The Last of Us part 2 - Big and Honest Review

The first part of the world hit "The Last of Us" is one of the best projects in the world of video games, it's just pointless to argue with this.

The Last of Us part 2 has become the most discussed event of 2020, but our editors tried to distance themselves from their colleagues from other resources, whom we respect immensely, and calmly, despite the reviews and critics, immerse themselves in the creation of the talented guys from Naughty Dog.

A month has passed since the release of the game, passions have subsided, and it's time to still determine what is The Last of Us 2-is it a masterpiece of the gaming industry or a complete failure?

Our review reflects the impression and emotions from the gradual passage of the game The Last of Us part 2, which we have been waiting for a long time.

Let's get started!

ATTENTION! SPOILERS

The first 2 hours of the game

The first shots and, perhaps, all the initial events gradually return us to the events of the first part, allowing us to remember the emotions that we felt when saving Ellie from the Fireflies.

Great atmosphere – this is the main thing to note in the first hours of gameplay. Very touching scene of Joel playing the guitar, and a stunning gameplay move from the developers, which qualitatively fit into the overall entourage.

Ellie. From the first shots, it becomes clear that the cute, funny little girl, whose pearls we laughed at in the first part, was left far behind.

Of course, the key event of the first hours of the game, and further metamorphoses of Ellie, is, although quite expected, but no less painful, the death of Joel Miller…

Despite its brevity, the scene of Joel's death and the horror in Ellie's eyes – it was intense, it was emotional, you could cry, but we held on.

Is such a death of Joel a mistake of the screenwriters? Probably not. We will miss him, but it was this blow to Ellie that was supposed to be the starting point that was traced back to the first part.

Before this fateful turn of the plot, we were given to play as the killer of the man who became Ellie's father. From the first minutes, Abby as a character initially evoked mixed emotions. You could tell at once who they were looking for and for what purpose, and knowing that Joel was about to die, you would unconsciously want to feed it to the runners.

As for the topic that can't be distanced from in TLOU2 – it's Ellie's orientation. I will not say that this was a repulsive factor for me, and in General, the impression of the first hours of the game did not spoil. Will this spoil the overall impression of the game in the final? We'll see.

What I didn't like. From the moment Abby appeared, there was some sort of face-animation whizz. During the conversation against the backdrop of the city, her eyes ran all over her face, up and down, which looked pretty creep.

4 hours of play

The next two hours of play were mixed. On the one hand, the full weight of knowing that Joel is no longer there falls on Us, on the other hand, her weak attempts to suppress her aggression and desire for revenge.

Very emotionally. It was really strong. Perhaps that's why we love TLOU.

The game takes us to a post-apocalyptic Seattle. We must pay tribute to the efforts of the developers, the views of overgrown trails and the city destroyed by time look more than impressive, a few screenshots of this beauty went into the General Bank.

Then, with the arrival at the gates of the city, the routine begins, which has spoiled the atmosphere of Ellie's uncontrollable rage with its monotony.

We run from one gate to another, explore locations in search of fuel, and on the way we bypass the infected (a couple of times, we got confused where we were and where we weren't).

Perhaps the developers made us bored deliberately, gradually putting us in a trance and leading us to meet one of Joel's killers.

We will not go into details, but the result of such a plan was interesting and unusual, but still…

The metamorphosis with Ellie is impossible to ignore, she is gradually turning into a killing machine.

What I didn't like. Monotony. Yes, the views are beautiful, Yes, playing the guitar still makes you smile, Yes, it is also interesting to bypass the infected by stealth. But, all this Seattle routine running from gate to gate caused a sleepy yawn.

Will they fix the situation in the future?

6 hours of play

The situation is gradually heating up. Ellie and Dina move closer to their ultimate goal, more precisely to the goal pursued by Ellie – it was revenge for the death of Joel.

We continue to make our way through Seattle, destroyed by the infected and time. It is still beautiful, but more dynamic and not as monotonous as it was in the previous two hours.

Without realizing it, Ellie and Dina get involved in a confrontation between two well-armed groups, whose brutality is sometimes simply amazing.

***

Are there really good people left in this God-forsaken world of the infected? Fireflies, WLF, FEDRA - under good intentions arrange hell on earth. But Joel and Ellie are also not moral models, despite their love for them. Does this world deserve a chance at survival in the form of a vaccine?

***

The subway with its Shambler became one of the most stressful locations for the first 6 hours of gameplay. If the price of an error is not so high with snappers and a couple of accurate shots can correct the mistake, then the Shambler do not forgive this, especially in closed rooms.

If in the first part of "The Last of Us" we tried to break into a bunch of infected with a shotgun on the edge, the second part taught us to be careful. Competent calculation, timely and accurately thrown bottle, accurate possession of the stick – that's what is now required from players. And with this implementation, this is exactly what you need.

Here, for the first time, I do not want to find fault with minor flaws, which are certainly there. And I would like to note a small flashback with the Museum, where Joel's fatherly feelings for Ellie could no longer be hidden. Very emotional vivid scenes that once again force us to remember the reasons for increasing aggression Or towards the whole World. We are afraid to imagine what this will lead to in the end.

