The Last Of Us 2 Review: The Quagmires Of Over-Enunciation (Spoilers)

“I have not played The Last Of Us 2. In fact, I am fundamentally against the very idea of there being a sequel to The Last Of Us. I thought that it conveyed all of its themes, messages, ideas, and said all that it needed to say in a one work. It didn’t need a sequel and it functioned better and more effectively as a standalone piece so as to not undermine its artistic integrity.”

That was my mantra from the moment I finished TLOU. I knew there was a sequel coming and my skepticism remained constant throughout the buildup to release and after the fact when, depending on who you asked, it was either getting dragged through the mud or showered with praise. Ultimately I knew that at some point or another I was going to have to relax my stance enough to dive into the weeds of polarization and give this game it’s due. The mantra then became “go on then TLOU2, the ball is in your court, prove to me that you not only deserve to exist, but might even be able to match the dizzying heights set by your predecessor.” The important variable of expectation was then somewhat tempered to an extent. So I went forward, ready to face whatever awaited me with a mostly open-mind.

What I found was a work that did a fair amount of things correct, and falls particularly hard not just in terms of narrative, but one that feels so obsessed with trying to be different to it’s predecessor both tonally and thematically that it cannot keep up with all of the pieces it is trying to juggle. Strap in folks, it’s going to be a wild ride. Here is your spoiler warning, there’s going to be a lot.

It’s pretty much a guaranteed at this point so it kind of goes without saying that is game is an absolute looker. Naughty Dog have some of the most talented coders and 3D modelers in the industry. There is so much environmental detail from the fabulous lighting effects, particularly in buildings, to the specks of debris on a characters skin from a technical standpoint this game just oozes quality and polish. Speaking of lighting, the color scheme tends to lean far more into a colder muted overcast compared to the sunset soaked blend of warmness and trepidation that the original employs. A smart touch considering the places the game is trying to go.

The gameplay overall is remarkably well designed as one would’ve expected it to be but slightly re-tooled from the original just enough. Feeding into the games themes as effectively as its predecessor did with making one be always on the defensive and do anything to justify your own continued survival, as vulnerable as you were. There is more of an aggressive feel to TLOU2, making one feel comparatively armed to the teeth and ready to strike. It’s mixture of stealth, melee, and gunplay working very well in tandem with the idea that you’re not superhuman and this isn’t a power-fantasy. Its simple gameplay loop is refined to near perfection.

Leaning far further into horror than its predecessor is also a smart choice I believe, but with more mixed results. Since you are more often than not alone, that feeling of having a sidekick beside you watching your back is gone leading to more of a sense of isolation. That works very well. What doesn’t fair quite as well is the over-reliance on jump scares. Don’t get me wrong there’s many moments that build tension effectively but there is as many that feel cheap and half-baked. It tries harder to subvert the player’s expectations and does so effectively but at other times it had me rolling my eyes and going “haha okay you got me.”

Where this game truly stumbles the hardest is (you guessed it), it’s narrative. And a game like this that relies so heavily on its narrative for engagement as its most important element, it has to be said that it is unfortunately a bit of a mess. I’ve always scoffed at the notion that darker, more bleak stories make something inherently worse than those that are not, and this game is not going to stop that belief of mine. The problems lie within its execution and sequencing. In case you missed the first spoiler warning here is a second MUCH HEAVIER one.

The games more methodical start is appreciated as an inverse to the originals fast-paced beginning. There’s a genuine attempt at world building beyond that of the lawless anarchistic discoveries you make throughout Joel and Ellie’s journey. It synchronizes Joel and Ellie’s experiences of the world very well. Showing what life might have been like for these people before the apocalypse and what life looks like now post-apocalypse in this oasis of society. Surviving is no longer the only thing one has to worry about. The melodramas of our personal lives, our interpersonal relationships with our friends and families, actually having something to live for beyond seeing the next day. These pieces of our lives that we take for granted can actually happen here. The sad reality is that Jackson is nothing more than a facade.

The catalyst behind the narrative picking up is Joel’s inevitable yet unfortunate death. Facing the consequences for his actions at the Firefly hospital. Here is the story’s first mistake. Not necessarily that Joel dies but the fact that with him seemed to kill off the subtlety that the original mastered. His character was the embodiment of subtlety where killing him off is a narrative risk that that ultimately does not pay off in the ways you would hope. And as you’ll see this game is full of narrative risks that sadly do not work in the way one would hope. I guess I’d rather have that than a game that plays it safe, but at what cost?

