Naughty Dog
It was a sunny spring day in 2020, amid the social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, after I beat The Last of Us Part 2. As its lengthy credit rolled, I paced round my small house lounge unpacking what transpired. I adored the sequel’s first two acts and its multifaceted dialogue of cyclical violence, however I discovered myself essential of its California-set finale. It appeared to backtrack on all of the nuance of Ellie and Abby’s wrestle by introducing a definitively evil faction that I wouldn’t really feel unhealthy about taking pictures with a machine gun. It was a discordant be aware on the finish of a symphony, however I used to be decided to dig beneath my floor studying and attempt to perceive what Naughty Dog was going for. It had earned that.
That’s after I was hit by the one second of the sport I’ll always remember. As I used to be deep in reflection, the credit wrapped up and a ultimate little bit of textual content splashed on the display screen. As a reward for ending the brutal story, I had unlocked New Game+ mode, which might encourage me to replay it once more with all my upgraded weapons. The good thing about the doubt I’d given Naughty Dog went out the window; did the studio even perceive its personal recreation?
When I import my outdated save file in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, that query will get blown up in 50-point font. That acquainted endgame splash display screen as soon as once more pops up, but it surely’s now 3 times as absurd. I’m inspired to blow via the story as quick as I can in a Speedrun mode and rack up kills within the rerelease’s bloody roguelike add-on, No Return. The violence should proceed to maintain the sequence related between lengthy growth cycles.
As a double-dip constructed for superfans, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is a advantageous (although inaccurately titled) collector’s version with some helpful archival materials. But as an extension of Naughty Dog’s artistic imaginative and prescient, it’s borderline mockery that turns a considerate story right into a merciless punch line.
Director’s reduce
If you’re interested by grabbing The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, let’s get one factor straight: It isn’t a lot of a remaster. Though it does include a visible improve, these adjustments are largely negligible. Sure, there are some slight visible enhancements and efficiency boosts for individuals who like to savor each single body, however I’d wager that almost all of it received’t register together with your common participant. I can barely discover a distinction. Even after I can, it doesn’t change my relationship to the story in any approach. It’s a unnecessary increase delivered solely three years after a great-looking recreation’s launch.
Quite a lot of Naughty Dog’s advertising issues right here would have been resolved with a subtitle change. This isn’t a remaster; it’s a director’s reduce. That branding has beforehand been given to Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima’s PlayStation 5 upgrades and it’s puzzling that Sony didn’t implement some consistency right here. What you’re actually shopping for right here is the Criterion Collection rerelease of The Last of Us Part 2, full with a full commentary observe and behind-the-scenes options.
Naughty Dog
Some of these extras are worthwhile for individuals who merely love the bottom recreation. The hours of commentary present some helpful perception into the story, with the voice forged and artistic director Neil Druckmann breaking down the small nuances of each single cutscene. It offers gamers perception into why sure choices have been made, what concepts have been reduce, and the way the actors take into consideration the characters they painting. It’s the correct of bonus to incorporate with a recreation like this, one which underscores the detail-oriented creative effort that makes the story so efficient.
Similarly helpful is a small number of reduce content material included with the packages. The trio of “lost levels” should not thrilling new expansions that add extra hours onto the sport; they solely give a couple of minutes of gameplay whole and are introduced in a uncooked, unfinished state. One merely throws Ellie in a fast transitional house that had a couple of minigames deliberate, however was reduce for pacing. Its most concerned one is a misplaced third-act introduction that has Ellie looking down a boar and culminates in a comfort retailer boss struggle towards the rampaging pig.
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It’s straightforward to inform why every was reduce, but it surely’s fascinating to grasp that course of. Bonus commentary snippets have designers breaking down precisely how they constructed every stage and why they have been finally canned regardless of being principally completed. It’s a stage of transparency we by no means get in video games of this scale, permitting gamers to see how a lot thought goes into even the smallest scenes. The extras are too quick to justify a purchase order and will have simply been a free add-on, however they’re a pleasant addition that celebrates the artistry of The Last of Us Part 2.
Had the bundle stopped there, it could have been a unnecessary, however respectful double-dip. Even the added music mode, which lets gamers freely toy round with the bottom recreation’s wonderful guitar minigame, appears like a becoming approach to spotlight one of many journey’s best qualities. Unfortunately, developer insights and some minutes of tough stage sketches don’t equal engagement — and that’s the place The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered embarrasses itself.
More violence
The foremost draw of the bundle is a brand new roguelike mode known as No Return, which has gamers enduring waves of human and clicker assaults that culminate in a monstrous boss struggle. If you’re the type of one that doesn’t care how gameplay informs narrative and solely cares about pure leisure, I’ll get this out of the way in which early: It’s simply not enjoyable.
No Return acts as a straightforward content material remix that takes present belongings and gameplay techniques and shoehorns them right into a recreation they have been by no means designed round. After selecting considered one of a number of playable characters, together with Joel and Lev, gamers are dropped right into a secure room that accommodates a mission choose board with branching paths. Each one sends them to a small stage from the sport and has gamers both killing waves of enemies or surviving an onslaught as a timer ticks down. A profitable stage rewards dietary supplements and assets that can be utilized to improve weapons and earn abilities in every run.
