So it wasn’t until I finished Part II and began plumbing the internet that I learned about the firestorm surrounding Part II – namely the outrage at … well, everything. Take your pick at what you want to be mad about: the use of LGBTQ characters, the death of Joel, playing as someone who isn’t “part of the story”, the game being too long, the violence too grotesque, being ‘tricked’ by a two-year old trailer… whatever your displeasure, there are plenty of trolls ready to join in your crusade.
As someone who thought the game was a top-to-bottom masterpiece of gameplay, music, storytelling, and visuals I could not have been more surprised at the hate being dumped on Part II. I read thread after thread of Reddit’s Part II sub and couldn’t find anyone sticking up for the game. Like not even one positive post! I thought I was in the wrong sub. Then I learned Neil Druckmann and Laura Bailey were getting abused with death threats and religious taunts and suddenly a displeased group of Redditors seemed rather banal.
What I’m about to say is not an original take, but I believe the source of ALL this hate is the result of the stereotypical video gamer’s uncomfortableness with controlling a character who is
1) a girl
2) a lesbian, and
3) has her lesbian sidekick accompany her throughout the game
What evidence do I have to support this? It’s easy really. The same internet that trashes the game has a fixated hatred on Abby’s muscles. They don’t just dislike that she’s ripped, they don’t even think it’s possible that a girl could be that ripped. (this, in a video game series where you survive approximately one million gunshots is the straw that breaks the unrealistic camel’s back? Lol.) The fact is gamers are used to controlling female characters with other body parts that are noticeably well endowed. So I'm just going to go ahead and assume if you're uncomfortable with a female lead who’s large in muscle instead of breast you’ll be even more uncomfortable if your female character kisses another female.
I belong to a religion that espouses traditional marriage. My church comes under fire all the time for our perceived unfriendliness towards the LGBTQ categories. I’m 34, hetero, a member of the LDS church and (mostly) white -- I should fall into the category of gamer who is uncomfortable controlling a character with lifestyle views in opposition to his own. But I never once felt that way! Can I give a bigger credit to Naughty Dog than that?
I never once felt like certain things had been inserted into the game to pander to the inclusivity crowd. The characters did what they did because that’s who they are. Of all the things I can praise Naughty Dog with accomplishing, their ability to make characters seem like living people is unparalleled, certainly in video games, frequently in cinema as well.
Oddly, the hating crowd tries to support their rage by discrediting the motivations and actions of the main characters in Part II as illogical, a technique we saw perfected during last year’s Game of Thrones season 8 criticism. (How could our darling Khaleesi who crucified slavers, ordered molten lava be dumped on her brother’s head, saw her best friend get decapitated, who was betrayed by her primary advisor, who watched her boyfriend turn on her ever get mad enough to terrorize a city that was responsible for her exile and the murder of her parents and baby siblings? It just doesn’t make any sense! She would never do such a thing!) In response to this idea I turn to Ben Lindbergh from the Ringer.
“Ellie’s inability to ... learn from her mistakes is frustrating for us, but I won’t police the plausibility of the behavior of an adolescent orphan in a nightmare full of fungus-human hybrids who’s survived dozens of near-death experiences and became a killer at 14” … and I would add, who watched her first girlfriend become infected and likely had to kill her; who was abducted by cannibals; saw her acting dad get beat to death with a golf club; and who may feel guilty by association of dooming humanity to a vaccine-less future. I think it’s fair to say most of us wouldn't know how to react in that scenario.
Like Part I of the Last of Us, what I’ll remember from Part II beyond the gameplay and the tense moments and the tremendous character investment is the emotional tumult the game put me through.
Was any single moment as impactful as Part I when you realize you must kill that innocent doctor? I don’t think so … but while Part II didn’t individually match the quality of that moment it may have trumped it by generating more overall ‘moments’ where I felt emotions I never had in games previously. When I fought Ellie as Abby I did not want to win. I’ve never felt that before. I let Ellie kill me a couple times, because I didn’t want to fight a character I loved.
When Ellie was at the farm with Dina, I was fully conflicted. I wanted her to stay, to keep her happy life but I wanted her to avenge Joel too. I, like Ellie, was touched by the complicated memory of Joel standing up for her at that dance, even though it angered her in the moment. I wanted Ellie to finish the job! Or did I?
When I finally confronted Abby as Ellie, I wasn’t as committed to smashing the button to make her drown as I thought I’d be. Again, I’ve never felt that way in a video game! It’s the final boss and I’m not sure what I want to do? Abby had let me walk away from certain death twice. Did the fact that she stole Joel from me override the mercy she’d displayed? I couldn’t tell. It wasn’t until Ellie released Abby from drowning that I realized I was relieved. I wanted Ellie to let her go.
There has been a lot of talk about the theme of Part II. Is it a revenge story, a message about destructive behavior, a reminder of the things we do for love? The actress who plays Ellie gave her thoughts on the theme, explaining how in her view it centers on the idea that everyone in their sphere thinks that what they’re doing is right. This is such a great point and it makes me wish every hardcore political enthusiast could play this game and be reminded that just because someone thinks differently than you doesn’t mean they’re automatically insane. Only a video game could allow you to literally walk in the shoes of both the protagonist and antagonist of a story, and experience both points of view firsthand. Part II isn’t the first game to switch perspectives on you, but it is the best.
There’s lots more to say about Part II. I’ll condense some of my personal highlights into my typical long, rambling, comma filled paragraph list. I’ll remember the times I squinted my eyes in fear as I nervously crept into infected filled areas; when I hit a bloater with a molotov and ran into a sideroom to reload, only to have the flaming bloater crash through the wall; the time Jackie laughed at me when I jumped out of my seat when I got bullrushed by the WLF when at that one workbench; the condensation on the window panes at the aquarium; the terror of the Rat King battle; how funny the note with the anatomical drawings is; the eery whistles of the Scars; stopping a clicker with my very last bullet right as he lunges for my throat; the ‘Take on Me’ cover; how natural the rope works; the superb level designs; the flabbergasting facial emotions; how I ended the game on the bare minimum of health with every one of my resources depleted; how awesome the museum flashback was; how devastating the hospital flashback was.
My review of The Last of Us Part II?
I want to play it again. Not in a while. Right now.
I think I’ll start it up tonight.
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