The Last of Us Part 2 Review: A Brutally Heartfelt Masterpiece

The Last of Us Part 2 has arrived after years of waiting, and it was well worth the wait. Naughty Dog stepped up its game by delivering a game that sets the bar high for any single-player driven adventure. The studio has a reputation, and it continues to strengthen it by the quality it produces.

The Last of Us Part 2 Review: A Brutally Heartfelt Masterpiece

Naughty Dog’s first step into the apocalypse in 2013 was a thought-provoking action game with a lot of emotion behind its storytelling. The Last of Us Part 2 had a lot to match in terms of gameplay and as a narrative. The team at the Santa Monica based studio knocked every element out of the park by taking the base of the first game and enhancing everything to go above and beyond what’s expected as one of the final games in the PS4’s life cycle. This review of The Last of Us Part 2 will showcase how this sequel is a masterpiece.

The Last of Us Part 2 is available on PS4.

Story – An even wilder emotional rollercoaster

Stepping into the shoes of Ellie (Ashley Johnson) five years after the events of the first game, the narrative takes a turn as you see the world through her eyes. Her and Joel (Troy Baker) settle down in Jackson, Joel’s brother Tommy (Jeffery Pierce), and his wife Maria’s (Ashley Scott) settlement. After something tragic happens to the town and Ellie, she goes on a path of revenge against a militia based in Seattle called the Washington Liberation Front. She travels through this hostile world infested with fungal infused zombies and humans who don’t take kindly to strangers just to complete this mission. While the first game was about love, this is about hate, and it truly radiates with that fire in a way that evokes that emotion.

Much of the narrative switches between characters and time periods between the first game, similar to how the original Last of Us told its story, except with a grander scope by telling everyone’s side. I felt at times, some flashbacks felt like too much fat on the bones of the narrative, but once things concluded, I understood why the long road was better than a shortcut. The main issue with this way of storytelling came from some awkward positioning that disrupts the flow of certain beats.

Naughty Dog brings back some of its older characters that are just as irresistible and complex. Newer faces like Ellie’s friends Jesse (Stephen Chang) and Dina (Shannon Woodward) fit with their excellent chemistry with each other, and the one’s around them. Some of the brightest and most compelling moments are seeing how Ellie interacts with these fresh faces.

Meanwhile, characters from the WLF and the Saraphites, a religious cult who are at war with the WLF, have their own characters that make this story even more complicated. Abby (Laura Bailey) and Owen (Patrick Fugit) are prime examples of how the antagonists can be just as endearing as the protagonists. Then Yara (Victoria Grace) and Lev (Ian Alexander) give a voice to the Saraphites, AKA Scars, that make them human and not a group of crazed zealots. The entire cast is fleshed out and diverse in a range of representations that feel appropriate.

Abby in The Last of Us Part 2

Abby (Laura Bailey) is ripped and angry

The performances are tremendous, with even the most veteran of actors giving their greatest performances to date. To match, the writing from Neil Druckmann, the writer and director of the first game amongst other Naughty Dog titles, and Halley Gross (Westworld) elevate the narrative to new heights that I never saw coming. The combination of writing and acting brought these characters to life. Their big moments of ambition and actions to the smaller moments like fun banter captured what it is to be human rather than a character moving from one story beat to the other.

Not all storytelling has to be direct; that was what was great with the first game and its sequel. Visually telling the world’s story is brilliantly crafted. Characters silently communicating, drawings and notes found that tell someone’s journey are all ways this world and its characters feel believable. Ellie has a journal full of lyrics, drawings, and her thoughts, making it the perfect example of how this is flawlessly executed.

The themes and overall tone are both thought and emotion-provoking. As I write, I am still digesting what I experienced. It may not be for everyone, but I like content that challenges me on multiple levels. Not only did my brain get a good workout, I felt a wider range of emotions than any other piece of content across any form of media. I went from sorrow and anger to joy and dread. I thought the first game was life-changing, but this is something else that has deeply impacted me.

Gameplay – More fluid and more brutal

Ellie can hide under vehicles

Ellie can hide under vehicles

Naughty Dog took the outline of the predecessor and it up to feel similar, yet different. Ellie’s movement is more fluid and feels less stiff than the aged movement of the 2013 gameplay. Some new mechanics assist in this by allowing her to jump, swing and climb ropes, and go prone. It is small but makes a difference along with the refinement of controlling her around, especially swimming, which was fairly painful before all those years ago.

One addition that is helpful, but needs refinement is dodging. At times, it worked wonderfully and others it felt janky and unresponsive, leading to plenty of unnecessary deaths.

The combat feels even more satisfyingly meatier. Punching, using the wide variety of melee weapons, or shooting people or infected has never felt so disgustingly good. Every gun has a purpose, while the blunt and sharp weaponry feels mostly the same, but are still fun when bashing or slicing people apart.

