I’ll never forget how when I was working on my original The Last of Us Part II review, I had a few friends react in ways I’d never had expected. “You’re writing about how you hate it?” They’d say, “It doesn’t warrant a 4/10! It’s too masterfully crafted! You’re just insane!” That was actually the reason the article never got a specific rating: my friends were too upset by the low score I gave it.
I just couldn’t get it. Why did they care about a game that I hated so badly? The game is inconsistent, with a really bad flow and a horrible midpoint that shifts the story away from the climax and instead goes back to a slow, mellow game for another 10 hours. I was absolutely right for calling it a “kindergarten-level” story.
At surface level, the game absolutely does deserve a 4/10. I guess looking back, it was too difficult to see anything deeper than at surface level. All it took was one begrudging replay of the game. It led to two, to three, and then to a complete reevaluation of the game’s quality. Well, I’m here to report: I was so wrong.
The Last of Us Part II is absolutely inconsistent when it comes to the rising action and the climax. I’ll give myself that. The writing department really flopped there. But for me to say that it’s “like a kid on the playground wrote the script” is nothing short of wrong.
Let me quickly address everything I said that was correct, even now. The graphics are just as beautiful as they were in 2020, and Gustavo Santolalla is still as phenomenal as a composer. Ellie is still wishy-washy as a character, feeling like she’s both this adorable witty teen that she was in the first game, but also a horrible person who calls her pregnant friend a burden. And, yeah, I still like Abby as a character far more than I like Ellie.
But the writing is not bad. The WLF has a lot of sympathetic characters that I didn’t originally understand due to how blinded by rage I was from the game’s opening act. Abby acts completely realistically–although obviously, very rashly–and is a perfectly good character. She has morals, she has her family and friends, and she does what she thinks is ethical whenever she can. She even defected from her group to protect an innocent kid. Abby has a clear understanding of what’s right and what’s wrong, even though at times her moral compass isn’t aligned with the player’s.
Abby isn’t the only gem from the WLF who is misunderstood, either. Manny (who I already loved in my original playthrough) is a comedic goldmine, who cracks jokes and keeps the players engaged with his stories and sharp wit. He’s also reliable and extremely loyal, oftentimes helping Abby when he knows better. There’s also Owen, who’s just as hilarious and just as protective, but also is struggling with his feelings for Abby, despite awaiting a baby with his current girlfriend, Mel. Mel’s good too, as she’s the medic of the group who tends to stay back and make sure her allies are prepared and healed whenever she can, though she’s a bit weaker of a character than the others, thanks to lack of screen time she actually sees. There’s also Nora and Danny, but they’re obviously the weakest of the bunch, as I’ve played this game four times now and I still couldn’t tell you anything about Nora other than the fact that she dated a girl named Leah who dies before the game even starts. Also, I know literally nothing about Danny.
Another character I realize I didn’t mention in the original review is Dina. Dina is Ellie’s love interest, and she’s actually one of the first Part II characters we ever saw, back in a E3 2018 trailer. Despite me not mentioning her, I actually love her. She’s really sweet, almost kills herself trying to protect Ellie at multiple points, and serves as a heartbreaking anchor to Ellie, trying to hold her violent side down and keep her grounded in reality. Dina wants to settle down with Ellie and live a family life with her, and pleads with Ellie to wake up to her massacre and back out, while they’re still alive. Whenever Ellie is uncertain about a decision, both she and the player can look to Dina to give a rational, ethical answer.
When you take all of these characters into account, realize what drives them, how they interact with one another, and see what their relationships mean to one another, you see why the story takes the direction it does. I didn’t understand how powerful it was at first, but it’s truly a carefully thought out web of character development, making one character’s stride in their growth affect everyone else, and the whole story around them. Decisions don’t feel random or ridiculous when you look at them through this web, and you get where each person comes from when they make a rash decision.
I can’t pull myself to hate this game anymore. I can’t pretend like I didn’t make a rash decision. Reviewing this game so negatively didn’t come from an objective perspective, it obviously came from an emotional, long-term fan who was seeking a simple, dumb sequel. I failed to see the beauty this game’s writing actually held.
Final Verdict: To give it anything less than an 8 is a crime. I can’t even give it an 8. Abby alone makes me give The Last of Us Part II a 9/10, which is exactly what I feel like it deserves.