The ambiguity that is used so effectively in all the right ways throughout the original, in particular it’s ending, is systematically torn down throughout its successor. Should Joel really be the person in control of the fate of humanity? Isn’t killing innocents considered morally wrong? It’s not like Ellie can consent to this. These are questions that are best left for the player to decide. The original leaves Joel as he is and does not try to play or make you play moral arbiter. Ellie (based on her BRILLIANT facial expression) knows that Joel is lying and spares him pain out of the love she feels for him.

It sacrifices its subtle moral complexity, and emotional nuance for a heavy-handed and overly-explained to the point of patronization, to make statements about the pointlessness of the cycle of revenge and the changes being consumed by vengeance can do to a person. The sequel seems obsessed with over-explanation and filling in blanks that didn’t really need to be filled in. “Hey remember that surgeon Joel killed? Well he had a daughter too!” Ambiguity isn’t inherently a bad thing it is an effective tool that can be used to enhance an artistic work.

At times it almost feels like a deconstruction of a revenge tale. I couldn’t help but feel like the game was trying to say to me “see? This guy is not worth getting revenge for.” This is a classic case of: "just because you are attempting to say something meaningful does not mean you will say it well."

In a way it kind of reminds me of how the Ridley Scott Alien prequels seem obsessed with explaining far too many little details rather than just allowing them to be a part of the viewers imagination.

The second mistake is in its sequencing and delivery of said narrative. It’s non-linear method of storytelling is constantly changing perspective and time periods. Never inherently a bad thing. Abby and Ellie’s revenge arcs are given parallels, however they are dumped one on top of the other in a method that leaves you stuck on a narrative fermata for FAR too long. I found myself at times rushing through Abby’s sections to get back to the standoff in the theatre. I would’ve liked to have seen more connectivity between these stories in the moment.

Speaking of connectivity, that’s something the game plays on quite often, to varying degrees of success. On one hand I personally loved the fact that every enemy you kill has a name and that their comrades will scream in agony when you take them down. It feeds into the idea that these are real lives that you are taking away from others. On the other hand, subtle things like that would’ve more effectively conveyed the idea that “every enemy has a backstory” as opposed to the bloated and overly long melodramatic and inconsequential fluff on the interpersonal relationships between the WLF and the run-away Seraphites than the themes it’s so desperately trying to convey to me hundreds of times. That focus on trying to say something absolutely dragged the experience down. It does not play to the strong suits of the original. Rather than going out of the way to make an exhausting painstakingly detailed backstory involving Lev and Abby trying to create a Joel/Ellie dynamic less effectively than an entire game’s worth that the original had, maybe the better decision would have been to trim down on that in favor of a more focused tale. In an odd way there’s a bit of symmetry between this pieces obsession to be bold and Ellie’s obsession for vengeance.

It was by the end of the game’s exaggerated hedonism that I realized it adhere’s to a fictitious little thing I like to yammer on about called “The Law Of Sequels” which states “just make it bigger, that’s it” forgetting that bigger is not inherently better, let alone smarter. The Last Of Us 2 absolutely doubles down on this idea of “MORE MORE MORE” to it’s own detriment, time and time again.

I have seen a lot of abuse thrown at the game’s director, one Neil Druckmann and people proclaiming he’s a no-talent hack. I certainly don’t agree with that notion, in fact I think he’s an immensely talented individual who is not only responsible for two of the best games of the 2010s, The Last Of Us and Uncharted 4, sections such as the bridge crossing scene when playing as Abby, the INCREDIBLE performances from all involved in particular Ashley Johnson and Laura Bailey, the flashback of Ellie and Joel at the space museum absolutely spit in the face of that argument as well as the entirety of the aforementioned games, not to mention possibly his best cinematography yet. If anything I believe this is a case of over confidence, and I worry that after being jerked off by western games journalists and being given both valid and baseless criticism he will choose to only listen to the baseless criticism that he can push back on, and the western game journalists that think he walks on water. The continued hostile conversation only pushing him further into a dogmatic way of creating.

So now it’s time to answer the question: Did The Last Of Us 2 justify its existence to me? No. No it has not. In fact if anything having played it I feel even more strongly in my beliefs than I did before I played it. I’m particularly good at rendering disappointing continuations of beloved properties as “mentally non-canon” if you will. A bad sequel will never invalidate a superior original. At least not in my book. 

If you made it this far, thank you so extremely much for reading. This is the biggest piece I may ever undertake and it means so very much to me that you took your own personal time and energy to hear what I had to say. Even if it wasn’t what you wanted to hear.