8 hours of play

Ellie, having heard the radio broadcast, goes in search of Tommy, although doubts begin to creep up that she is guided by other motives in this quest, and revenge for Joel's death.

Well, the atmosphere is heating up. We made several mistakes, trying to match the given vector of passing with a minimum amount of shooting, which had to be solved almost hand-to-hand.

If you're watching our walkthrough, you may have noticed that we don't cut out most of Ellie's game deaths. Perhaps our mistakes will help you avoid a similar situation.

The decoration of these two hours of the game was a small dynamic car ride and the expected meeting of a new ally, and a lively and emotional flashback with shooting from a sniper rifle (even there were difficulties at stage 3) and a fight with a Bloater.

An interesting two hours in which the contrast between the single Or and the Duo of Ellie and Joel was evident.

What I liked. Variability. Large-scale levels allow you to choose different strategies for passing. Complexity. Finding solutions becomes more difficult, but more interesting.

What I didn't like. Still, at 8 o'clock in the game, the Seattle study begins to get a little boring. However, in fairness, we note that in the passage we do not explore every corner of the map.

The meeting with the Seraphites was painful. It's time to show them that angering Ellie isn't the best option.

10 hours of play

Adepts of the cult of "Seraphites" (or Scars, as WLF calls them), those still bastards who can impose a fight on the same Waugh, including Abby.

Just mad aggression, animal rage, and no regret in his eyes.

It was difficult enough, but after sending a dozen "scars" to the other world, Ellie finally approaches her goal and meets another culprit of Joel's death.

Earlier, speaking about Ellie's metamorphoses, we assumed that we would end up with a "killing machine", which was confirmed in this part of the passage.

Here we are faced with a question that is still unsolvable for us: "Why is Ellie so eager to avenge Joel's death if she (as flashbacks show) herself hated him for what he did to save her?"

Of course, we are only at the equator of the passage, and further we will still show the development of their relationship, but now her behavior raises quite logical questions.

Ellie was faced with the consequences of her revenge, the tortures inflicted, perhaps, only further hardened her, and we will face similar situations again and again. Could she be blamed for this without knowing Abby's entire history and motivation? Perhaps not!

But there are doubts creeping up that we will end up with a moral dilemma between Ellie and Abby's motivations, and everything will not be as obvious as it seemed at first glance.

12 hours of play

Now that's interesting. As previously suggested, we are smoothly led to the moral clash between Ellie and Abby.

Ellie, driven by a desire for revenge, continues to send Abby's friends/colleagues to the other world.

Immediately about what I did not like in this part. It is not entirely clear the introduction of a female character (Mel) in an interesting position. Why the accent? To cut off some of our attachment to Ellie by appalling her actions, and lead us to pass through and empathize with Abby? It didn't work that way.

It was quite unusual to watch Mel with a belly on the edge of jumping on roofs, crashing into cars and shooting back from the "Scars".

Abby's appearance was truly unexpected and intriguing. As the game progresses, it becomes clear that we will have to get to know the main culprits of all the events of the second part of TLOU.

But, oddly enough, playing for Abby looks even somewhat more interesting than playing for Ellie. The power of this pumped-up girl, when she fights off infected people with her bare hands, breaks their necks-it looks impressive.

But you can't say that knowing the reason for revenge on Joel, you start to empathize with her as a character. No, you continue to treat her with caution and a little bit of hatred, as well as WLF, especially when in one of the dialogues they discussed that they had shot a group of "Scars", including children. Yes, they protected themselves and their loved ones, but the other side of the conflict did it to the same extent.

Still, our question from the third part of the passage continues to be relevant: "Does humanity deserve a chance to get a vaccine?". Although the game itself is not about this.

It is very intriguing what kind of continuation the scene from the theater will eventually get.

14 hours of play

This was really powerful. Perhaps, these two hours for Abby turned out to be really frightening, dynamic and as aggressive as possible.

***

Again, it draws attention to the fact that some aspects of the gameplay for Abby repeat the events experienced with Ellie. For example, when Abby moves along the wall and is attacked by a Snapper. A similar situation was with Elly and snag (however, there we were helped by Joel).

***

So, Abby on "wings of love" flies to Owen, along the way encountering a real nightmare.

Here we finally got to the scene that we were shown in the first trailers for the second part. The appearance of Yara and her brother Lev, who will still play a role in the further development of events, was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. Interesting character.

We thought that Ellie was a killing machine, but Abby just bulldozed through infected people and with her bare hands (sometimes with a hammer), in pitch darkness, where only Yara's torch lights the way, scattering everyone right and left.

Well, the scenes where Abby gets trapped with a bunch of runners, snappers and fireflies were a serious test for us. In the video walkthrough, we left all our failed attempts to shoot back from the infected. And a special role in our attempts was played by ordinary window glass…

When we finally got to Owen, we witnessed a passionate bed scene…

What I didn't like. Abby comes to Owen's yacht and just plops down on the sofa with a casual look. It was a hard two hours for us, not to mention the girl. There's blood all over her, bruises on her neck from the rope when they wanted to hang her, and Owen doesn't even pay attention, and Abby doesn't show it, and then 18+starts.

