It's been years. Honestly, I still think about that damn golf club. You know the one. If you’ve played The Last of Us Part II, that image is probably burned into your retinas too. It was the moment Naughty Dog decided to stop playing fair with our emotions and start a war with its own fanbase. Some people hated it. Others, like me, couldn’t stop playing even when it felt like the game was punching us in the gut every thirty minutes. It’s a messy, violent, beautiful disaster of a story that remains one of the most polarizing pieces of media ever made.
The game didn't just want to tell a story. It wanted to hurt you.
The Last of Us Part II and the Risk of Killing Your Hero
Most sequels play it safe. They give you more of what you loved the first time. If Naughty Dog had followed the standard "Hero’s Journey" template, we would have spent twenty hours as Joel and Ellie, bonding over puns and killing clickers in some new overgrown city. Instead, Neil Druckmann and Halley Gross decided to kill the protagonist within the first two hours.
It was a massive gamble.
When Joel Miller died at the hands of Abby Anderson, the internet basically imploded. I remember the leaks. Before the game even hit shelves, people were cancelling pre-orders because they couldn't handle the idea of their "surrogate dad" figure being taken out so unceremoniously. But that’s the point. Death in a post-apocalyptic world isn't cinematic. It’s fast. It’s ugly. It’s unfair. By removing Joel, the developers forced us to sit with Ellie’s grief—and eventually, her rage.
Why the perspective shift actually worked
About halfway through, the game does something truly ballsy. It resets. Just as you’re reaching a breaking point as Ellie, the clock winds back and you’re forced to play as Abby. The person you’ve spent ten hours hating. The person you wanted to kill.
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Initially, I hated it. I wanted to put the controller down. But the game forces you to see that Abby isn't a villain in her own story. She’s just another Ellie. She had a father, Jerry Anderson, who was the surgeon Joel killed at the end of the first game to save Ellie. It’s a cycle. A stupid, bloody, never-ending loop of "you killed my person, so I’ll kill yours." Naughty Dog didn't want you to like Abby right away; they wanted you to realize that your perspective is entirely subjective.
Technical Mastery That Still Holds Up in 2026
Even if you hate the plot, you can't deny the technical wizardry. Even years later, the character animations in The Last of Us Part II feel ahead of their time. Look at the way Ellie’s face contorts when she’s struggling in a grapple. Or the way tall grass moves when a Stalker is prowling through it.
The sound design is genuinely terrifying.
If you play with a good pair of headphones, you can hear the distinct "shuck" of a bow string or the wet gurgle of a Seraphite who just took a machete to the throat. The "prop blood" system is almost too realistic. Blood pools differently depending on the surface, and characters actually scream out names of their fallen friends. It’s a level of detail that makes the violence feel heavy. It’s not "fun" in the way Uncharted is fun. It’s grueling.
Combat and the "Prone" Factor
The addition of the prone mechanic changed everything. Being able to crawl through undergrowth, feeling the tension of a WLF (Washington Liberation Front) soldier walking inches from your head, creates a specific kind of dread. The AI doesn't just wander in circles. They coordinate. They flank. They use dogs to sniff you out. It forces a frantic, "make-it-up-as-you-go" playstyle that perfectly mirrors Ellie’s desperation.
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The Cultural Fallout and Why We’re Still Talking About It
Let's be real: the discourse around this game was toxic. Between the "anti-woke" brigade complaining about Abby’s muscles and the genuine critiques of the game's crunch culture at Naughty Dog, it was a lot to process.
Naughty Dog has a history of high-pressure development. Reports from Jason Schreier at Kotaku detailed the grueling hours the team put in to achieve that level of polish. It raises a difficult question for us as players: is a masterpiece worth the burnout of the people who made it? It’s a conversation that has reshaped how we look at AAA game development.
The HBO Effect
With the success of the HBO adaptation, a whole new wave of people are discovering this story. They’re coming in fresh, without the baggage of the 2020 leaks. It’s fascinating to see how non-gamers react to the narrative beats. The show has the benefit of expanding on characters like Lev and Yara in ways a stealth-action game sometimes can't. But the core remains: The Last of Us Part II is about the cost of empathy.
Complexity Over Comfort
The ending is what usually breaks people. Ellie loses everything. Her fingers, her ability to play the guitar (her last connection to Joel), and her relationship with Dina. She returns to an empty farm.
It’s bleak.
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But it’s also the first time she’s actually free. By letting Abby go in the water at Santa Barbara, Ellie finally broke the cycle. She didn't do it because she forgave Abby; she did it because she realized that killing Abby wouldn't bring Joel back. It wouldn't fix her PTSD. It would just be one more body in a world full of them. It’s a sophisticated, "anti-climax" that prioritizes character growth over player satisfaction.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Next Playthrough
If you’re planning on diving back into the remastered version or playing for the first time, don't just rush the story. Here is how you should actually approach it:
- Turn off the HUD. The game is designed to be immersive. Removing the UI makes the world feel much more dangerous and forces you to actually look at your weapons and environment for cues.
- Listen to the optional dialogue. Some of the best world-building happens in the quiet moments between Ellie and Dina or Abby and Lev. Don't sprint to the next objective.
- Experiment with the "No Return" Mode. The roguelike mode added in the remaster is a great way to appreciate the combat mechanics without the emotional weight of the story. It lets you play as characters like Tommy or Mel, each with unique traits.
- Read the journals. Ellie’s drawings and poems offer a window into her psyche that the cutscenes don't always show. It’s where the "human" element of the game really lives.
- Adjust the difficulty per-attribute. One of the best features is the granular difficulty settings. You can make enemies hyper-perceptive but keep resources plentiful, or vice versa. Customizing the challenge makes the pacing feel much better.
The game is a test of endurance. It asks you to hold two conflicting ideas in your head at once. It asks you to care about the "villain." Whether you think it’s a pretentious mess or a narrative triumph, it’s a milestone in gaming history. Stop waiting for a "happy" version of this story. It doesn't exist. Instead, embrace the discomfort and see why The Last of Us Part II is still the gold standard for cinematic storytelling in games.
Now, go find every trading card and coin—you’re going to need the distractions.