The Last of Us Part II received its fair share of controversy. Before the game was released earlier this year, rumors of crunch culture and overworked employees were revealed to the public as Naughty Dog tried to polish the game for the scheduled release. Die-hard Naughty Dog fans were also spoiled when major leaks were released to the public, and not even 24 hours after its debut, The Last of Us Part II was given some of the worst reviews possible.
Despite all this, The Last of Us Part II has become PlayStation’s most completed game ever, surpassing even God of War and Spider-Man (PS4), two games that were critically acclaimed by fans and reviewers alike.
After all the backlash this game received, how is this possible?
The Last of Us Part II Negative Reviews
The Last of Us Part II – Ellie and Dina
From the onset, The Last of Us Part II received praising reviews from video game outlets garnering perfect (and near-perfect) scores across the board. Honestly, as a die-hard fan of the series, I wasn’t surprised, but seeing this confirmed my thoughts about how amazing this game was going to be. Sure enough, I wasn’t let down, as I loved every part of playing through this game.
However, shortly after The Last of Us Part II was released, the overwhelmingly negative reviews began to flood in. Disgruntled fans took every chance they had to criticize Naughty Dog and Neil Druckman over claims that the story was “poorly written.”
I was confused at this point
How could people have such a negative review on such an amazing game? I read the reasons why people were criticizing it and I tried to see things from their perspective, but I couldn’t make the connection. At this point, anyone who praised The Last of Us Part II was verbally attacked. It honestly seemed as though the majority of gamers hated the same game that I deemed as a masterpiece.
Even today if you go to Metacritic and look at the “User Ratings” you’ll see that there are 34,000 people who love this game and 34,000 people who hate it. Scrolling through the review list you’ll see just as many 0’s as you will 10’s for user ratings. Altogether, The Last of Us 2 received an astounding 142,000 ratings!
Compare these reviews to the ones for God of War and Spider-Man.
God of War – Kratos and Atreus
God of War and Spider-Man are two more games that received praise from reputable gaming sites. Going through the reviews for these two games, you’ll notice that there aren’t nearly as many ratings. God of War received a total of 15,651 reviews and Spider-Man received a total of 5,768. The vast majority of these reviews were positive.
There’s A Huge Difference
I’ve played all three of these games and all three deserve the praise that they received. But the fact that there are so many discrepancies in the reviews makes me wonder.
Let’s take a look at the numbers. God of War has sold 10 million copies according to an article by Gamasutra and Spider-Man PS4 has sold over 13 million copies according to an article by future game releases. While The Last of Us Part II has only sold 4 million copies thus far.
So why are there so many reviews for The Last of Us Part II when it sold significantly less than God of War and Spider-Man PS4? Furthermore, how was this mixed-reviewed game able to surpass the completion rate in less than half the time?
Spider-Man
I Have A Theory To Explain This
Both Spider-Man and God of War are emotional games. Spider-Man had its moments as Peter Parker tried to balance his life as Spider-Man and as a scientist; ultimately leading to an emotional battle toward the end with an amazing payoff. God of War was emotional from the beginning as well, as players watched Kratos and Atreus cope with loss and as their father and son bond grew. Leading to an emotional ending that has many excited for the next chapter in the God of War series.
The Last of Us Part II did things a little differently and I believe this is why many people gave it a bad review. The Last of Us Part II is perhaps the most emotional game I’ve ever played with the most devastating parts of the story playing out in the first hour or so of gameplay. Helplessly watching a beloved character get brutally beaten to death can spark a wide range of emotions. For some, I believe that emotion is what led to people taking straight to Metacritic to express their anger.
The Last of Us Part II – Ellie Playing Guitar
I believe after some time, players found themselves returning to The Last of Us Part II after they cooled down to see how the rest of the story played out, never returning to adjust their reviews after what they had previously left.
This is all speculation, but the numbers don’t lie. Despite all the hate and negative reviews, something enticed people enough to continue playing through this “poorly written” story and see it through to the end.
What Can We Learn From The Last Of Us Part II?
The fact that The Last of Us Part II received so many negative reviews but still stands as PlayStation’s most completed game of all time says a lot. Some could argue that people wanted to see it through to the end and get the revenge they so desperately wanted, only to be let down. This is a fair complaint.
Either way, the one thing people should take away from this article is that reviews don’t always tell the whole story. For instance, my reaction to the scenes that outraged many was totally different. I for one enjoyed the entire game, from beginning to end as I participated in the story that Naughty Dog had laid out for me.
The Last of Us Part II took fans on a roller coaster of emotions and led to an ending that left a lasting impression long after completing the story. For what it’s worth, Naughty Dog achieved exactly what they wanted to with the Last of Us Part II, even if the reactions weren’t as expected. In the end, this is a game that I feel almost everyone should attempt to see through to the very end.
