The Last of Us Part II

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 161975 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84,950 out of 161975
  2. Mixed: 8,550 out of 161975
  3. Negative: 68,475 out of 161975
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  1. DopaminE
    Aug 30, 2020
    7
    Graphic, Animation, Combat System, Narrative and AI. are great but i hate mission structure and plot, start chapter>cut-scene>explore >cut-scene>explore>fight>cut-scene>explore>fight>flash back>end chapter... it's very boring.
  2. Halfmad
    Jul 9, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Enjoy a lot of the game, looks fantastic but had a few unexplained AI moments (not uncommon in most games to be fair) but the kicker is the storyline, I just really dislike the changes to the characters, there's also a weird disconnect between how they act and then specific cut scenes.

    I play slower than most people and wasn't in a rush to complete it since I'd heard about the ending anyway. Did not expect it to be quite as poorly finished as that though. What a way to kill off what could have been a great series of 3-4 games. I've no interest in a sequel at this point.    … Expand
  3. Bulletnot
    Jan 4, 2021
    7
    Pros: some of the best graphics I have seen, gameplay is like the first game and I liked that
    Cons: story is what I disliked most. It’s such a spit in the face of Joel and Ellie. This game tries to make you sympathise with the enemy and I think it fails.
  4. Feriatus
    Mar 3, 2022
    7
    It's more like an expansion. I really like the environment and parts of the story.
  5. HitmanStryker
    Jul 6, 2020
    7
    Rating: M for Blood, Gore, Drugs, Brutal Sequences of Killing, Decapitation, and Extreme Violence with Vulgar Language and taking the Lord in vain and sexual content featuring some nudity.

    “Revenge is a dish best served cold!” The thing about revenge is that it slowly strips away your humanity. A plot of a game based on revenge is a hard road to follow, especially when the game    Rating: M for Blood, Gore, Drugs, Brutal Sequences of Killing, Decapitation, and Extreme Violence with Vulgar Language and taking the Lord in vain and sexual content featuring some nudity.

    “Revenge is a dish best served cold!”

    The thing about revenge is that it slowly strips away your humanity. A plot of a game based on revenge is a hard road to follow, especially when the game FORCES you to play as Abby, a character that savagely murders a central character to the game that in turn compels Ellie venture on a revenge mission.

    Four years after their perilous trek across the treacherous post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have returned back to Jackson, Wyoming, where for all intent and purpose, live in a safe compound. However in the world of the Last of Us, safety is an illusion that can easily reveal itself, as while out on patrol with her girlfriend Dina, Ellie’s world is shattered to pieces and she vows revenge on each of the perpetrators.

    Abby Anderson is a playable character from Seattle Washington that treks across the dangerous journey to Jackson where they hash out their plan for revenge. Once she finds the person she stops at nothing to destroy everything sacred to Ellie.

    Ellie leaves the safety of Jackson and travels to Seattle Washington where she has to deal with infected, the Washington Liberation Front (WLF is also known as “Wolves”), and the Seraphites, called Scars by the WLF.

    The Wolves are a strong paramilitary group that in the early days of the outbreak overwhelmed the military and scored a foothold in Seattle. They are well armed and their structure enables them to control most of the area around Seattle where they maintain control and patrol most of the area with their way of justice.

    The other faction is a cult-like group calling themselves the Seraphites. They live in trees and abandoned basements or up in the skies. Most of them use arrows, spikes, knives, and other homemade weapons. Only the leaders have guns but most of the firepower is with their modest weapons and stealthy ways. Their way to communicate is via whistling and the first time you hear it sounds kind of ominous and creepy.

    Ellie arrives in Seattle and finds herself in the midst of a turf war between the Wolves and the Scars. She must defend herself and survive between the hordes of infected, the Wolves, and the Scars.

    The infected have also evolved, as now you have a new infected known as Shambler and the hulking menacing Bloater infused with other forms of the infected identified as the Rat King.

    At the risk of spoilers, the game is broken into three days in Seattle period where you first play as Ellie, and then you play in the same three days from Abby’s perspective. Naughty Dog is ramming Abby down our throat trying very hard for the player to feel sympathetic for her, almost as an explanation for her actions in the very first section of the game.

    We can emphasize with Ellie, we have an emotional connection with her and Joel, but in my playtime with Abby, I could care less. Additionally, the Ellie of this game isn’t that likable either. She can be cold and ruthless and lacks emotion. The game wants us to form an emotional connection with her based on everything she’s been through, however, she is a shell of the sweet and feisty Ellie that we loved in the first game.