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It’s a really stripped-down imaginative and prescient of a roguelike that doesn’t play to any of the bottom recreation’s strengths. Third-person fight is advanced in The Last of Us Part 2, but it surely’s additionally deliberately gradual and clumsy. Each shot is supposed to have weight, making gamers actually really feel the magnitude of every bullet they ship into human flesh. It’s not enjoyable; it’s a visceral and uncomfortable approach to talk the darkish, animalistic place that Ellie’s quest for revenge takes her. That system stands proud like a sore thumb in an entertainment-focused roguelike mode the place I often get goofy modifiers that trigger enemies to spontaneously combust when getting hit by a melee strike.
The undercooked mode isn’t a complete waste of cupboard space. Naughty Dog threads in a satisfying development system that unlocks a drip feed of characters, costumes, modifiers, and whole mechanics every run. For those that click on with it, there’s sufficient content material to chase whereas working towards unlocking six distinct finish bosses. I can really feel a few of Naughty Dog’s learnings from making an ill-fated live-service recreation at play right here via sensible engagement loops. However, the skinny gameplay simply doesn’t maintain up its finish of the discount.
The extra urgent challenge with No Return is in how mind-bogglingly awkward it’s in context of The Last of Us Part 2. The base recreation is a deep meditation on cyclical violence, adapting the outdated “eye for an eye” saying right into a grisly story. Considering that, I had hoped that Naughty Dog would maybe use a roguelike construction to increase that concept very similar to God of War Ragnarok’s wonderful Valhalla DLC does. What higher approach is there to debate how violence strikes in cycles than with a run-based roguelike that traps gamers in an infinite stream of shootouts.
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No Return does completely nothing with that concept. It is delivered straight, with out a trace of self-awareness. There’s no narrative thread to arrange a loaded premise or any packaging in any respect. Players merely load in, kill a complete bunch of individuals, unlock a humorous T-shirt for his or her hero, and do it once more. All the whereas, every part constructed to impress discomfort within the base recreation stays unchanged. When I kill an enemy, an NPC nonetheless often calls out their identify in agony as I lodge a sickle in another person’s abdomen to revive my well being by way of a random perk.
After spending 25 hours taking part in via one of the distressing interactive meditations on violence ever made, I’m anticipated to place all of it apart and take pleasure in some morbid enjoyable. It could be comedic if it weren’t so bleak.
Reassessing an advanced story
The painfully awkward inclusion of No Return has a destructive influence on the bottom recreation it’s packaged with. As I gun via waves of people, each criticism I had with The Last of Us Part 2 bubbles again to the floor. I bear in mind how annoyed I used to be by its third act, which needlessly had me killing a left-field “bad guy” faction en path to an extreme ultimate brawl with Abby. I flash again to the humanistic ending of Abby’s chapters, which appeared prefer it was constructing towards a mature decision about breaking away from violence — solely to show round and maim its characters one final time. Most of all, I return to that tone-deaf New Game+ integration, which has been usurped by No Return as probably the most embarrassing side of the sport.
Well, perhaps it’s third now. The Remastered version’s new Speedrun mode may get the sting right here. What emphasizes the teachings of The Last of Us Part 2 greater than making an attempt to undergo its brutal killings a number of instances within the hunt for a excessive rating?
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It definitely doesn’t assist that The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is dropping on the absolute worst potential second. Druckmann has beforehand famous that his inspiration for the story got here from the battle between Israel and Palestine. A traumatic picture moved him to write down a narrative about two factions going to warfare with each other and destroying one another’s lives within the course of. The 2020 launch was eliminated sufficient from that geopolitical wrestle to function by itself phrases, but it surely doesn’t have the identical luxurious in 2024. It’s troublesome to take away it from the present wrestle abroad, which has reportedly left tens of 1000’s of Palestinian civilians — together with 1000’s of youngsters — lifeless.
The narrative is certain to be seen via that lens on its rerelease, with gamers reexamining its message on violence. Despite being a nuanced human battle, elements of its preaching really feel extra reductive in a brand new context. The concept that every part exists in an ethical grey zone and no facet is absolutely proper feels missing when positioned subsequent to an actual battle the place harmless civilians are labeled as future terrorists with a purpose to justify the indiscriminate bombing of refugee camps and hospitals (commentary reveals that the aim of the ruthless Rattler faction on the finish of Part 2 is to make Ellie’s ultimate kills really feel “justified”). What as soon as felt advanced in its fictionalized secure home now feels inadequate in actuality.
That makes modes like No Return much more egregious. A mirrored image on a really actual disaster has now been burdened with engagement-baiting “content” meant to maintain gamers hooked. Is it actually so totally different from a Call of Duty recreation circa the warfare on terror — or, even worse, the controversial Six Days in Fallujah?
Naughty Dog
As I mirror on the failures of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, I believe again to the ending I want the story had gotten. The story’s handiest second comes when Ellie and Abby lastly lock horns in an deserted movie show. It’s a brutal battle the place one particular person is destined to die. That is, till Abby makes the primary mature resolution within the recreation: she walks away. It’s the one approach to break the cycle of violence. It’s virtually the right ending, one that also leaves an irreparable scar on a PTSD-ridden Ellie and even retains the door open for an inevitable sequel. That second of knowledge goes out the window when Ellie decides to reignite the battle and gun down extra our bodies within the course of.
Just like a bankable IP, Ellie can’t take a break from the violence; she’s turn out to be a machine that feeds on blood. It’s the one approach The Last of Us can maintain churning out sequels, DLC, new modes, TV reveals, and unnecessary remasters that refuse to free us from its personal violence. It’s kill, kill, kill till Part 3 steps in to elucidate why that’s improper.
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is obtainable on January 19 for PlayStation 5.
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