The Last Of Us Part II (Part 1 of 3): The Good, The Bad, and The Misunderstood

This is part one of a three part blog post discussing Naughty Dog’s newest release, The Last Of Us Part II; I will cover the leaks, the controversy, and hopefully ignite a respectful discussion amongst the sea of hate and vitriol being spread all over the internet about this game.

The Last of Us Part II is the most controversial release I’ve seen since Watch Dogs. Why is there so much hatred and name-calling and putting someone down just because of an opinion on a game? Whether you love or hate this game, I want to show you the most controversial points of this game and why I believe they are blown out of proportion.

I remember when the reveal trailer came out for The Last Of Us Part II. The first shot was Ellie’s trembling hand, followed by a beautiful rendition of Through The Valley. Joel walks in through a doorway, stepping over corpses as Ellie’s voice carries across the silent house. Joel stops at the doorway, and he asks Ellie if she truly wants to go through with ‘this’. Ellie responds with the chilling statement: “I’m gonna find… and I’m gonna kill… every. last. one of them.”

I was absolutely thrilled at the idea of a new Last Of Us video game, especially after the impact of the first one. Intense survival gameplay, a gritty and realistic story, and relatable characters are all hallmarks of a Last Of Us game. Fast forward a few years later, and as my excitement builds and the release date inches ever closer, something happens. The entire community of fans of The Last Of Us was split in a day. The game was leaked, and certain key moments of the story were spoiled. The response of these leaks ranged from a hesitant, “I’ll give it a chance” to an “I don’t even want to play it anymore”.

I was in the lucky minority of people that managed to go into this game entirely blind. I had read a few spoiler-free reviews, and glanced at the very low metacritic user score, but I still decided that I’d keep an open mind when playing this game. I had full faith that Naughty Dog would not let me down, and I readied myself for the journey ahead. My expectations were sky-high, even with the air of disappointment emanating from fans that saw the leaks, so how could Naughty Dog manage to reach them? Well…

They didn’t. They EXCEEDED them. What I wanted from this game was more Last of Us, and I got more Last Of Us. Other than a few small gripes I have, it is my belief that this may not be a perfect game, but it is a perfect sequel.

This game took over my life, ruined my sleep schedule, and made me feel emotions I’d never felt in a game since Red Dead Redemption 2. So when I finally finished the game, satisfied and bittersweet, I went online to expose myself to the dregs of people likely spoiling the game and talking about how much they enjoyed it.

Boy was I wrong.

Name-calling, horrible accusations, death threats, and all because someone on the internet decided to commit the terrible crime of holding a different opinion. This goes for both sides. People who don’t like the game are called Anti-(fill in the blank), and those that love the game are called bootlickers and accused of being paid off. So what happened? What atrocities did this game commit that caused such an uproar? Did I even play the same game?

Let’s all agree that the biggest and only reason this game is receiving so much hate is because of the story. That being said, I’m in the group of people that thoroughly enjoyed said story, and I respectfully disagree with some of the arguments being thrown at it.

Let’s start with the first point of contention:

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! HOLY CRAP SUCH SPOILAGE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Joel.

Yep, the first point of contention is Joel’s horrific and terrifying death at the hands of Abby. Ellie is forced to watch as the man she’s known for years – that WE’VE known for years – is beaten to death with a golf club. In writing, it doesn’t sound so awful, but in that moment, Ellie was screaming and threatening to kill them all, sobbing uncontrollably at the sight of Joel beaten to a bloody pulp, and begging him to get up. My chest was tight, and I felt sick as I watched. When the final blow was struck, and Ellie sobbed uncontrollably, she was knocked unconscious. As the screen went black, I paused, set the controller down, and just sat there. I remember the distinct feeling of loss and heartache, like I had truly just lost someone close to me… and, in a way, I did. Joel was gone. Dead, and not in the heroic way. He was beaten like a dog.

This made the internet furious, especially before the game came out. This was one of the first things people saw when the spoilers leaked. Joel, killed mercilessly like this. It was at this point that a lot of people decided they hated the game and refused to ever play it. The argument of why this was so anger-inducing is not because he died, but because of how he died. Let me explain why I personally hate Joel’s death, but not for the same reasons.

