Let’s be real. When people talk about Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece, they’re usually arguing about the ending of the first game or crying over a certain character’s fate in the second. But then there’s the "boat scene." You know the one. For a solid month after The Last of Us Part II launched, you couldn't scroll through a gaming forum without seeing a heated debate about The Last of Us sex scenes, specifically the moment between Abby and Owen.
It was polarizing. It was uncomfortable for some. For others, it was a necessary piece of character development.
But why did it hit such a nerve? Video games have had romance and "romance" since the early days of Leisure Suit Larry, yet this felt different. It wasn't a BioWare-style cutscene where you choose a dialogue option and get rewarded with a PG-13 fade-to-black. It was raw, awkward, and deeply integrated into a story about trauma and the desperate search for a shred of normalcy in a world gone to hell.
The Reality of Intimacy in a Cordyceps World
Living through an apocalypse changes how people connect. Honestly, if you're constantly looking over your shoulder for Clickers or WLF patrols, your priorities shift. But human biology doesn't just switch off. The The Last of Us sex moments aren't there for titillation. They're there to ground these characters in their own bodies.
Take the scene between Abby and Owen. Many players found it jarring because of the sheer physicality. Abby is a character built for survival—she's muscular, hardened, and driven by a singular goal of revenge. Owen is her link to a past where things were simpler. Their encounter on the boat isn't romantic in the traditional sense. It's desperate. It’s a release of years of pent-up tension and shared history.
Some critics, like those at Polygon and Kotaku, noted that the scene’s "ugliness" was the point. It wasn't polished. It wasn't "sexy" in the way Hollywood usually portrays it. It was two people trying to feel something other than hate. That’s a heavy lift for a medium that usually treats sex as a collectible or a mini-game.
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Why the Backlash Was So Intense
We have to talk about the elephant in the room: the "culture war." A lot of the vitriol directed at the sex scenes in The Last of Us Part II wasn't actually about the act itself. It was about Abby.
Because Abby didn't fit the stereotypical mold of a female protagonist in gaming, some corners of the internet used the sex scene as a focal point for their grievances. They analyzed her body type with a level of scrutiny that was frankly bizarre. They claimed it wasn't "realistic" for a woman to have that much muscle in an apocalypse, despite the game literally showing her training facility and access to food.
It’s interesting to compare this to how the show handles things.
The HBO adaptation, led by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, took a slightly different path in the first season. We see the love story of Bill and Frank in "Long, Long Time." That episode is widely considered one of the best hours of television in recent years. It features intimacy, but it’s framed through the lens of a decades-long partnership. It proved that audiences do want to see these human moments; they just want them to mean something.
Technical Execution and the "Uncanny Valley"
From a technical standpoint, animating The Last of Us sex scenes is a nightmare. Naughty Dog is known for industry-leading motion capture, but capturing the nuances of two human bodies interacting that closely is incredibly difficult.
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If the eyes are off by a millimeter, the whole thing falls into the uncanny valley. You lose the emotion and end up with two puppets bumping into each other.
Director Neil Druckmann has mentioned in various interviews that the goal was always realism. They used intimacy coordinators—a practice common in film but still relatively new to gaming—to ensure the actors felt safe and the performances remained authentic. Laura Bailey (Abby) and Patrick Fugit (Owen) had to deliver performances that conveyed regret, longing, and relief all at once.
A Quick Look at the Different Portrayals of Intimacy
- The Boat Scene (Abby & Owen): Raw, messy, motivated by shared trauma and a need for escape.
- Ellie and Dina: Tender, exploratory, and focused on building a future together in Jackson.
- Bill and Frank (HBO): Focused on the passage of time and the domesticity found in the ruins.
The Narrative Weight of Physicality
In The Last of Us, your body is a weapon, but it's also a liability. You can get bitten. You can get shot. You can starve. Using that same "weapon" for something as vulnerable as sex is a massive narrative pivot.
When Ellie and Dina share a moment in the weed pharmacy early in Part II, it serves a purpose. It establishes what Ellie has to lose. It makes the subsequent quest for revenge feel more tragic because we’ve seen the soft, human version of Ellie that exists when she’s with Dina.
Without those moments of The Last of Us sex or physical closeness, the violence would feel hollow. You need the light to understand the depth of the dark.
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Lessons for Future Game Developers
What can other studios learn from how Naughty Dog handled this? First, context is king. If you're going to include explicit content, it has to serve the characters. If you could cut the scene and the story remains exactly the same, it probably shouldn't be there.
Second, don't be afraid of the "unsexy." Real life is clumsy. Games that embrace the imperfections of human interaction tend to stay with players much longer than those that aim for a sanitized, "perfect" version of romance.
Third, the industry is maturing. The fact that we're even having deep, analytical discussions about the thematic weight of a sex scene in a triple-A title shows that gaming is moving past its adolescent phase. We’re finally treating these characters like actual adults with adult needs and complications.
Actionable Insights for Players and Creators
If you're looking to understand the role of intimacy in mature storytelling, or if you're a creator wondering how to approach these themes, keep these points in mind:
- Prioritize Character Motivation: Always ask why this is happening now. Is it a moment of growth, a lapse in judgment, or a search for comfort?
- Consult Experts: The use of intimacy coordinators is a game-changer for performance capture. It leads to better acting and a more professional environment.
- Expect Friction: Taboo subjects will always draw fire. If the scene is integral to your vision, stand by it, but be prepared for the conversation it will inevitably spark.
- Focus on the "After": The most important part of any intimate scene in a story is often how the characters behave the next morning. How does it change their dynamic? That’s where the real storytelling happens.
The legacy of The Last of Us sex scenes isn't about the graphics or the shock value. It's about the boundary-pushing realization that even at the end of the world, we are still human. We still crave touch. We still make mistakes. And sometimes, those mistakes are the only things that make us feel alive.