 

Enemies, from the various human settlements to the infected, all feel unique. New infected have new strategies, while the WLF and Saraphites use different weapons and tactics. The WLF has militarized weapons and uses dogs to sniff you out while the cult has some guns with bows along with a focus on stealth. Fighting the AI does not feel like a major step up from its predecessor, but they do present a great enough challenge nonetheless.

Ellie fighting a Scar

Ellie fighting a Scar

To make them feel more human, instead of killing faceless foes, they have names. Kill a man, and a woman may call out, “Henry is dead!” It is a gimmick, but an effective one to humanize the enemy.

Fighting infected or radical groups is not the only way, sometimes hiding or running away is the best option. Crawling through grass or under vehicles is some of the most intense stealth I have experienced. Unlike many games where tall grass is like an invisible cloak, the NPCs have actual eyes and ears, so they have a high chance of finding Ellie.

AI partners, on the other hand, feel more or less effective as they did before. A nice distraction, but oftentimes get in the way or don’t kill enough to make a difference when in a bigger fight. But the interaction when exploring with Dina or others makes it worth it, as I can listen to them, all day long.

Bosses feel as repetitive and needless as before. Except for one or two, the infected bosses feel right, but the humans take me out of it. Nothing says realism as you kill people left and right, but one person takes too many hits to die. Thankfully, this only happens a handful of times; then I move onto better moments that take away the sting from an underwhelming fight.

Ellie and Dina riding horses

Ellie and Dine riding horses

Upgrading gets enhanced. Before you would collect various items like alcohol and tape to create weapons like bombs or create health kits, now more options are available through the various skills trees that you discover through magazines and gather new abilities through collecting supplements. It allows for more playstyles by not giving enough to max out each attribute. This also opens up the survival elements to be greater as someone cannot become an unstoppable killing machine by having every perk.

Getting parts to upgrade guns has never looked or felt better. Whether it is enhancing your stability or upping the damage, every tweak you make changes the look of the gun, making for a more gratifyingly immersive system to give Ellie that extra edge when surviving this dangerous world.

Exploration is fairly the same by searching every corner and cabinet for supplies or collectibles like trading cards. Some of these items are quite major like weapons or holsters, but unlike the previous title, these can all be missed as some may be hidden away or locked in a safe that needs a combination, creating for different experiences depending on who went the extra mile in their searches. I became obsessed with trying to grab everything as it all felt necessary or simply injecting me with some much-needed dopamine after experiencing something that made me cry.

A nitpicky issue is that Ellie, and other characters you briefly step into the shoes of, sometimes linger after opening a drawer or cabinet before letting me pick up the item.

Ellie sneaking around

Ellie sneaking around

Puzzles may not match the smartest of puzzle games, but it is a significant jump from other Naughty Dog creations. The problem solving is smarter, rather than previous experiences of dragging the same Dumpster or grabbing a plank to get from point A to point B.

The level design has its hits and misses. While there are some massive areas that were never seen before in a Naughty Dog game, I felt they could have added more of these larger areas. For the most part, it felt about the same size I would get if I replayed The Last of Us, a number I cannot come up with as I have gone through that game so many times. The other flaw was directions were difficult to read with cues being limited, and getting lost was a high possibility. I would circle around, even the smallest of areas, and have no idea where to go.

Where the level design shines is in its verticality. With more places to climb, the ability to jump and crawl allows for Ellie to dig in plenty of nooks and crannies to find items or sneak up on enemies.

Graphics and Audio – The sweetest ear and eye candy around

Ellie and Dina going in for a kiss

Ellie and Dina going in for a kiss

The graphics and lighting make this one of the best looking games I have ever seen, especially on the current-generation of consoles. The lighting effects illuminate the most beautiful of crumbling architecture and show how gorgeous nature is when it is taking over the ruins of cities like Seattle. Small details that can easily go unappreciated or completely unnoticed wrap this gift up nicely. It is the name Naughty Dog has made for itself, and this team has gone above that reputation to deliver something magnificent.

While on the surface, it looks stunning; the animations are what takes the cake. Seeing how characters emote or how they interact with objects around them, is breathtaking. Seeing Ellie take off a piece of clothing without it clipping or how someone will cry is the next level in technology.

All of this looks even better in photo mode and all of its wild settings like altering the camera or adding a filter to capture the mood of a scene.

The sound design fits any location. The echoes of screams and gunfire in a subway, or how the boom of explosions when fighting in the forest, it is all music to my ears.

