Naughty Dog, the developer of The Last of Us 2, has made it very clear what its strengths are. As a company, it does an amazing job at including stunning levels of detail, exciting gameplay, powerful enemy AI, and more, but most will agree that its major strength is telling emotional moments and building great characters. These emotional moments are what drove The Last of Us onward to being heralded as the greatest game of its generation, and have now become an expectation for the studio's future work.
The Last of Us 2 has been subject to immense criticism from fans despite receiving nearly perfect review scores across the board from critics. This dichotomy between critic scores and user scores is nothing new, as games are often divided along this line, so it's worth looking at the type of story being told. NOTE: Minor story spoilers ahead.
How Do Characters and Stories Interact?
There are two main ways that characters can interact with a story, and both have their advantages and disadvantages. The Last of Us features what is called a character driven story, meaning the events of the story are completely dependent on the decisions made by the characters. Characters never compromise their own backgrounds and beliefs for the sake of plot, and as a result, the story feels believable. This can be difficult to accomplish, especially in stories with as much moral ambiguity as The Last of Us, but it resulted in one of the greatest games of all time.
On the contrary, The Last of Us 2 seems to have story driven characters. The story is already set in stone, and it doesn't seem that any character has the power to actually change it. At some times, some will even act out of character in order to allow the story to progress, creating a disconnect between what the audience thinks should happen and what actually does. This isn't always a bad thing, as there are plenty of forms of media that use type of storytelling to great effect, but sometimes the two types of stories can collide.
Naughty Dog's Emotional Moments
Despite this change in narrative direction, few can deny Naughty Dog's immense talent for sharing emotional moments with its audience. In the first The Last of Us, fans witnessed the heartwrenching development of Joel and Ellie's relationship over the course of a year, but it was truly key moments such as the pair's argument during Fall or Joel comforting Ellie at the end of Winter. It's these types of moments which draw players into the story and get them invested in the characters, and the story follows their lead.
This talent hasn't disappeared in The Last of Us 2, as there are some truly emotionally satisfying moments. Many of these take place in the flashback sequences with Joel and Ellie, but they nonetheless prove that Naughty Dog is still capable of crafting these amazing scenes. Even some of Abby's scenes with Lev and Yara are rather heartwarming.
Thinking back on The Last of Us, despite its many perfect reviews, it did have some flaws. These flaws were minor enough that many could easily overlook them for all the great things the game had to offer, but they were there. Perhaps the biggest fault one could think of regarding the original game is also what has made it so critically acclaimed, the story. The micro stories within the game are all amazing to be sure, but when really analyzed the overarching plot is nothing special.
It's worth emphasizing that this isn't to say The Last of Us had a bad overall story, just that it wasn't amazing. Joel and Ellie travel across a post-apocalyptic country together in search of a cure to the "zombie" virus; this is a tale that has been told by countless other mediums. What makes it so special is the interaction between the characters, the incredible story that Joel and Ellie build together while the player experiences their relationship shift and grow. The cross-country trek for a cure was never truly the focus of the game.
Likewise, The Last of Us 2's story is a typical revenge plot, seen countless times before, but Naughty Dog places so much emphasis on the overarching story that its characters get lost in the mix. As a sequel, The Last of Us, an average or predictable story doesn't cut it for some, but at the same time, the moments of Naughty Dog's strengths are still there for all to see. As painful as it is, Joel's death and Ellie's hopelessness in the situation is incredibly emotional. The same goes for the same time she gets info out of a WLF, the time she kills Mel, and so much more. And again, the same happens during Abby's segment of the game.
Love it or hate it, Naughty Dog's strength still bleeds through.
The Last of Us 2 is available now exclusively on PS4.