    I do not care for the gay agenda that Naughty Dogs wants ram down our throats. If the relationship between her and Dina is relevant to the story is warranted then that is one thing, but it seems to me that this wasn't warranted in the game.

    The ending of this game also makes you wonder why we played this game. We went alone on this killing spree for hours only for the game leave us on an ending that made regret putting the twenty to twenty-five hours into an emotional rollercoaster of feelings that at the end made no sense.

    I cannot give this game a zero but by the same token, I cannot give a ten. Originally after giving it an eight, I must reduce my score to a seven based on other factors of playing a new game plus.    … Expand
  6. aqurban
    Jul 13, 2020
    7
    Despite its haphazard structure and weak storytelling, The Last Of Us Part 2 offers an enjoyable experience that's well polished and meticulously built. I will say with confidence that its technically unmatched. There are so many details and nuances to the world they built that its hard to not recommend this game, even to hard core fans of the original game. Maybe if you close your eyes toDespite its haphazard structure and weak storytelling, The Last Of Us Part 2 offers an enjoyable experience that's well polished and meticulously built. I will say with confidence that its technically unmatched. There are so many details and nuances to the world they built that its hard to not recommend this game, even to hard core fans of the original game. Maybe if you close your eyes to somethings, you'd get the best experience playing a video game in a while.… Expand
  7. battleTerror
    Aug 19, 2020
    7
    It's like an interactive TV show boxed set. Just finished the game and was disappointed. To the people scoring this a 10 ...do you not play other games? Sure there is great craft on display and it's certainly enjoyable in places, but this is an average game. The puzzles and gameplay elements are often very few and far between. At times it's nothing more than a walking simulator with theIt's like an interactive TV show boxed set. Just finished the game and was disappointed. To the people scoring this a 10 ...do you not play other games? Sure there is great craft on display and it's certainly enjoyable in places, but this is an average game. The puzzles and gameplay elements are often very few and far between. At times it's nothing more than a walking simulator with the only player agency being their ability to pick up some craftable material. Much of the gaming press have been rallying around it and inflating it's review scores because it's an impressive technological showcase for Sony. Worth a look if you're a fan of the genre and prefer watching your games instead of playing them.… Expand
  8. bundykins
    Jun 26, 2020
    7
    Beautiful graphics and audio.
    Solid and satisfying third person stealth gameplay.
    Kinda got bored of the story in the last quarter.
    Dull lead characters.
  9. TenLetterz
    Jul 1, 2020
    7
    Graphics are great, sound is amazing, and game-play is fun. The story is where it falls short for me. It feels messy and I just couldn't buy in. There are plenty of intense moments to experience and a lot of the good elements from the first game are here and better. I guess it just depends on the player on whether or not they’ll enjoy this story line.
  10. zeroryoko1974
    Jun 29, 2020
    7
    Game looks good and overall plays good. Story is not as good as first and I didn't really like having to replay the entire game as a different character.
  11. Diskjokk
    Jul 19, 2020
    7
    Gonna be as honest as I can here... K.... here we go. I absolutely hated this game after "you know what happens." Hated it! I didn't want to play anymore, but I felt like I had to because I hold the first game in such high regard. So, I mustered on. Staying away from spoilers, I didn't like the characters or the story in this game. This game, was a chore to finish. Ideally, I look forwardGonna be as honest as I can here... K.... here we go. I absolutely hated this game after "you know what happens." Hated it! I didn't want to play anymore, but I felt like I had to because I hold the first game in such high regard. So, I mustered on. Staying away from spoilers, I didn't like the characters or the story in this game. This game, was a chore to finish. Ideally, I look forward to playing video games, this was a game that felt like an uphill battle to finish. There were a couple of stand-out sequences throughout the adventure, but there wasn't one character, I really liked or cared about in this game.... yes... that's even true of Ellie. Moving on to the graphics, of course, Naughty Dog knocks it out of the park here! The graphics are outstanding! But the story..... oh man :-( So, why am I giving this game a 7? Because it made me feel things. It made me angry, frustrated, scared... it made me feel things in a AAA game, I haven't felt before and the graphics and game play, are excellent. One last thought I realized today as I was playing "Ghost of Tsushima." For me, TLOU2 was not fun! Not at all. It was a chore to finish and I had to force myself through it. Ghost of Tsushima, is fun and I find myself anxious to play again during times I need to be responsible... like, ya know... working for a living. I'd much rather have fun playing video games than being stressed out about it. I never want to play TLOU2 again. Once, is enough.… Expand
  12. Akira282
    Jun 2, 2021
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Disappointed by how the writers treated the two titular characters would be an understatement. I especially did not like playing as Abby, a character I had no motivations to like for obvious reasons, especially towards the end when you play her to "defeat" Ellie. During this scene, I was like WTF? I about just rage quit the game during the quick time event where it tells you to basically choke out Ellie during this scene. So, basically I played as Abby for 12+hrs not caring two **** about her or her motivations and had to deal with a bad revenge story on top of it. Gameplay was fine, obviously graphics were great. That alone doesn't make a game what it is. I'm sorry for Ellie and Joel.

