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My Thoughts On The Last Of Us Part II

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The following review below contains M A J O R spoilers to Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II.
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Do not read if you have not finished the game, and don't want to get spoiled!!
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Okay guys.

I honestly don't even know if you guys will read all the way through this or will agree, but this is all my opinion and its taken me a few weeks to get my thoughts together on my feelings of this game.

First of all, I want to say a huge congratulations to Naughty Dog for making this game. It's huge, its absolutely gorgeous, and its everything they said it would be and more.

The Last of Us Part II is a game that broke me. It honestly did. It was raw, unforgiving, terrifying at times, brutal, long, and it tore at my heart till the very last scene. When I say I cried through the entire game, please believe me when I say that I CRIED THROUGH THE ENTIRE GAME. I went into this game as blind as possible, I avoided reviews the week before it released, I avoided trailers with game play and story information, I even turned off tweet notifications for Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann. This was overall a great choice because anything that happened was totally unexpected, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It was very hard for me to complete the game, not on a gameplay level but a mental level. The game takes you on so many twists and turns and emotional highs and lows, but that's how you can tell that the game is good. If a game can affect you that much, you know its powerful.

I knew as soon as Ellie was on the floor and I saw Joel, I knew what was coming. I didn't want to accept it, I wanted to pause the game and put it down and never pick it up. But when Abby swung the golf club, the sound it made as she finished Joel off, Ellie's cry of despair, I was absolutely bawling. I kept watching through the cut scene and eventually had to pause it to get myself together. Seeing Joel's grave made me cry again, I think I actually stared at his grave for a good 5 minutes, just making Ellie stand there as I cried. Going into his house was even worse, seeing all the little details that made the home his. Seeing the picture of him and Sarah from the first game, the more recent picture with him and Tommy, even the giant thing of Texas on the wall, it all made the home his and made me appreciate the detail that went into the game. Ellie smelling his jacket in the closet, his unmade bed, the guitar, even the room where he whittled wood into little carvings were small things we didn't know about him that made the audience (and me) appreciate it even more.

As the game progressed and Ellie ventured into the city of Seattle on Day 1, I was so angry. Even after the game was done, I was mad at Neil for even writing the awful idea that Joel should die. I was so unbelievably angry at Abby for taking Joel away from us. Every time they even mentioned her, I wanted to angry cry at even the thought of her. I stayed angry for a good portion of the game, even through when they forced you to play as her and that only made it worse. I despised playing as her. I hated every minute of it. I didn't care who she was or why she thought she was right, I just knew that she had killed Joel and I wanted her to pay for it. (I also thought she killed Tommy in the theater, and I was literally going to quit if she did, thank God she didn't.)

But by Day 3 as Abby, I grew tired. I got tired of being mad, and my anger turned into sadness. I just wanted the game to be over with, and I wanted Ellie back. After the game was over and I had time to think about everything, I realized why they make you play as her. They wanted us to see things from her point of view, they painted her as a villain at first but through her eyes and through the eyes of the people around her, she's anything but. The game does a phenomenal job of portraying both Ellie and Abby as a villain, it all just depends on who's point of view you look at it from.

At the end in Santa Barbara when Ellie finds Abby tied up and Lev injured, I felt deep down that it was wrong to kill her then. She was injured, it wasn't a fair fight, but the other half of me wanted to still kill her. And when they fought, and Ellie won, and held her down, I was gripping my controller so hard as if I was actually there with her. As if I was the one holding her down, thinking that by killing her would somehow bring Joel back. But I knew it wouldn't, and even through my tears when I saw Joel on the porch, I knew that both she and I couldn't have done it.

I believe in my heart that Ellie forgave her just as she forgave Joel for saving her in the hospital, and that was the hardest part of the game, was letting Abby go. It was so hard to see her walk free, it felt as if she got away with everything. But I knew Joel would have done the same thing, he wouldn't have wanted a war. Sure, people might disagree, saying that he hated the world in the first game and that he would have wanted Ellie to kill her. But Joel had been living in Jackson for 5 years, he had settled down, he wasn't the same man that he used to be. Jackson changed him for the better, he softened up and being with Ellie changed his view on things.

Setting the story and plot aside, the visual aspect of the game is absolutely beautiful. The lighting people at Naught Dog really know what they're doing, my gosh. Every environment you enter really makes you want to stop and marvel at the sight, I tried to stop and smell the roses but I just couldn't during my first run. Maybe when I finally get around to playing it for the second time, I can stop and really look around for everything and admire the landscape and immense detail that went into the game. If I had to be honest, my favorite area was probably the very beginning of the game when you're riding back to Jackson. Riding through the field soaked in the golden rays of the sun, the snow topped mountains in the distance, the clouds, the view of the city, it was absolutely gorgeous and in my opinion was the most visually pleasing part. Not saying that other areas of the game aren't as gorgeous as that, the whole game is beautiful, I just loved the opening ride back to Jackson.

My final thoughts on the game: Am I mad that Joel is dead? Yes. Will I let that affect how I see the game overall? No, at least I hope not. Will Joel always hold a special place in my heart? Of course. Do I hate the game? Absolutely not. Do I think they could they have made Part II without killing Joel? Maybe, but it wouldn't have the same effect on the audience.

Last but certainly not least, I want to thank the cast for making this game possible. Ashley Johnson, Shannon Woodward, Jeffrey Pierce, Laura Bailey, and of course my man Troy Baker. We wouldn't have this game if it wasn't for those wonderful people and so many more.

On a lighter note, I 100% believe Tommy would've wrecked Abby into oblivion if it wasn't for her plot armor. I said what I said.

But to wrap this whole thing up I was thinking the other night while trying to get my thoughts together about the game, and I came up with one sentence that actually made me feel better:

I'm glad Joel is gone and at peace, because the hateful, hard, unforgiving, terrifying, devastating, and dangerous world can't hurt him anymore.

And that makes it all worth it.

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