Your journey for hope and survival is done.
Joel and Ellie have joined Joel’s brother, Tommy, in Jackson; A settlement filled with the last of us. 7 years have passed, as The Last Of Us Part II picks up with Ellie accepting the truth in a lie, and with it a new life.
As are all good things with a new life, this means new things to fight for…and lose; And you will lose them…and you will fight.
And fighting, for me, was a memorable part of the chapter ‘Finding Nora‘.
There’s a tonne to discover in TLOUP2. Trying to discern what I wanted to share has been hard, because I feel so much of what makes the title great is all the new experiences. Each new thing you find changed from your previous lifetime as Joel and Ellie, is an exciting rush of “how can I use this?”. I mean, it’s precisely why one of the marketing campaigns has been about Ellie being able to jump. Of course it’s not just a jump, it’s a new way of moving through and seeing the world.
And even within the tight confines of a rundown hospital in Seattle, the game still feels so vast.
Yes, that’s a damned vent; Another new way to move through the world. Even the way you manage to make your way into the hospital will be completely fresh to fans of the series.
Naughty Dog Easter Eggs pop up, much like you will, as you enter the facility and decide your approach from there. I say decide, because The Last Of Us to me felt very stealth-orientated and about managing your resources. While this play-style is still there, and can be executed in even more sneaky ways, aggression has also been brought to the table.
Sometimes the only way is through.
I don’t know about you, but upgrading melee weapons always made me feel a little more safe while roaming a world overflowing with cordyceps. And while they still one-shot like the previous title, they have a certain heft to them; More visceral and gory. While it may be a senseless need to use violence as art, it pivots around Ellie’s ideal that “it can’t be for nothing”. And nothing is now not only hand-to-hand combat, but Ellie’s switchblade which players will be very familiar with.
The beautiful UI developed by Alexandria Neonakis is back, and boy it’s just fun to jump back into your backpack. Constantly monitoring what you need to craft, what you have, and what you can use is as easy as ever. And once closed, the UI vanishes into the background, freeing up the screen so you can really take everything in.
Running in 4K on my PlayStation 4 Pro, a desolate world is as gorgeous as ever.
Even in the emptied corridors of a building haunted by Outbreak Day, there’s always something to take your breath away (potentially Clickers).
Yes, I agree. I have been reluctant to share much on my time with The Last Of Us Part II. But I am so adamant the experience must be your own. The amount of times I enjoyed something simply because I discovered it, is why I feel I’ll ultimately end up liking TLOUP2 a lot.
It’s not only a return to a world I wanted more from, but it brought me back to it in ways I dared not imagine.
“I swear. Okay.”
XENOJAY.COM was supplied with a review copy of the game for review by Sony, and it was played on the Playstation 4 Pro console.