    Update: After having some time to marinate and self reflect on my thoughts I've raised my score. Do I like the story? No. Do I respect the game developers? Yes. Am I devastated by the direction they went? Yes. I raised my the score due to the impressive rope physics haha. Now, will I happily play this game again? Probably not. There was a lot of impressive set pieces in the game, but the story killed it for me. So, final update. Thanks.

    Final Update: Year later - I have had a chance to play the game again. I've settled down some on the director's choice/approach. I definitely see the game as a technical achievement and I can see the amount of time put into the game. The game is difficult to replay given the outcome of events. In our own pandemic, I felt closer to the story this time around and for that, there was some kind of solace or acceptance of the inevitable this time around. I hope Part 3 comes so we can find out what happens to Ellie, not so much Abby.    … Expand
  13. Kenmei
    Jul 28, 2020
    7
    While not as bad as people on here are saying, Last of Us 2 doesnt live up to the first game with a few weird story decisions and lack of gameplay upgrades. The gameplay is almost the same as the first game with 1 or 2 minor upgrades to the system but nothing to make it any more then passable. I personally didnt like the gameplay from the first game thinking it was too simple, and thisWhile not as bad as people on here are saying, Last of Us 2 doesnt live up to the first game with a few weird story decisions and lack of gameplay upgrades. The gameplay is almost the same as the first game with 1 or 2 minor upgrades to the system but nothing to make it any more then passable. I personally didnt like the gameplay from the first game thinking it was too simple, and this game does nothing to change my mind about that. Secondly, while the story isnt as bad as other people have said on here, its not that great either. Without spoilers its hard to say why but certain characters motivations dont strike me as believable at points, with the most obvious wrinkle happening mid game that almost lost me completely. It feels like the game goes out of its way to bash you over the head with its themes of how "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind" over and over again that it losses all meaning in the end. And it certainly cant make up for the most obvious dumb decision that happens in the middle of the game. However, the story still holds up ok at the end of the game. The performances of each individual character is wonderfully done, even if the writing cant equal up to the same calibur. And the graphics here are probably tied in my opinion with Ghosts of Tsushima as being the best on the console, and of this generation in general. However the story needed to be alot less heavy handed and include a lot less bad WTF moments throughout the story. I'd still recommend it but dont expect the same gaming world changing impact that the first game had.… Expand
  14. Giarc1982
    Jun 22, 2020
    7
    Solid 7/10 I've completed it last night, a strange design decision they made took this game from a 10/10 to a 7/10, the majority(2/3) of the game is glorious, it looks fantastic and the gameplay is solid throughout, sadly It comes with a huge caveat.

    I'm gonna try an elaborate without spoiling it, for me there is a certain dislikeable character that is the main focus for a third of the    Solid 7/10 I've completed it last night, a strange design decision they made took this game from a 10/10 to a 7/10, the majority(2/3) of the game is glorious, it looks fantastic and the gameplay is solid throughout, sadly It comes with a huge caveat.

