It feels like a lifetime ago, yet I remember the absolute meltdown on Twitter when the The Last of Us Part 2 IGN review first dropped. June 2020 was already a weird time for the world, but for the gaming community, that "Masterpiece" badge and the perfect 10/10 score from reviewer Jon Dornbush felt like a massive lightning rod. Some people saw it as a deserved validation of Naughty Dog’s technical wizardry. Others? They saw it as the ultimate proof of a "disconnect" between critics and fans.
It’s heavy.
Even now, years later, the dust hasn't really settled. If you go back and read that specific IGN piece today, it reads differently than it did during the height of the leak-fueled controversy. We’re looking at a game that pushed the PlayStation 4 to its absolute breaking point while simultaneously pushing its audience to a point of emotional exhaustion. Some loved it. Some hated it. But nobody—literally nobody—ignored it.
What the Last of Us Part 2 IGN Review Actually Said
The review didn't just praise the graphics. Obviously, the game looks incredible. What Dornbush leaned into was the "evolution" of the combat and the sheer weight of the narrative. He called it a "masterpiece" that evolves the gameplay of the first game while telling a story that is profoundly uncomfortable.
The word "uncomfortable" is key here.
IGN focused heavily on how the game forces you to inhabit two different perspectives. You have Ellie, fueled by a thirst for revenge that feels righteous until it suddenly doesn't. Then you have Abby. The review highlighted how the game dares to make you play as the person you’ve been conditioned to hate. For many critics, this was the pinnacle of "ludonarrative" synergy. For a vocal segment of the player base, it was a bridge too far.
Why the 10/10?
Basically, the review argued that Naughty Dog succeeded in making a sequel that wasn't just a "Part 2" in name, but a fundamental expansion of what the first game started. It wasn't just more of the same. It was a deconstruction. IGN’s stance was clear: this is the best version of this specific type of cinematic action game.
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The Gap Between 10/10 and the User Score
You can't talk about The Last of Us Part 2 IGN coverage without talking about the Metacritic user score massacre that followed. Within hours of release, the game was sitting at a 3.4 or something equally abysmal. It was a fascinating case study in internet culture.
A lot of the anger stemmed from leaks that had happened months prior. People had read plot points out of context—specifically the death of a major character—and decided they hated the game before they ever picked up a DualShock 4. When IGN gave it a perfect score, it felt to some like the "establishment" was ignoring the fans' feelings.
But here is the thing.
Professional reviews, like the one on IGN, are written by people who play the game from start to finish in a vacuum. They aren't looking at the memes. They aren't reading the Reddit threads. They are looking at the mechanics, the pacing, the voice acting (which, let’s be honest, Ashley Johnson and Laura Bailey nailed), and the technical polish. From that perspective, a 10/10 is easy to defend. The game has zero "jank." The animations are some of the best in the history of the medium.
However, the "10/10" label is a heavy burden. It implies perfection. And for many, the pacing of the middle section—where the game restarts from a different perspective just as it reaches a climax—felt like a slog. It’s a 25-30 hour game that arguably could have been 20.
Combat, Stealth, and the Brutality Factor
One thing the IGN review got 100% right was the feel of the combat. It’s mean. It’s visceral.
When you play as Ellie, you feel small but dangerous. You’re crawling through tall grass, heart racing, hearing the Seraphites whistle to each other. It’s genuinely terrifying. The "prone" mechanic changed everything. Suddenly, you weren't just hiding behind crates; you were sliding under trucks and through muddy crawlspaces.
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- The glass-breaking mechanic wasn't just for show; it changed how you navigated rooms.
- The AI enemies actually called each other by name. If you killed "Phoebe," her friend would scream her name in horror.
- It made the violence feel personal, which was the whole point of the story’s theme of "consequences."
IGN’s review spent a lot of time on this. It noted that the game doesn't let you off the hook. Every kill feels like a choice, even if the game's linear path doesn't actually give you one. It’s a trick of design that makes you feel complicit in Ellie’s downward spiral.
The Abby Problem and the "Subversion" of Expectations
Neil Druckmann and the team at Naughty Dog knew what they were doing. They were poking a beehive.
The second half of the game, where you take control of Abby, is where the The Last of Us Part 2 IGN review and the general public diverged the most. For the reviewer, this was a bold, narrative masterstroke. It challenged the player to find empathy for a "villain."
For many players, they just wanted to play as Joel and Ellie again.
There’s a nuance here that often gets lost. You can appreciate the technical achievement of the Abby chapters—she plays much more like a tank, her combat is more physical, and the "Rat King" boss fight in the hospital is a horror masterpiece—while still hating the story structure.
IGN leaned into the idea that games should challenge us. They argued that if a game makes you feel "bad," that doesn't mean it’s a "bad game." It means the art is working. That’s a very "critic" way of looking at things, and it’s why the 10/10 score remains so controversial.
Technical Prowess on the PS4 and Beyond
We have to mention the Remastered version that hit the PS5 more recently. If the original The Last of Us Part 2 IGN review praised the PS4 version, the updated technical specs only solidify that 10/10 from a visual standpoint.
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We're talking:
- Native 4K output in Fidelity Mode.
- Unlocked framerates for those with VRR TVs.
- Significantly faster loading times (the original game had some long hauls).
- DualSense haptic feedback that actually makes the bow feel like it has tension.
The addition of the "No Return" roguelike mode in the remaster actually addressed one of the few lingering complaints about the original game: that the combat system was too good to only be used in a scripted story. "No Return" lets the mechanics shine without the emotional weight of the plot. It’s pure gameplay.
The Lasting Legacy of the Review
So, was IGN right?
Honestly, it depends on what you want from a video game. If you want a game to be a "toy"—something that makes you feel powerful and happy—then The Last of Us Part 2 is probably a 0/10 for you. It’s depressing. It’s exhausting. It’s a "misery simulator" in some parts.
But if you view games as a medium for complex storytelling that can rival cinema or literature, then the 10/10 makes sense. IGN wasn't just reviewing a game; they were reviewing a cultural moment. They were reviewing the guts it took to kill off a beloved protagonist in the first hour and then force the player to walk in the shoes of the killer for the next fifteen.
It’s a game that asks: "Can you forgive?"
Most people couldn't. The reviewer could.
Actionable Steps for New Players
If you’re just getting into this now—maybe you watched the HBO show and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about—don't go in expecting a fun zombie-slaying adventure.
- Play the Remastered version: If you have a PS5, don't bother with the PS4 disc unless it's dirt cheap. The haptics alone make the stealth much more immersive.
- Avoid the spoilers (if possible): Even though they've been out for years, try to go in fresh. The emotional impact relies on the shock of the narrative shifts.
- Give Abby a chance: The first two hours of her segment are the hardest to get through because you’ll want to put the controller down. Keep going. The game’s best combat encounters happen in her half of the story.
- Check the accessibility settings: Naughty Dog set the industry standard here. You can customize everything from subtitle size to "high contrast" modes for the visually impaired. It’s the most accessible game ever made.
- Don't worry about the score: 10/10, 5/10, 0/10... they’re just numbers. This is a game that demands you form your own opinion based on how it makes you feel, not how a reviewer felt four years ago.
The real value of the The Last of Us Part 2 IGN review wasn't the score itself, but the conversation it started about what we expect from sequels and whether we're actually ready for games to grow up and tell stories that don't have "happy" endings. Whether you love it or hate it, Naughty Dog achieved exactly what they set out to do: they made sure we’d still be talking about it in 2026.