The Last of Us was first released in 2013 by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. The second part was released on the 19^th of June, 2020, by Sony for PlayStation 4. For fans of the Last of Us franchise, this could not have come at a better time. Fans had to wait for almost three years, starting in December 2016, when the second installment was announced until June 2020 when it was released. For prospective players, this game packs praises for its storyline, gameplay mechanics, action, and visual quality. Although, I think that the developers could have done better with the theme depiction of the game.

In the game, modern civilization has been destroyed by a new strain of the deadly Cordyceps fungus, which turns humans into aggressive zombie-life creatures –  called the Infected. However, Ellie, a 14-year-old, is immune to the fungus. Her friend and travel partner, Joel Miller, decided to escort her to the hospital run by a rebel group to discover a cure through her genes. Unknown to Joel, the rebel group named the Fireflies intends to kill Ellie in their bid to find a cure. To save Ellie’s life, Joel murders the doctors in the hospital and runs away with an unconscious Ellie to Jackson, Wyoming. 

Abby, the daughter of a Firefly surgeon killed by Joel and a member of the Washington Liberation Front groups, seeks to kill Joel as revenge for her father’s death. Joel, who is ignorant of this plot, still goes ahead to save Abby from an Infected. This, however, doesn’t stop Abby from shooting him and beating him to death. Ellie, who had fallen in love with Dina during their search for the brothers, returned to witness Joel’s final moments.

Filled with sorrow and rage, Ellie swears to avenge the death of Joel and has to leave  Jackson in search of weapons and resources needed to complete her mission.

Set five years after the events of its predecessor, Last of Us II introduces us to a different 19-year-old Ellie, who is now overtaken with anger, revenge, and bitterness.  Joel’s death has rid her of all her innocence as we no longer see Ellie from the first installment who had a book of puns and often joked around. The game chronicles the slow descent into the darkness archetypal of that age.

Right at the beginning, the game introduces us to a quick emotional transition. We see Ellie and Dina smoking weed and watching porn in the basement. Before we could share their bliss, the scene changes to Ellie coming in to watch Joel being gruesomely beaten to death. The violence starts immediately. The theme of violence in the game is so predominant that sometimes killing a non-player character is done out of spite and not a necessity. 

Playing as Ellie, your first objective would be to go to Seattle to find and kill all Abby’s associates. But you spend most of the time fighting and killing Wolves and Infected as you collect resources, upgrade weapons and unlock new skills. I felt that some of the killings were unnecessary and an overly eager attempt to fill the plot with gory violence. 

After Day 3 of playing in Seattle as Ellie and leaving a trail of destruction as you go, the game switches, and you start to play as Abby. Through the eyes of Abby, we begin to gain new insight into the plot and a chance to see things from the villain’s perspective. Through flashbacks and the ghosts we see on Day 1, we take a journey into Abby’s past and watch Abby’s humanization and her search for redemption. I dare say that it is incredibly easy to fall in love with her character and you might even find yourself siding with her over Ellie. Her character was clearly created to contrast Ellie’s, although they share a common knack for the violent. 

Initially, I was opposed to the sudden switch in characters. Just when you are getting used to Ellie and her idiosyncrasies, you start afresh with Abby. However, Abby introduces new sets of weapons, resources, and a different style of fighting, all of which might take some getting used to. Albeit, this small setback is eventually balanced by the attachment you soon form with Abby.

The fighting, for both characters, is intense, gruesome, and tiring. Players have access to different variety of weapons ranging from bows and arrows, knives, guns, and even improvised weapons. Your enemies may unleash their guard dogs, and you might need to kill these dogs, so they don’t track you down and give you away. Killing dogs can be very emotional, especially if you have to watch the owners of the dog mourning the dead dog or when your enemies mourn their fallen friends. 

Another discord in thematic representation in the game is depicted through the looting. While it is exhilarating to loot while fighting, there isn’t much room left for this. More often than not, you might need to wait till you have killed everyone in that environment before you can properly search for resources you may need in the game. 

Apart from a few inconsistencies in theme depiction, the character and plot development in the game is topnotch. As the game begins to wind up, I found myself more concerned with Abby’s safety over Ellie’s. The general story is so engrossing that as the game ends, I kept wishing for more game time than the game allows.