    I'm gonna try an elaborate without spoiling it, for me there is a certain dislikeable character that is the main focus for a third of the game, given the first half the game doesn't portray this character in a good light, it's an annoying and tedious diversion from the main plot, maybe if these bits were played 1st before revealling what happens arround hour 2, it would be more enjoyable to play.    … Expand
  15. Ghoster
    Jun 29, 2020
    7
    Game starts great following great story, gameplay, voice acting, graphics and music just like in first game. Unfortunately they made it too long (all gameplay after first boss fight is not necessary), going to the end game looks much like uncharted or tomb raider than TOLU (car chases, shooting like COD) and ultry stupid ending. Generally I like story and how it begins, but going to theGame starts great following great story, gameplay, voice acting, graphics and music just like in first game. Unfortunately they made it too long (all gameplay after first boss fight is not necessary), going to the end game looks much like uncharted or tomb raider than TOLU (car chases, shooting like COD) and ultry stupid ending. Generally I like story and how it begins, but going to the end they lost it leading to stupid ending!
    GFX: 10
    Sound/Voice acting: 10
    Gameplay: 8
    Story: 6    … Expand
  16. mosessaur
    Dec 18, 2021
    7
    The game quality is amazing. Visuals are great. Mechanics and game play were so good.
    I didn't like the story much though. It felt a little bit over at the end. Even for post apocalypse world.
    My 7 score is because I compared it with the Last of Us part 1. Everything felt similar. Except the story. I didn't like that there was so many collectables in the game too While the connection    The game quality is amazing. Visuals are great. Mechanics and game play were so good.
    I didn't like the story much though. It felt a little bit over at the end. Even for post apocalypse world.
    My 7 score is because I compared it with the Last of Us part 1. Everything felt similar. Except the story.
    I didn't like that there was so many collectables in the game too
    While the connection felt natural. And I personally believe that the link between 2 stories and having 2 different views in the game play was genius idea. But it was little bit over. It was too much salt.
    Overall I think it is worth playing    … Expand
  17. ElWrobel
    Apr 24, 2021
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Let me start this off by saying the first part was incredibly overhyped, it had only two highlights: main characters and graphics. The story itself was nothing to write home about (still, better than average), but the relationship development between the characters made it worth experiencing. Gameplay was honestly abysmal for such a highly rated game.

    It's pretty much the same thing here, vastly improved, but still very basic gameplay, truly amazing graphics. However, the story-characters situation is reversed, the story itself is very good, but characters are often very sappy, stupid, tendentious and, quite often, boring. Though I admit I liked the universally hated Abby, she's the only one with any real development.

    It's hard to convey what I mean by that and keep it short, it's also really not worth it since prolly no one will read it anyway, apart from resident SJWs and fanbois who will downvote it to hell, but I'll try.

    I'll focus on the bullet points I brought up previously with a few examples, keeping it light on spoilers, mostly referring to minor details present in the game (which are the main way that they're trying to send THE MESSAGE through).

    *So, about a fourth into the game you're playing as Ellie, trekking through a city with Dina, discussing how they're going to own a farm, sheep and so on, even though mere seconds ago they nearly fell into multiple traps, fought LOADS of enemies and they're going through hostile territory. The perfect moment for making future plans and showing THEY'RE ALSO HUMAN.

    *Later on, Abbynator teams up with a trans boy, Lev, who journeys to his mother, who rejected him because of her traditional beliefs, to make her accept him being trans. They quarrel, he kills her by accident, his sister comes up to him and tells him it was self-defense. So it's ok to force others to accept that you're trans, sound logic.

    *Overall, Abbynator, while being the best character IMO, has some tendentious moments as well. She crushes all the puny men in her way, most of the time they don't have a chance against her. Of course, she also gets crucified by the end of the game, along with her little trans martyr and refuses to fight Ellie. And pulverizes everything with her bare fists, she no need baby man tools.

    *Only women are capable of forgiving.

    *Apart from Abby's father (who's dead), there's not a single positive white or black male character in the game, all of them turn into **** at one point or another. There are positive males though, so there's that.

    *Good uncle Tommy, which always did right by Ellie, at the end forces her to seek revenge. Makes perfect sense, especially in the light of him previously trying to trick her into staying home so she wouldn't go out.

    *Two tiny, but STRONG women are going around lifting, by the look of it, 300 pound (or maybe even more) doors all by their lonesome. This is a very minor and gamey detail, but it's just so ridiculous that I couldn't omit it.

    That should suffice, the game is chockfull of moments like these, which take away from the experience IMO and could've been done better, especially with the game relying so heavily on it's story.

    Also regarding what all the fan bois are raving about, that is Abbynator terminating Joel and her whole story arc, it's hard to sympathize with her knowing Joel's motivations and the way Fireflies received him after going through all his toils in the first game, but she couldn't have known that and is fitting for her character.

