Game Review: The Last of Us, Part II – Translated and Updated
Happy Birthday, Brandon Cole!
Hello, dear readers! More than one year ago, at the beginning of February 2022, I started to publish all my articles in English. That proved out to be a very good decision as now I can reach every day a more international audience and it is also much easier for me to write and to use dictation in this language. Since then, I posted a lot of articles, but those closest to my heart are the accessibility reviews for games. Dozens of them can be read here, but one of them was missing. The one for the game which started it all for me, The Last of Us, Part II.
Also, I’m thrilled with the reception HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us has received and I want to have this review available in English for those searching for more TLOU goodness. Last, but definitely not least, my objective was to have the reviews for those games that are accessible for the blind available in this international format. Just a reminder, I play mainly on consoles. On PS5 we have both The Last of Us games and God of War Ragnarok, which is 99% playable by us. On Xbox we have two smaller titles, As Dusk Falls and The Vale: Shadow of the Crown, both are also on PC, so now all five reviews are here, in English. I hope that in the coming years, I’ll write the sentence “Fully playable by the blind” countless times, but for now, five games are what we have. Let’s continue.
What many of you don’t know is that The Last of Us was for me the last game I was able to play and finish on my own before going blind. With Part II came the realization that maybe I don’t have to give up being a gamer, although I can’t see anymore.
Today, February 26 is a very special day for me because it’s Brandon’s birthday. Who is Brandon, you ask, and what has he to do with my review for The Last of Us, Part II?
Well, he is a very dear friend of mine, one of the people who without even knowing changed my life.
Brandon Cole is the award-winning accessibility consultant, accessibility advocate, social media influencer, streamer, a down-to-earth nice guy and just like me, he is blind. But, unlike me, he is the one who has forever changed the way we look today at accessibility for the blind in the Gaming Industry. A long time ago, he asked the right question to the right people. Long story short, he asked the wonderful people at Naughty Dog, who were attending a presentation at the first gaming accessibility developers conference if they could do something so that blind gamers can play The Last of Us. What followed is now history, it should become part of the mandatory game development courses at universities all over the world and Brandon has worked tirelessly with the talented team at ND to deliver us this game, The Last of Us, Part II for PS4 in mid-2020 and The Last of Us, Part I, the TLOU Remake as some people call it, in September 2023 for PS5. Both games are fully playable by the blind, but also by other disabled and impaired gamers.
So, this article, this translated and updated review for The Last of Us, Part II, is dedicated to Brandon on his birthday because he didn’t just make it possible for me to play these games after going blind, but he inspired me to write accessibility reviews and to become myself an advocate for accessibility.
Brandon and the people at Naughty Dog showed me that there is gaming after blindness and for that, I will love all of them forever! Their unwavering dedication to creating accessible experiences for as many impaired gamers as possible has made our world a better place for us all.
Now, it’s time for me to be a little bit less emotional and for you to hopefully enjoy reading this article. I left it almost untouched because I wanted to preserve my feelings from when I wrote it back in 2020, during the pandemic, while I was going blind…. But first, I want to say it directly.
Happy, birthday Brandon! Thank you for everything that you did, you do and you will be doing for us, the blind gamers out here, and most of all, thank you for being a fantastic human being and a great friend to me.
The Last of Us, Part II Review (initially posted on June 12, 2020)
Intro
Hello, dear readers! 7 years ago, in June 2013, Naughty Dog revolutionized the Gaming Industry with the action title The Last of Us, released exclusively for Sony’s PlayStation 3 console.
The fantastic and emotional adventure of the two protagonists, Joel and Ellie, has been played by tens of millions of gamers around the world, and many of them, including myself, have come to consider The Last of Us as the best game ever made. The title also enjoyed a similar reception from the press, with hundreds of Game of the Year awards received from the most relevant publications. From the least-known blogger to the most famous gaming journalist, everyone has debated and discussed the phenomenon of The Last of Us.
Here we are now halfway through 2020, less than a week until The Last of Us Part II hits store shelves, whether we’re talking retail or digital, and after all sorts of rumors and leaks, many of you don’t really know what to think about this game.