Ellie playing guitar

Ellie playing guitar

Gustavo Santaolalla (The Last of Us, Brokeback Mountain) is back to create a soundscape to capture the tone of every situation. While some elements are slight improvements or remain on par with the first game, the score soars above with its variety in instrumentation, and the emotion is evoked. The Oscar winner crafted ominous horns that will haunt me for months, maybe years, along with intense tribal percussion and the beautiful acoustic sounds that bring me back to the original game.

This game was reviewed on a PS4 Pro.

Summary
The Last of Us Part 2 elevates every element of its predecessor and more. Three pillars make what games are: technology, an art form, and of course, a game for people to play and enjoy. It hits all of those notes and more. Flaws exist in everything, but even the problems I had were immediately made up by other factors. It may not be for everyone as the story is not easy to digest, and the violence goes to extreme degrees. But for people who want to feel and think while stepping into the shoes of one of Naughty Dog's newer iconic characters, then it is a must-play.
Good
  • Beautifully crafted animations and high graphical fidelity
  • Satisfying gameplay across movement, combat, and upgading
  • Strong writing and acting for a powerful story
  • Detail oriented
Bad
  • Inconsistent AI partners
  • Some annoying bosses
  • Inconsistent directions
  • Couple of awkward flashback placements
10
Perfect

32 Comments

  1. Avatar photo

    Just finished. Masterpiece. Technically the game is impressive. The facial animation is outstanding and the scenarios are awesome. The story is amazing too. I love playing with 2 characters looking for each other in the same timeline.

    Reply
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    How can this be a perfect score when it even has not 1 but 4 cons? Also there are many more than that but we all know why this got a 10 in the first place and it wasn’t because it was a good game.
    Also a game should only try to make the player feel guilty when the player has made the choice but there is no choice in this game. You are forced to do something or die and then be sent on a guilt trip for doing it! That’s not good writing nor is it subtle.

    If this were a movie it would’ve been trashed the day it released.

    Reply
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    What an extremely bad review! Giving it 10 score ?!?!?1

    When did the story not matter? When did nonsensical change of characters personality, totally without explaining why become good?

    This review fully ignores the fact that TLOU1 best attribute actually was its interesting story and immersion. In the sequel, you’re even forced to play a hollow character that most will hate.

    So many bad choices. And it is all an insult to all the very good world design, animations, sound design etc.. The game is very well made. To bad that a game like this lives or dies by its story!

    Reply
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    Loving every minute of it. Smart level design. Playing on hard has a nice challenge. The story is very unpredictable and 30 hours in and i dont know how its gonna end.

    Reply
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    Love it! TLOU2 is a masterpiece.😃🖖

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    10/10? shame on you

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  7. Avatar photo

    Tristan Zelden are you serious on this? 10 out of 10? ARE YOU BLIND?
    Or Sony payed you for this review?
    You could at least consider look trough some Metacritic reviews! Not all of them are homophobic!
    People are just fed up with the quality of the game.
    Do you understand that you are paying 60$ for typical cliche filled B-movie like story? And gameplay is so boring and short that this is getting funny! They just swapped zombies with people and offer me a 60 bucks game, that I can finish in TWO DAYS!
    What’s next Sony? 100$ for 8 hours of gameplay?

    Reply
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      Finish in 2 days? Im 30 hours in and still in day 2 seattle abby. Im playng 2 hours per day. Not everybody doent have a life. The game is a masterpiece. If this is a cliche b movie story what do so you find so entertaining?. Is one of the longest single player capaigns i played, not counting open world games.

      Reply
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        You obviously do not play games for the story. The story in this game is nonsensical and foolish. I really tried to like it. Even forcing myself to play as Abby, but it feels so off and retarded that it breaks all immersion. All that was so very good in LOUS1 are gone with this!

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    How could you ignore the fact that The Last of Us 2 committed the number 1 cardinal sin in gaming? It is not enjoyable or entertaining. Does Keengamer receive any endorsements from Naughty Dog? That is the only way your overly positive review would make any sense. Your review doesn’t ring true. At all. All the praise about the supposed quality of the graphics is totally irrelevant since you play 95% of the game progressing through shockingly poor light. With a flashlight which is supposed to provide light but somehow doesn’t. No, it doesn’t help build the tension. The characters are unlikable. I couldn’t care less what happened to them. The story telling is clumsy/poor. The LGBTQ+ characters are just caricatures. There isn’t any real depth either. The game just piles misery upon misery and only showcases the worst in humanity. Without any subtlety or balance. I feel about this game like I feel about something moldy and furry you’d find in your fridge. You’re not shocked by it, you’re not challenged by it, you’re not made wiser by it. You’re just disgusted and you want it gone. Naughty Dog TRIED to be shocking, and challenging and deep. And failed. They just indulged in a debauchery of torture for no real reason other than the shock factor. Its unsubtle and crude. Did playing the game change me? Will it leave a lasting impact? No. It’s going straight into the bin. Naughty Dog took what should have been a homerun and managed to fail. Such a shame!