    With all that said, the plot itself has some weak points as well, like cheap overreliance on romantic and sexual relations between characters and cheap drama.
    In one case, extremely cheap, backed by bad writing. I'm thinking of the scene in which Ellie and Dina go to a theater where Dina explains she's shocked with Ellie's immunity, only to reveal few sentences later that she's pregnant. Instant drama. This scene imitates **** movies so hard it's hilarious, it would be acceptable if Dina was established as a drama queen but she's not and it makes no **** sense whatsoever.

    And of course, it's far from being original, while the first game was an amalgamation of different stories with some original bits and pieces, this is a straight up old school western, with a clearly biased modern social commentary tacked on.

    To sum it all up, good game; average story; basic, linear gameplay that only serves as a bridge between parts of the story; worth experiencing if you've got a PS4 or have a mate with one and a lot of time on his hands (this game is LONG and drags on because of the poor gameplay). They should really be making movies instead of games.

    Edit: Oh, and it's excruciatingly boring, combat is fine, has a good feel to it, but stealth has no depth and it's unfortunately the better option most of the time.    … Expand
  18. Greyking
    Oct 11, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What makes a game truly good is if you enjoyed it thoroughly. A good game should be equal parts amazing gameplay and amazing story. Naughty Dog has knocked it out the park again with the Last of Us Part 2 with amazing, fun, and addictive gameplay. But where it fails with its over-ambitious story. It's far too long. Worse yet it runs roughshod over the protagonists of the original game. Joel is retconned as a selfish murderer and Ellie becomes a vengeful vixen. Neil Druckman and his fellow writer Halley Gross brings us an extremely conflicted girl power-driven, social justice laden, white men are bad, white women are great, lesbians are even better game. While I love complicated games and protagonists who are woefully human, hate sequels that do not honor the stakes of what came before. Joel's decision to save Ellie at the end of the original games was not because Joel was a heartless villain, it was because he came to love Ellie as a daughter. His saving Ellie was a sacrifice on his part, not a selfish act. He knew there would be no coming back from what he did, yet he did it anyway to save his daughter. Yet in this game we are presented with the wrongheaded belief what Joel did to save Ellie was wrong, not only wrong but that he deserved a brutal, ignoble, and painful death at the hands a superior ALPHA Women. During her quest for revenge Ellie becomes the villain and Abby is painted as the hero. A bold choice, yes, but amazingly wrongheaded. It's like making a movie from the daughter of a Nazi point of view as she seeks justice for her father who was executed rightfully by Jewish vigilantes for his war crimes. "Child murder" is never okay even if the action of murdering a child has the potential to save billions of lives. Sometimes a sequel should never be made. This was one of those times.… Expand
  19. jerzeeloonx
    Jun 22, 2020
    7
    Good game gameplay wise. If you like the game play of the first its much the same with a few new abilities. It's a step up graphically and has a lot more combat animations. The story wasn't as good as the original imo but it's still a pretty decent game. Nothing ground breaking just modest upgrades from the original. Game of year contender? I'll reserve judgement until cyberpunk 2977.
  20. Grouchy
    Jun 28, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. In its own right, TLoU2 is a good, maybe even very good game: beautiful graphics, stunning lightings, very dark (I love dark!), unforgiving, disturbing, a gritty revenge story, ... The game mechanics which worked fine in the previous ones are the same, with a few welcome new ones.

    As a stand-alone game, I would have given it an 8 or even 9. But TLoU2 isn't its own game .., but the sequel of one of the, if not THE, best game ever. And as a sequel, IMO it fails to reach the perfection of its predecessor.

    As must have been spoiled already everywhere, Joel dies by the end of the intro. In itself, it was a shock, a sad and dark (did I mention I love dark?) surprise. But that doesn't mean it has to be a bad idea. Just like in GoT or the Walking Dead, killing main & beloved characters is an excellent way to bring the player into the story, and is a very powerful triggering factor for the main storyline. Much more than the death of another "close" character which we would just have discovered (Dina, Jesse, even Tommy). Kudos to the writers for the guts to pull such a move!

    But courage alone doesn't always pay off. One hour into the game, we are left with only half of what made Part 1 so good: the evolving relationship between Ellie & Joel. And in the next 20 or so hours of play of Part 2, nothing or no one will fill the void left by Joel's removal from the game. We don't care a second about the new character (Dina, Jesse, Yara, Lev, ...) and certainly not Abby, Joel's killer whom we play for almost half the game. I think the only supporting cast member which the game really makes likable is ... Alice. At least that's the only one who's death (afterward) saddened me.

