we are stuck playing as her after the whole ordeal for hours and she is just so unlikable, they try to convince you how good she is by saving Lev and Yara. She even betrays and kills her own people, people she knew! For these 2 kids she just met... How is that not "worse" then what Joel did? Joel travelled the country with Ellie and built a relationship with her, he killed people he didn't know to save her... it's just so hypocritical to me.

After all that mess you have to fight Ellie... what can I even say, they should know when players start cheering when their opponent kills their character and don't want to complete the objective, that you've failed your fans. It felt awful, I didn't want to do it, I only hated Abby more. Ellie is left with PTSD and goes after Abby once again, but not before you have to go back to playing that horrible character once more. After all the trouble she goes through, and losing 2 fingers, out of nowhere Ellie decides to not go through with it... it makes absolutely no sense to me that she would go all this way and for some reason can forgive Abby for what she did out of hate to someond she dearly loved, even tho she couldn't forgive Joel for something he did out of love...

Now, I get that Ellie felt conflicted, I get that she felt bad about resenting Joel and being cold to him, because of how much it hurt when she lost him and saw him like that. I get that she probably was angry at herself aswell... but it doesn't take away how empty and bleak the ending is. She has no one left, everything good in her life is ruined, destroyed. She can't even play guitar anymore, her last connection to Joel, and leaves behind his guitar. This game was designed to make you feel horrible, which is not why I play games... There is enough horrible and depressing stuff in the world, I didn't need this game to be that too.

Not to mention that Joel & Ellie = The heart of The Last of Us, it's what made the first game amazing. How the wounded man learned to love again, even tho he didn't want to, he didn't want to open up, he didn't want to get attached to Ellie, it was too painful for him because of what he lost and she reminded him of that. But she melted his heart, and Ellie found something in Joel she never seemed to have had before.

The trailers for part 2 also made us think that Joel was going to be alot more involved in the game, by flat out lying and tricking us with using an older image of Joel in scenes that turned out to just be flashbacks of Joel before the events in this game take place. They even went as far as actually recording a fake line with Troy Baker and putting Joel in a scene he isn't really in, because it turns out in reality that is Jesse's line, this was all on purpose just to deceive and make the player feel bad. Neil Druckman even claimed he would rather have people hating the game with a passion than just finding it mediocre, that is a messed up mentality and I honestly think he should lose his job for that.

So, this is why I very much dislike the game, it has nothing to do with LGBTQ+, I will say though that I agree and think Abby looks ridiculous, which I know is also a big complaint for others. I also think the sex scene was uncalled for. It also didn't make Owen any more likeable since he already had a pregnant girl running around and that whole situation was clearly never going to end well...

The best part of the game is the flashback of Joel and Ellie going to the museum, for a brief moment we were reminded of what made the first game so good, but I am sad to see they ruined the rest so severely. I initially wanted to give the game a 4/10, but the more I think about it, the more I dislike it. So I'm making it 2/10, it's harsh, but so were you, Naughty Dog, when you destroyed a beautiful story. You claimed you wouldn't make a part 2 unless you had a really good story, and then after 7 years you came up with this... Sadly, you officially, and massively, disappointed me and other fans, for the first time...