Video games usually try to make you feel like a hero. You save the world, you get the girl, or you at least walk away with some shred of moral superiority. But Naughty Dog didn’t want that for Ellie. When the first teaser trailer for The Last of Us Part II dropped back in 2016, a blood-streaked Ellie sat on a bed, strumming a guitar, and whispered a promise that would define the entire marketing campaign: "I’m gonna find, and I’m gonna kill, every last one of them."
It was a chilling line. It set the stage for a revenge odyssey that would eventually fracture the gaming community into two distinct, often warring, camps.
The Weight of a Promise
Most people thought they knew what they were getting into. It was supposed to be a straightforward hunt for justice. But the reality of "every last one of them" turned out to be a lot more complicated than a simple body count. Naughty Dog’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, basically gambled the studio's reputation on the idea that players could be forced to empathize with the very people they were supposed to hate.
The game doesn't just let you kill your enemies; it forces you to know their names.
If you've played it, you remember the dogs. Or the way a WLF soldier screams "Omar!" when you take out their friend from the shadows. It’s a trick, sure. A narrative device. But it’s an effective one. It turns the generic "bad guy" into a person with a life, a history, and a grieving friend. This wasn't just about violence for the sake of it. It was about the cost of that violence on Ellie’s soul.
Honestly, it’s exhausting. By the time you reach the midpoint of the game, that initial surge of adrenaline—that "yeah, let’s go get 'em" feeling—starts to curdle. You realize that the phrase "every last one of them" isn't a victory cry. It's a suicide note for Ellie’s humanity.
Breaking the Cycle (or Trying To)
The structure of the game is famously divisive. Halfway through, the perspective shifts. You stop being the hunter and become the hunted. You play as Abby Anderson, the woman who killed Joel.
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For many players, this was a dealbreaker.
They didn't want to understand Abby. They wanted to fulfill the promise of killing every last one of them. They wanted the catharsis of a traditional revenge story. But the game argues that catharsis is a lie. By forcing you to live Abby’s life—to see her trauma, her friendships, and her reasons for the inciting act of violence—Naughty Dog attempted to deconstruct the "cycle of violence" trope that is so common in action games.
Halley Gross, the lead co-writer, has spoken at length in various interviews (like those on the Official Last of Us Podcast) about how they wanted to explore the "justice vs. revenge" dynamic. Justice is about restoration; revenge is about destruction. Ellie chooses destruction.
What's wild is how much the "every last one of them" mantra influenced the actual gameplay mechanics. The "Prone" mechanic, the improved stealth, the brutal animations—every piece of tech was designed to make the violence feel intimate. It's not the sanitized shooting of Uncharted. It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s unpleasant.
The Backlash and the Legacy
We have to talk about the leaks. Before the game even launched, major plot points were spoiled online. This created a toxic environment where people had decided to hate the game before they’d even held the controller. The phrase "every last one of them" became a meme, often used to mock the game’s perceived "woke" agenda or its treatment of beloved characters.
But if we look at the data, the game was a massive success. It sold over 10 million copies by spring 2022. It swept the Game Awards.
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Yet, the conversation remains stuck.
Some fans feel the ending—where Ellie ultimately lets go—is a betrayal of the "every last one of them" promise. They argue that after everything she did, stopping at the finish line makes the journey pointless. Others see it as the only way she could survive. If she had killed Abby, there would be nothing left of Ellie to go back to Dina. She would have been fully consumed by the hate.
The game is a Rorschach test. What you see in that final fight on the beach says more about your own views on forgiveness and trauma than it does about the game’s script.
Technical Mastery Meets Narrative Grief
From a purely technical standpoint, The Last of Us Part II is a marvel. Even years after its release, the facial animation remains the gold standard. You can see the hesitation in Ellie’s eyes. You can see the exhaustion in Abby’s posture. This level of detail was necessary to sell the emotional weight of the "every last one of them" mission.
Without those nuances, it would just be another gore-fest.
Instead, it’s a tragedy. It’s the story of a girl who had a choice between a life of love and a life of hate, and she chose hate until it nearly drowned her. The "them" in "every last one of them" eventually includes Ellie herself. She loses her fingers—the very things she needs to play the guitar Joel gave her. She loses her connection to her past.
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Beyond the Screen
The influence of this narrative arc is already bleeding into the HBO series. Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have hinted that Season 2 (and likely Season 3) will tackle these themes of perspective and retribution. They aren't just adapting a game; they’re adapting a debate.
When the show eventually reaches the "every last one of them" arc, the cultural conversation will likely reignite. The medium of television allows for even more time spent with side characters, potentially making the "nameless" victims of Ellie's rampage feel even more human.
Practical Steps for Players and Storytellers
If you're looking to dive deeper into why this specific narrative choice matters, or if you're a writer trying to learn from it, here are some ways to engage with the material:
- Analyze the "Point of View" Shift: Watch the "Making of" documentary Grounded II. It provides a raw look at the development process and the internal struggles the team faced regarding the game's brutal direction.
- Study the Combat Encounters: Don't just play to win. Watch how the AI reacts. Notice the dialogue between NPCs. It’s a masterclass in using "flavor text" to build an emotional burden for the player.
- Compare the Themes: Read City of Thieves by David Benioff (one of the inspirations for the series) to see how humor and horror are balanced in a bleak landscape.
- Listen to the Soundtrack: Gustavo Santaolalla’s score isn't just background music; it’s a character. The recurring "Revenge" themes are dissonant and uncomfortable, reinforcing the idea that the mission is fundamentally wrong.
Ultimately, the goal of "every last one of them" wasn't to satisfy the player. It was to challenge them. Whether you love the game or think it’s a disaster, you can’t deny it did something few AAA titles dare to do: it made the violence feel like a failure. It took a high-octane revenge hook and turned it into a somber reflection on what we lose when we refuse to forgive.
The story of Ellie and Abby isn't about who wins. It's about what's left after everyone has lost.