    Never do we reach the emotional heights of Part 1, although we sometimes have a glimpse of it in some flashback scenes about ... how Ellie & Joel's relationship soured over the years between 1 and 2 because of Joel's secret (lying to Ellie about what happened in the Fireflies' hospital). And that made me wonder how THAT story would have made a much better Part 2 than what we got. Joel could have been killed (after all, his whole storyline is one of redemption), although much later into the game, even by Abby as a playable character. At least, had we been playing Abby for some ten hours BEFORE the murder, knowing her background, maybe we could have liked her and been torn between her and Joel in a duel that would leave one dead. I understand that the writers wanted us to contemplate both sides of the story, but literally forcing us to play Abby (whom I wanted to see dead from Joel's murder to the finale scene) AFTER she killed Joel didn't work. At least for me ...

    Another issue I had was the game's length. It is too long. OK, most of the levels are superb, but in most cases, the pace of the game feels like "go clear that level and come back to base camp to move on with the story", while in Part 1, the story unfolded both within gameplay phases AND cutscenes. Besides, although beautiful, several levels felt too far-fetched, more at home in Tomb Raider (burning village), Uncharted (skyscraper's walkway), or even Resident Evil (looking at you, hospital basement's boss). Every time a character said "it isn't far", I knew some floor will crumble under my feet and throw me into some dark (I love dark, btw) basement just for the sake of lengthening the journey.
    I would have loved shorter levels, but more focus on character development and storyline.

    To conclude, I would strongly recommend that game as a much better & darker (really, I love that) version of Uncharted or Tomb Raider, to anyone who hasn't played Part 1.
    But I would warn Part 1's veterans that they will surely be HUGELY disappointed by this game as a much less well-written sequel to its near-perfect predecessor.    … Expand
  21. Nobilis1984
    Jun 21, 2020
    7
    I can't understand all these anti-lesbian reviews. But let them have fun.
    But to my rating:
    This game is not as good as its predecessor. It looks better and offers 30 hours of entertainment but it also has to weaken which one should not forget with this hype. There are the too strong opponents. Klein Elli is supposed to prevail against masses of monsters with miserable weapons. That's a    I can't understand all these anti-lesbian reviews. But let them have fun.
    But to my rating:
    This game is not as good as its predecessor. It looks better and offers 30 hours of entertainment but it also has to weaken which one should not forget with this hype.
    There are the too strong opponents. Klein Elli is supposed to prevail against masses of monsters with miserable weapons. That's a joke.
    And the story stretches very long in the middle section.
    5 hours less and it would have been better.    … Expand
  22. backInBone
    Jul 1, 2020
    7
    Stunning visuals but disappointing story. I grew very impatient in the second half of the game and just wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible.
  23. isg1983
    Jul 16, 2020
    7
    A vengeance story done bad. Storyline repeats itself and completely misses the point. Other than that the atmosphere, graphics, cinematics and editing are top notch.
    ps: If this game was an interlude of some sort, or a prequel/sequel some far off timeline with different characters, ppl would embrace this game with open arms.
  24. p1menta
    Jul 15, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. IMO, people over exagerate on both sides. Yes, i agree the plot is not as good as the first one, specially if you put one against the other. I mean if you consider your expectations after the first game. And, truth be told, no one knew what would happen, right? the plot was really open ahead of us. the only plot hanging there was how and when Ellie would learn about Joel's making.
    maybe that's why people are so mad about this one. They expected something else (me included, don't get me wrong) but, hey, it's not like this game is THAT piece of garbage as everyone's saying.
    The major problem for me is that expectation hanging there.
    If this was the first game of a serie it would be fantastic. that's why in my head i gave this one two separete ratings. For the game as a sequence it's 6 or even lower. It was a bold move, what they've tried on the plot, but bold moves can go wrong, and when they do it will probably be twice as catastrophic.
    I hate how little they let us play as Joel, hate how terrible of a person they portraited Ellie in the game, hated how much they forced us to like Abby (I'M SAYING THAT EVEN THO I LOVED ABBY. They just didn't have to pushed the palyer so hard toward liking her. It wasnt subtle at all) and if it was a movie, the oscar of the worst editting would fit it perfectly. Swaping between Ellie and Abby was too much, and too often, etc. Thats the thing, again. the expectation. What we wanted to happen. And I'm not even saying dont kill Joel (or any other character) but it wasnt respectful. It wasnt well done. It was dumb. Like a n obvious excuse for the plot.
    We had one game, one DLC and years and years of knowing and loving Ellie and Joel. I dont think anyone expected this, and I can'1t imagine anyone from Naughty Dog to think about this idea as good. (except "the head" behind it, probably)
    IDK, i'm sad about the game. and not the sad I'd like to be if the story was better writen.
    again, if it was a new IP, it would be an 8, maybe 9.
    as the sequal to one of the best games ever, I can't rate it more than 7    … Expand
  25. Stereonight
    Jun 26, 2020
    7
    best graphics, fun game play. but too part 1. and nothing special production.
  26. Algorithem
    Jun 30, 2020
    7
    Really not as bad as what some people have been saying, but the story is definitely on the stupid side
  27. Chowzai
    Aug 6, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The gameplay is pretty epic but the story kills it at the end, I wish there was a choice to decide to kill abbey or not. It just makes the whole game seem meaningless in the end.… Expand
  28. Cristy576
    Jun 25, 2020
    7
    So before writing this review I wanted to take my time, digest & think about the whole thing. I did not want to rush in and review this in the heat of the moment out of the fear of acting on impulse and giving a biased score. I'm going to try and be as objective as possible, so buckle up for the ride.

