'The Last Of Us Part II': A Spoiler-Free Overview

“The Last of Us Part II” didn’t set out to predict events like 2020 ended up being, it's just eerie how some themes resonate so strongly.

This sequel to 2013’s smash hit “The Last of Us” is set five years after the conclusion of the last game. There is a parasitic fungus that has caused 60% of the world’s population to turn into zombies

In that first game, the main character, Joel, is a smuggler who lost his daughter during the initial outbreak. He was hired by a group called the Fireflies to transport a 14-year-old girl named Ellie from the Boston quarantine zone to a hospital in Salt Lake City. She is immune to the virus, and the Fireflies want to use that to create a vaccine.

Despite initially being ice-cold to Ellie, Joel starts seeing her as a daughter during their journey — so when they get to Salt Lake City and he finds out creating the vaccine will kill Ellie, Joel chooses to rescue her, killing everybody in his path. This was something players of “The Last of Us” defended as their relationship grew.

In “ The Last of Us Part II,” NPR shares that 19-year-old Ellie is the playable character. No longer a bubbly 14-year-old, the trauma of the last five years has hardened her, as it did with other characters in the game. Joel and Ellie seem to have adjusted to a new normal in Wyoming and killing zombies are no longer new to Ellie.

Depth has been added to the character as she loves playing guitar, comics, and movies. Her diary is filled with entries about girls she is dating. She finds it odd though, to be in a quarantine zone without hearing constant gunfire and explosions.

Ellie started as a person willing to sacrifice her life to save the world in the first game. However, the loss has turned her into kind of a heartless monster, willing to sacrifice others for her own goals this time around.

“The Last of Us Part II” has a gorgeous, expansive world full of puzzles, challenges, and things to explore as Ellie travels through it on her awful mission. The graphics and gameplay are still topnotch, and credit has to be given to the returning Neil Druckmann as creative director and along with Gustavo Santaolalia’s score.

Where “The Last of Us Part II” really stands out though is how it presents consequences that are a result of your actions. Most games just allow you to kill without ramifications but that isn’t the case here. Naughty Dog does a great job of getting players to connect with every character, not just the main ones, states NPR.

You also feel for your enemies. It's crushing to hear Ellie's targets talk about their own hopes, fears, and futures when she may soon have to kill them. This might lead you to avoid combat and sneaking around dangerous humans instead of confronting them. Not an easy thing to do when you’re as desperate as Ellie gets in the course of the game.

This kind of emotional rollercoaster ultimately separates “The Last of Us Part II” from other games. In a world where COVID-19 is robbing people of connections both physical and emotional, it can be a bit jarring to experience that as well in a video game where the majority of the world has turned into zombies.

Suffice it to say, don’t look for happy endings here.