Is this done to show all the strength of the girl or just a small mistake of the developers?

Otherwise, it was a really interesting and stressful two hours, but, to be honest, I want to get back to Ellie.

16 hours of play

Abby, showing feelings not quite typical of her image, goes to save Yara and the Lev. Watching the scene, when Mel examines Yara's hand, it becomes clear where the bloodstains that Ellie sees will come from…

Abby and Lev go in search of medicines and tools in an abandoned hospital, and here it feels right that we will be waiting for extremely unpleasant surprises.

Lev is just a terminator (or a terminator, to be honest, he got confused in this branch), sometimes his well-aimed shot from the bow really saved the situation.

At the hospital, we were met with a warm welcome from both Abby's coworkers and the next infected person who would probably have nightmares…

The Rat King is just an abomination in the flesh. We were terrified of him running around an abandoned hospital ward, but surprisingly it turned out that it would not be so difficult to defeat him, especially if we had not foolishly spent bullets on snappers.

But here is his fucking fallen off "appendage" messed up the nerves thoroughly. There aren't many cartridges left, the flamethrower is a so-so tool, and what to do? This was the boss we spent half an hour on. Somewhere we ourselves made stupid mistakes, somewhere this smart guy didn't give us a chance.

So, these two hours were quite stressful and generally difficult, since "dying" was often and sometimes stupid.

18 hours of play

The final is getting closer… And the most important question is how it will turn out in the end. From what we've already seen, I'm afraid we'll be led to the conclusion that neither Ellie nor Abby will satisfy their thirst for revenge.

Moving forward, we face one of the most memorable scenes is a battle between WLF and Seraphites. It is a truly penetrating sight, visually executed on some cosmic level.

We finally get to the theater and the stage, with Abby holding Ellie at gunpoint. It was extremely unusual to try to kill a character we liked, and in the passage, we deliberately left all our attempts to do this unchanged.

Understanding the impact Lev had on Abby, and as we said earlier, the developers ' attempt to lead us to a moral clash, the interim finale came out quite expected.

Further events, with JJ and Dina, Santa Barbara and Fireflies still leave us a chance for the final, which we talked about at the beginning of this part. But here's the question: "will the ending where Ellie still kills Abby really be the logical point and the right ending?". Honestly, I'm not sure anymore, and it took a little more than an hour to sow these doubts in me…

20 hours of play-FINAL

Neil Druckmann that you do with us? That's the question you're left with in the end credits.

"The Last of Us" is a phenomenon in the world of video games, a rare phenomenon that really leaves a lot of impressions. Somewhere you just admire the idea of the author, somewhere you hate him for the death of the hero, and somewhere you are emotionally so devastated that the completion of the game does not bring satisfaction, as the very fact of completion.

The finale of the second part of "The Last of Us" is an emotional shock. The first five minutes of stupor, then you scroll through the latest events in your head and try to understand the full scale of the developers' idea.

And the final for each game is different. Those who expected from the game only a demonstration of revenge, unrestrained and merciless, will tear and throw, because they will not get what they want.

For me, such an ending is quite natural and logical. The whole point of the second part is not revenge as such, but a demonstration of the horrors of what the desire for revenge can lead to. As we thought, we were faced with a moral dilemma, and if earlier Abby's death seemed logical, then after going all the way, the opinion changed dramatically. We continue to hate her for killing Joel.

But how many deaths have we seen, how much pain and shock have Ellie and Abby endured, would each other's death have brought them peace? No, I didn't bring it!

Neil Drakmann and Naughty Dog in General have done a great job. First they made us hate Abby fiercely and wish her the most painful death, then they took us through a real hell with her, where she appeared to us from another side.

And here is the final battle. How many of You really wanted Ellie to kill Abby? I don't think.

The scene at the ranch, when Ellie leaves the guitar – this is not an attempt to return to Dina and JJ, this is a farewell to Joel and forgiveness.....

15 minutes have passed since the end credits, emotions are overflowing and we will postpone the overall assessment of the game for now.

General impression

So, it took about 10 hours after the main storyline ended, and it's time to take stock.

As indicated at the very beginning, we deliberately delayed the game, did not look at reviews and reviews of colleagues, abstracted from criticism and praise reviews.

It was important for us to experience the gameplay and all aspects of these complex moral issues, and as it turned out, this approach was the right solution.

It is difficult to evaluate the game in a certain point system, but it will not be justified to put The Last Of Us part 2 less than 8 points out of 10, even taking into account the fact that for whom the plot may remain unclear.

For us, this is a strong 9.5 / 10 and our belief in the correctness of our choice will not be shaken.

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P/S Did not expect this from themselves, given the attitude to the character at the beginning of the game. I was really sorry for Abby in the final. Only Ellie had that much pain in her eyes.

The verdict is simple enough.

"The Last Of Us part 2" is the best (at least so far) game of 2020 and a masterpiece of the gaming industry as a whole!

Who we recommend: Those who liked the first part and those who are ready for a complex morality and a lot of questions, the answers to which will have to look for yourself.

Needless to say, Ellie's story will not end there?!