    Let's start on a positive note: The game definitely does not deserve anything below a    So before writing this review I wanted to take my time, digest & think about the whole thing. I did not want to rush in and review this in the heat of the moment out of the fear of acting on impulse and giving a biased score. I'm going to try and be as objective as possible, so buckle up for the ride.

    Let's start on a positive note:
    The game definitely does not deserve anything below a 6/10 or 6.5/10 however bad you may think it is. The improvements over the first game are very noticeable not only graphics-wise but also from a gameplay and audio standpoint.
    The graphics are probably the first thing you'll notice when booting the game up. Naughty Dog always delivers top-notch graphics for however long they've been releasing games on Sony's consoles. They are top dogs (pun intended) in the industry along with very few others such as Rockstar when it comes to attention to detail, illumination, effects, droplets of rain on character's skin, the tracks you leave behind in the snow and everything else that makes games visually pornographic.
    The gameplay: chef's kiss; the animations are smooth, transitions blend in so seamlessly when you're changing direction, walking, jogging, sprinting, jumping, crawling, shooting, reloading, diving, swimming or swinging. I simply have no words to describe how good the gameplay actually is and the game should be played at least once for this reason alone! it really is THAT good.
    The music is also on par with the first game. Gustavo Santaolalla's magic... Nothing less of excellent. The tunes for this game contribute so much to the atmosphere whether you're in a cutscene, in combat or exploring. The gameplay audio, ranging from the sounds of the guns shooting, breaking glass, walking on snow or stepping in puddles to hearing that blood gushing out when you slice someone's neck with the switchblade. The voice actors also did more than an outstanding job.
    In short this is a very polished game and you can see that the delays have been put to good use. Trying to find faults from a technical aspect, (not that they don't exist) is, most of the time, almost like trying to find the needle in the haystack.
    Something that I noticed that wasn't as perfect was the A.I. The enemies are now so much more intelligent, they try to flank you in numbers, they check their angles and occasionally watch their back to see if someone is sneaking up on them. The only flaw I noticed is the friendly A.I.: they will act like sitting ducks sometimes and sometimes they sprint right into the face of the enemies while they are screaming: "Where did they go?!" and that is a bit immersion breaking... After beating the game on Survivor (hardest difficulty at the point of me writing this) I can truly say that the A.I has improved by a lot, even though there is still way to go.
    During my gameplay I did not use Listen Mode as it would, in my eyes, make the game too casual to play. I won't judge/rate this feature.
    There are enough infected battles, some new types as well that have their own "special abilities" and all the returning infected have been overhauled and improved upon: Runners are so much more aggressive now, Stalkers are more terrifying than ever etc. Dogs are also a new addition and bring out new ways on how the player decides to approach certain situations.