    I am a massive fan of the first game and it pains me to write this. But anything other than what I wrote would have been a lie.

    Reply
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      What is more, that game is so embarrassing short, that I feel like arcades had more in the old days. 12 hours of gameplay for 60$ is a disgrace.

      Reply
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        Haha 12 hours… i doubt you played. If you go speeding without no exploration its a minimun 20 hours

  9. Avatar photo

    Its a great game through and through. Joel was not some superhero who cannot be killed and who did’nt make mistakes. Society life made him drop his guard after 4 years and he had to pay the price of his actions. What is the cost of ruining mankind’s chance at at a cure? I am not saying he was a bad person, he had is reasons but its all actions and consequences. Same goes for everyone else in the game, Abby and Ellie too suffer consequences of their actions. Brilliant writing combine with an excellent gameplay and graphics. FYI no one paid me to write this.

    Reply
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      Great game through and through??!! This story is trash!! They destroyed the characters in part 1 to add in Abby & Lev as the NEW Joel and Ellie moving forward!! This game force feeds you Abby to build character and sympathy over someone no one cares about.. You say both Ellie & Abby suffer consequences of their actions when the only one who truly suffers was Ellie!! Abby got her revenge, Ellie did not!! Abby showed no remorse throughout any of the game nor did it effect her in anyway.. Ellie saves her instead of killing her.. Abby leaves with Lev intact.. Ellie comes home with missing fingers to nothing and no one.. Abby surely suffered from her actions huh.. smfh.. this game is a joke

      Reply
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    How on earth is this game a 10 if there are issues with Flashbacks along with the inconsistencies mentioned? Game is a solid 8/10. Clearly this review is flawed.

    Reply
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      I’m going to guess that the positives heavily outweigh the flaws. A matter of complexity and gauges, y’know? Not exactly black and white.

      Reply
  11. Avatar photo

    No way in hell is this game a 10. The story jumps around far too much and the gameplay boils down to the same old format. This review comes across as obsequious and sycophantic.

    Reply
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      Nobody should take anyone’s review this seriously. I see that you don’t agree that I gave it a 10, despite giving serious reasons why I liked the game. But at the end of the day, it is just a video game. Go play something you enjoy and have a good day 🙂

      Reply
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    The game is obviously not perfect in any way, and the story left me so bored I quit. Really shows who the shit reviewers are when you give a perfect score to a game that’s been pretty much proven otherwise by the majority.

    Reply
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      It’s good that we live in a world where people can have different opinions 🙂

      Reply
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        This game is absolute garbage and so is anyone defending it or giving it a high score(that includes you Jessie), whomever gave a good review just got paid a lot to lose all credibility for readers of his shitty website.

      • Avatar photo

        Iz only game, why you heff to be mad?

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        Tristan! Tristan, you didn’t say Naughty Dog paid you for the review! Share those sweet money with us 😀

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        People who say reviewers get paid by the company, especially a small time website like this, have never worked in this industry. A weird misconception. But It is just an opinion. I liked this game. We all have different opinions but at the end of the day, we all like video games. Why not get along with fellow games who have different tastes rather than slam someone for enjoying themselves? Take care of yourself.

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        I really want a question for that game review. Why you didn’t wrote Joel’s sad parts and Abby fight with Ellie?? I really want that question. I really want to know. And I got really mad and sad. Why you got 10 out of 10?!?!

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        I can recognize garbage by reading your comment

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        Me too. Because you didn’t wrote the Joel’s part. If reviewers good! They really posted the Joel’s part.

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      Nothing is perfect, I agree. Sorry you didn’t have fun, but that means you can go play something you enjoy. Be kind to others and go enjoy some video games that you like.
      Sincerely,
      The shit reviewer who ruined your day by liking a video game

      Reply
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      Not very smart aren’t you?

      Reply
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      The majority? You mean the 94 score on Metacritic, based on 107 different PROFESSIONAL reviewers? Or the thousands of intentional down-voters who’ve watched the first hour on Twitch?

      Yeah, nice try. 😉

      Reply
      • Avatar photo

        professional reviewers my ass, the game in not so bad for the first 2 hours, then it gets repetitive and the story makes you want to kill yourself of how bad it is, you just want everything to stop and the game to end asap, but it never does end. Then you go into metacritic to see the shitty score it deserves and these “professional reviewers” give perfect scores which leads me to believe that professional reviewers are trash and so is this game

      • Avatar photo

        Lol! Another marketing victim here.)
        You can go on with your believes that professional(paid) reviewers are more objective, that the majority of gamers. But do not try to pretend being sane after that.

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