Fortunately, being extremely confident of the high quality of the product coming out from the hands of the talented team at Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment made The Last of Us Part II available to a limited number of journalists more than three weeks before the actual release date. Thus, I and other colleagues had more than enough time to play the game and prepare in-depth articles for you.
Therefore, in the following lines I will tell you about the experience I had with The Last of Us Part II and at the same time I will do my best to avoid spoilers. If you generally trust my opinion, then go ahead and pre-order the game because it’s the best action title ever. I can tell you right from the start that The Last of Us Part II is a new Naughty Dog masterpiece and everything you’ve read negatively about it was taken out of context or outright fake news!
Story
The action of The Last of Us Part II is set several years after the first game. In the opening minutes, we are reunited with Ellie, Joel, and other beloved characters.
All of them have relatively quiet lives in Jackson, each with their own personal obligations to the community they belong to, and as such, they are doing their best to survive as normally as possible in a world full of dangers that await them at every turn. In the post-apocalyptic universe of The Last of Us, tomorrow is not taken for granted and the price placed on human life is less than that of a medical kit or a hand full of supplies.
But, as expected, things take an even more ominous turn when a tragic event forces Ellie to leave the small community, the place she was calling home, and embark on a journey that will take her to Seattle. What at first appears to be a simple revenge mission quickly becomes one of the most impressive, dramatic, well-told, and immersive stories in an action game. Things are not at all as they seem at first glance, the characters have very serious motivations for every decision they make, and we only learned the answers when we got closer to the end of the adventure.
I don’t want to give you any more details about the story, but I can tell you that we got over 30 hours out of this title and there was absolutely not one second that we got bored or felt like we were doing anything repetitive. The Last of Us Part II focuses on a well-told story and above all on character development and the polarizing dynamic between its protagonists.
This article is written by me, but you can imagine that my wife, Alina, contributed a lot to putting these thoughts in a row and setting them down on the virtual paper, especially considering the fact that we were a bit of a mess after the game ended and even while playing. We passed the DualShock 4 controller between us when the emotions were running too high on our couch. We were both there, we lived with the characters every moment of the action and went through all kinds of emotions. Even now, after finishing the game more than 4 days ago, we are still talking about it, thinking about the unforgettable events. We can’t wait for you to enjoy it too…
Gameplay
The game mechanics of The Last of Us Part II are built on top of those of the previous title, and thus we have a familiar experience, but with much more complex, fluid, and natural gameplay.
The arsenal at our disposal has grown significantly, both for firearms and improvised weapons. From simple pistols to revolvers, to double-barreled shotguns, to bows, and to larger caliber weapons, each of these has its own style and gives you different strategic opportunities during confrontations. If we add on top of that a trusty knife, axes, hammers, explosives, and flammable ammo, every fight can be approached at will.
With such an impressive selection of weapons in our arsenal, it was only natural that we would face a much more formidable set of enemies. They each have their own names and have all sorts of conversations with their friends, and when one of them is found dead or missing, their buddies will be alerted. In addition to a better and evolved AI, confrontations become more intense and dangerous by introducing ruthless dogs into the equation.
As much as I love these wonderful animals, I came to hate them in The Last of Us Part II! They are by far a formidable foe that I recommend you take out as soon as the opportunity presents itself. The human enemies will be looking for us carefully, accompanied by the man’s best friend, and if we are not paying attention they will come to murder us immediately.
Even in the infected monster camp, there were a few surprises, but I’ll leave them for you to discover them.. It is enough, I say, to know that almost no place is safe, whether we are on the high ground, hiding under a derelict car, or sneaking through the wild grass….
In addition to new enemies and a more developed AI, The Last of Us Part II keeps the player engaged with all kinds of exercises in survival. From larger and more complex levels, made even more difficult by the introduction of vertical design, to all kinds of obstacles we’ll encounter in the environment. We have a changing time of the day, which in turn changes the rules on the battlefield, and both the player and their opponents are forced to adapt accordingly.