    I would like to delve deeper into some of the things I mentioned but I also have to dedicate some words to what I didn't fully like, the thing that brings this game down to a 7/10 (at least at this point of me writing this review). The goddamn story, yes. You know this moment was coming. Actually not the whole story, but a big chunk of it that would take the score down by so much. If you haven't played the game yet, proceed with caution, some MAJOR SPOILERS be lurking ahead. Here we go:

    First off, let me say that Joel dying isn't the problem... It's the way Joel died, the way he went and how we reached that moment was so out-of-character and more than disrespectful towards the protagonist of the first game. People find all sorts of excuses but sorry, I don't buy any of them.
    Getting over that tragic moment is all fine and dandy, until about half-way through the game when the game flashbacks after a major cliffhanger. After that you are forced to play as Abby (Joel's killer) who is the daughter of the surgeon that was supposed to operate on Ellie and which Joel killed in the first game. ND tried to shove her ~15 hours long backstory down our throat and make us like/empathize with a character who we despised literally a couple hours in the game. Just no.
    The ending is even more underwhelming, after failing to get revenge the first time, after killing hundreds, the death of Joel, other characters & including losing her friends before reaching this point Ellie decides last second not to kill the person who wronged her.

    P.S.: The multiplayer i loved in Part 1 won't be out for who knows how long. Big L in my eyes.    … Expand
  29. krakuss
    Jul 6, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 10/10 graphics, 8/10 sound, 7/10 gameplay and 6/10 story... could be better and should be better. Good game but overall huge disappointment after brilliant first one. Same story plot could be handled way better than Naughty Dog did. I felt personally offended how ND thinks that I’m a so stupid that I will fell for the cheap story tricks that supposed to make me like Abby and didn’t like Ellie. Check the Angry Joe review and he basically says what I’m thinking about that plot and how the same story could be handled way better with a little bit different story telling. Shame on you Mr.Druckman!… Expand
  30. BaconDrew
    Jun 27, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I'm pretty conflicted about this game. The whole first half is a solid 9.5/10 for me and really does feel like a worthy successor to the first game. Incredible level design, great combat sequences, and graphic quality I never expected to see out of my 6 year old PS4. I was thoroughly engaged in the story up until the switch.

    The second half however, feels very jarring compared to what is played up until that point. It feels like Naughty Dog divided into two teams to make this game. The team developing the first half being people who worked on the original game. the combat encounters feel like they were designed by a less talented team than Ellie's section of the game. The story of Abby and her friends is not interesting and the game gives me no reason to care about those characters.

    I do appreciate a lot of what this game tried to do in the bigger picture. The idea of having to play a character for 10-12 hours that you are strongly predisposed to dislike is an interesting psychological experiment, but I kind of wish I wasn't the subject. The Abby section wasn't all bad (I liked her Flashbacks and thought the leaving the Island sequence was very cool) but I still kind of feel like like I was tricked into being forced to play a different game for 10 hours to see the conclusion of the story I was invested in.

    I think the Abby section would be less grating on people if it wasn't so long. It didn't feel like it was at all necessary for her to have a whole second campaign to tell that part of the story. Her 3 days could have been an hour each and still showed the player what they needed to see. By the time I was finally done the Abby section it felt like it had killed the tension that was there before the Abby switch.

    By far my favorite part of this game was the flashbacks with Joel and Ellie. I don't think Joel's death was necessarily bad writing but i still can't help but wonder what this game could have been if it was able to take more advantage of it's greatest strength in the chemistry between those characters.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PS4 Game of 2020
1
#1 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2020
3
#3 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
93

Universal acclaim - based on 121 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 113 out of 121
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 121
  3. Negative: 0 out of 121
  1. GameMAG
    Sep 13, 2020
    90
    The Last of Us Part II is the high point of the PlayStation 4. The plot is controversial, but the game is the incredibly addictive adventure of Ellie, from which it is impossible to pull away from the opening and to the very end.
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  2. PLAY! Zine
    Sep 5, 2020
    93
    Not everyone is going to enjoy the motives of The Last of Us Part II. But if you try and manage to accept the subliminal and not so subtle messages as a fact that the world has gone awry and that people have the need to have somewhere or someone to belong to as their own way out, then... You will witness the boundaries of gaming expand. You will witness a true masterpiece.
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  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Sep 3, 2020
    75
    If you loved the original for its great characters and well-paced story – stay away from this game. However, if you’re aching to sink into the depths of depression, or just want to cut some throats and burn some zombies – Part II will deliver. [Issue#247, p.72]
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