It has been years. People still argue about Joel. You’ve seen the threads, the endless YouTube essays, and the vitriol that never quite seems to cool down. The Last of Us Part 2 isn't just a video game anymore; it’s a cultural litmus test for how much misery we’re willing to endure in the name of "art."
Neil Druckmann and the team at Naughty Dog didn't just make a sequel. They made a wrecking ball. They took the most beloved father figure in modern gaming and used him to break our hearts—and then forced us to play as his killer. It was a bold move. Maybe too bold for some? Honestly, the reaction was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in the industry. It wasn't just a "Review Bombing" incident; it was a fundamental disagreement about what a sequel is supposed to be.
Most people wanted Joel and Ellie: The Road Trip Part 2. What they got was a 25-hour meditation on trauma, perspective, and the futility of eye-for-an-eye justice.
The Joel Problem: Why Fans Can't Let Go
Look, we have to talk about the golf club. It’s the moment that defined the game’s reception before it even launched due to those massive leaks in early 2020. Joel Miller, the man who survived twenty years of the cordyceps apocalypse, gets taken out by a group of strangers because he let his guard down. Or did he?
Critics of the writing often point to this as "out of character." They argue Joel was too smart to give his name to a group of armed survivors. But let’s be real for a second. Joel had spent four years living in Jackson. He was soft. He was a guy who traded coffee and played guitar for his surrogate daughter. He wasn't the hardened smuggler from the Boston QZ anymore. He was a neighbor.
The brilliance—and the cruelty—of The Last of Us Part 2 is that it doesn't give Joel a hero's death. There’s no blaze of glory. There’s no final stand protecting Ellie. He’s just... gone. It’s messy. It’s pathetic. It’s exactly how death works in a world that doesn't care about your narrative arc.
Perspective Is Everything (And It’s Exhausting)
Halfway through the game, Naughty Dog pulls the rug out. You’ve spent ten hours as Ellie, fueled by a righteous, burning desire for revenge. You’ve killed dozens of WLF soldiers, dogs, and Abby’s friends. You’re ready for the final confrontation.
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Then the screen goes black.
"Day 1."
Suddenly, you’re Abby Anderson. You’re the "villain." For the next ten to twelve hours, you have to walk in her shoes. You see that her father was the surgeon Joel killed at the end of the first game. You see that she has friends, she loves a dog named Alice (whom you probably killed as Ellie), and she’s trying to find her own version of redemption by helping two Seraphite kids, Yara and Lev.
This is where the game loses a lot of people. It’s a huge ask. The developers are basically saying, "I know you hate this person, but I’m going to make you realize she’s just as much a protagonist as Ellie is." It’s uncomfortable. It’s meant to be. But for many players, the emotional bond with Ellie was too strong to break. They didn't want to empathize with Abby. They wanted to win.
The Technical Mastery Nobody Disputes
Regardless of how you feel about the plot, The Last of Us Part 2 is a technical miracle. Even playing it today, the facial animations are staggering. You can see the micro-expressions—the hesitation in a character's eyes, the way their lip quivers when they're lying. It’s subtle stuff that most studios still haven't mastered.
The combat is visceral. It’s gross, actually. When you hit someone with a pipe bomb or a shotgun blast, the game doesn't just show a blood spray. It shows the aftermath in a way that makes you feel a bit sick. Naughty Dog used a "heartbeat" system where every NPC has a name and a unique pulse. If you kill a soldier, their friend might scream "Omar!" and go into a panicked, aggressive state. It’s designed to make you feel the weight of every life you take. It's not "fun" in the traditional sense. It's intense.
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- The Sound Design: Gustavo Santaolalla returned with Mac Quayle to create a soundtrack that feels like a rusting machine. It’s claustrophobic and beautiful.
- The Level Design: Jackson feels lived-in. Seattle is a decaying, vertical labyrinth. The "Hospital Descent" as Abby is arguably the best horror sequence in any non-horror game.
- The Accessibility: This is actually the game's greatest legacy. With over 60 accessibility settings, it set the gold standard for making games playable for people with visual, hearing, or motor impairments.
That Ending: Why Ellie Left the Guitar
The final fight on the beach in Santa Barbara is hard to watch. Both women are shells of their former selves. Ellie is emaciated, suffering from PTSD, and losing her mind. Abby has been tortured and starved. It’s a pathetic, muddy brawl.
When Ellie finally has Abby underwater, she sees a flash of Joel. Not the bloody Joel from the beginning of the game, but Joel playing the guitar. She lets go.
Why?
Some say it’s because she finally realized revenge wouldn't bring him back. Others think she realized she was becoming the monster Joel feared she’d become. Personally? I think she realized that by killing Abby, she’d be killing the last bit of humanity she had left.
Ellie returns to an empty house. She tries to play the guitar Joel gave her, but she can’t. She lost two fingers in the fight. She literally can’t play his song anymore. She leaves the guitar behind and walks into the woods. It’s a somber, lonely ending. It’s a total subversion of the "hero's journey."
The Criticisms That Actually Hold Water
We shouldn't pretend the game is perfect. It’s not. The pacing is a bit of a nightmare. Spending ten hours as Ellie only to have the momentum reset completely as Abby is a jarring experience. It feels like two games stitched together with a very thin thread.
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Also, the "Cycle of Violence" theme is a bit heavy-handed. The game hits you over the head with the "revenge is bad" message so many times that it starts to feel a bit condescending. We get it. Killing people is traumatic. You don't need to make me kill a dog and then play fetch with it three hours later to prove a point. That's a little manipulative, Naughty Dog.
Is There a Part 3?
Rumors have been swirling for years. Neil Druckmann has confirmed there is a "concept" for a third story. With the massive success of the HBO show starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, a third game is basically an inevitability.
But where do you go from here? Ellie’s story feels done, in a way. She’s found a kind of peace, or at least a release from her obsession. Abby and Lev have made it to the Fireflies (implied by the new menu screen you get after beating the game).
If a third game happens, it needs to find a new emotional hook. We can’t just do "Revenge: The Sequel" again.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Next Playthrough
If you’re planning on jumping back into The Last of Us Part 2, or if you're a first-timer coming from the HBO series, here is how to actually survive the experience without losing your mind:
- Don't Rush the Abby Sections: I know, you want to get back to Ellie. Don't. If you rush Abby’s story, you miss the nuance that makes the ending work. Explore her version of Seattle. See the coins she collects. It matters.
- Toggle the "Listen Mode" Settings: If you find the stealth too stressful, go into the accessibility menu. You can tune the enemy AI without lowering the actual difficulty of the combat. It makes the game feel more like a movie and less like a chore.
- Pay Attention to the Journals: Ellie’s journal is where the real storytelling happens. It tracks her mental decline in a way that the cutscenes don't always capture. Read the poems. Look at the sketches.
- Use the Grounded Mode (If You’re Brave): This removes the HUD and makes resources incredibly scarce. It changes the game from an action-adventure into a pure survival-horror experience. It’s how the game was "meant" to be played, but it’s punishing.
The Last of Us Part 2 isn't a game that wants you to be happy. It’s a game that wants you to think about the cost of your actions. It’s messy, it’s divisive, and it’s arguably the most technically impressive piece of media of the last decade. Whether you love it or hate it, you can’t deny that it’s still the most talked-about game for a reason. It stuck the landing, even if the landing was a face-plant into the mud. That's just life in the apocalypse.