The Last of Us Part II spans the gamut of human emotion

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,291   +192
Staff member
The big picture: Crafting a sequel to a game as beloved as The Last of Us is no easy task but judging from what we’ve seen so far, it looks as though Naughty Dog is certainly on the right path. The original really pushed the narrative and technical limits in the final days of the PlayStation 3 and with any luck, the sequel will do the same as the PlayStation 4 prepares to pass the torch.

Naughty Dog during Sony’s PlayStation Experience event in late 2016 announced the follow-up to action-adventure survival horror game The Last of Us. The title was again teased at the Paris Games Week trade show last year and at E3 2018, we’re getting another – more intimate – look at the promising sequel.

The nearly 12-minute spot opens unassumingly enough with Ellie nonchalantly chatting it up with a friend. Moments later, she’s led to the dance floor by a female friend – Nina. The two share a warm embrace and it’s clear that they’re more than friends. They engage in a tender kiss which transitions to a scene of Ellie plunging a knife into a guy’s throat. Talk about a jarring segue.

The next several minutes demonstrate the game’s various stealth and combat elements, all the while showing off dazzling visuals in a lusciously overgrown yet haunting environment.

The action sequence ends with a machete to the throat as the visual fades back to the dance with Ellie’s love interest.

Neither Sony nor Naughty Dog provided a release date for The Last of Us Part II.

Permalink to story.

 
This game gets you to root for it's characters unlike any other.

First game was great. I am banking on this one underwhelming because of an over emphasis on love and romance in post-apocalyptia, which will be blamed on bigotry rather than poor storytelling. IGN, Kotaku, et al. will rave about the inclusivity and representation and how this is all refreshing and more devs need to take note. Then you'll head over to Metacritic and the user reviews will have it around 64 with complaints that there are too many cut scenes and the narrative sucks.

You heard it here first.
 
Turning it into a SJW game is just political pandering. I'll try to ignore it this time around. I'll decide after if I'm done with the series.
 
Back