In this world of the Last Of Us, the life expectancy is low. We watched Henry shoot his own infected little brother, we watched Joel cradle his dying daughter as she screamed and yelped in pain, and we watched Tess get shot down because she would rather be killed than turn into an infected. All of these were tragic, so why is there so much anger towards Joel’s death? Only an hour earlier, Ellie and Dina are on their patrol, clearing out infected, when Dina mentions a man named Eugene. Eugene died of a stroke in his old age. Dina makes a comment about it and Ellie responds with something along the lines of, “May we all make it to his age.” Even as Dina and Ellie are riding their horses to the first checkpoint, they jokingly discuss how they’re going to die.

Death is unexpected and unpredictable, not just in this horrible world of The Last Of Us, but in real life as well. Death comes and goes without a care in the world as to the trail of tears it leaves behind. Death can be swift, or it can be slow. It can be heroic, or it can be horrific. In Joel’s case, a man who is not a hero did not die a hero’s death. And as Ellie’s heart broke in that moment, and rage flooded into the hole left behind, so did mine. Not at Naughty Dog, but at Joel’s killer. At this world around these characters full of infected and apathetic people.

But here is where I believe the anger came from. Those that saw the leaks of Joel’s horrible death felt that anger and grief that I felt playing the game. But because the game wasn’t out yet, they did not have anyone to point that anger towards but the developers themselves. The writers achieved what they wanted you to feel. Anger and hatred. At Abby. At Abby’s friends. At the characters in the story. But when the game has not even been released, who can you direct your grief induced anger toward other than the people who took Joel away from you? Not Abby, because you barely know her at this point. The developers are who you get angry at. If I’d seen the leaks, I would probably have been the same way.

There’s another argument that claims it wouldn’t have been as frustrating if Joel had just died saving Ellie, but… he does. Joel saved Ellie from being killed at the end of The Last Of Us Part 1. If Joel had not taken Ellie out of that hospital, he wouldn’t have killed Abby’s father, and Abby wouldn’t have killed him. So yes, Joel did die saving Ellie. He did sacrifice himself.

So many people decided they hated the game before they even played it, resulting in the heated disappointment we’re seeing all over the internet. In this world, death is not kind. So it would be odd for us to expect Joel to die dramatically and heroically in a world where that simply doesn’t happen. There was no final speech to Ellie. There were no goodbyes to those he loves. That is a luxury that is gifted few in this world, and even fewer in the world of The Last Of Us. There simply are no hero’s deaths in The Last Of Us, and I’m not sure why any of us expected there to be, especially when Joel’s not a hero. The discussion around the ending of the first game was not that Joel was a hero for saving Ellie. It was that he doomed the entire world for selfish reasons… but that we would all do the same in his situation. That was what made Joel so lovable, so relatable, so human.

Something else that angered fans was how Joel acted around Abby and her friends. That he completely trusted a group of strangers blindly, and that he gave his name away like it was nothing. There is a reason for all of this. Joel has been living in a protected community for years now, surrounded by those that actually care for him. The hardened and demented Joel even tells a dad joke… A DAD JOKE. Joel’s first encounter with Abby is saving her from a horde of infected, and if you notice, Joel’s only choice was to follow Abby into a trap, or be eaten by a horde of infected. I think I’d take the former as well. But even as Joel has opened up and softened in these years living in Jackson, you can still see that he is somewhat on edge. Not as outwardly distrustful as he was in the first game, but definitely sizing them up. Scanning the room.

As for Joel revealing his name, he practically has no choice, as when he and Tommy are rescuing Abby, there are a few moments in the chaos where Tommy shouts Joel’s name. It’s also fairly obvious from the community they’ve built in Jackson that it isn’t unusual for Tommy to invite people in to get supplies and trade. Joel even mentions that he managed to get coffee from a visiting trader. So while I can understand the initial disappointment in Joel’s lack of distrust, being in a safe community for years where you regularly deal with strangers coming into town will certainly put your guard down, if only a little. Without the leaks, I don’t feel like it would have been quite as controversial.

In part two, I will be discussing the most hated character in this game.

Abby.