During the adventure, we kept our eyes open so as not to miss any letters, collectibles, or safes full of goodies and sometimes even vital upgrades. This was only possible thanks to the excellent scanning mechanic made accessible even to me as someone who is almost blind.
Before moving on to the presentation, I must also tell you that the city of Seattle is the battleground of two extremely dangerous groups. In our adventures, we will explore the city by day, by night, in the sun, and in the rain, and thanks to some new gameplay elements we will have the option to directly confront the enemies or make them war with each other.
We chose a strategic approach, entering a combat zone as quietly as possible, preferring to sneak up on our clueless enemies, striking from under the cover of darkness, using the shadows to the max, and then retreating. We rarely had to go in guns blazing, and in those situations we were much more vulnerable, outgunned, and outnumbered.
Accessibility
Another reason Naughty Dog deserves all our respect and appreciation comes from the fact that The Last of Us Part II is playable by almost everyone, including low, vision, blind, deaf, and some people with motor disabilities. An impressive suite of settings makes this title the most accessible and inclusive action game to date.
It’s great to see that in addition to including characters from the LGBTQ+ community in the story, the development team is giving all people the opportunity to enjoy this masterpiece.
Whether you’re visually impaired or completely blind, or perhaps have limited hand mobility, The Last of Us Part II is playable by enabling settings like Text to Speech, Navigation Assist, Traversal Assist, Extended Listening Modes that can detect enemies and resources, Auto Aim, Slow Motion when aiming, and even offering the choice of skipping some puzzles.
After I get a little more comfortable with these options, I actually plan to try playing it with the screen off to see how this functionality has been implemented for those completely blind.
It’s 2020, all people should be equal, each of us is entitled to our own decisions, whether we’re discussing sexual orientation or being able to enjoy a game that revolutionizes and reinvents what accessibility means on PS4. For the first time in history, a AAA game can be played by people that until now were facing unsurmountable barriers.
Graphics, Sound, and Performance
Those who have tried one of Naughty Dog’s games before know what to expect when it comes to presentation. Even so, The Last of Us Part II is by far the most polished product that came out of their capable hands.
The attention to detail is absolutely incredible and has never been seen before in a video game. We have a world full of life, secrets, and obstacles. Every asset, from the characters to the animals, to the objects, to the buildings, to the open spaces, and even to the shadows or the lighting system looks fantastic. The vegetation in The Last of Us Part II appears to be real, and the way the blades of grass move in the wind or the water droplets run off the leaves on the trees is unmatched! It’s a stunning post-apocalyptic world, ravaged by people, monsters, and the weather. Nature gone wild has never looked so impressive before!
Every character that we meet seems alive, we can read from their facial expressions and gestures the emotions they are going through at any given moment.
That level of complete immersion is also achieved thanks to exceptional sound design. The voice actors are among the best in the industry and this is evident with every word and line they utter.
Not only for a few times, Alina and I realized that we were having tears in our eyes or experiencing different feelings, just because of the way a scene was played, especially those involving characters we became attached to because they were feeling like real people to us… Add in the natural sounds of the surrounding world and excellent audio effects from various weapons or explosives, and we can’t fault, not even a little, the sublime audio presentation.
All this gorgeous package is completed by an emotional and at the same time immersive soundtrack. From the tender harp chords of the famous Gustavo Santaolalla to the haunting compositions that raise your level of anxiety and terror, the sound of The Last of Us Part II rises to the highest level of fidelity.
As you may already know if you’re a regular reader of this blog, I’ve been testing The Last of Us Part II on PS4 Pro hooked to a 138cm LG OLED. The game runs perfectly, no framerate drops, no bugs, and no problems, in 1440p, upscaled to 4K, at 30 FPS with HDR on. I haven’t seen a game this well-optimized and polished in a long time, but honestly… I didn’t expect anything less from Naughty Dog.
Conclusion
The Last of Us was for me for 7 years the best game ever made. I played it at least 7 times, spent hundreds of hours in multiplayer, and got to know the adventure of beloved Joel and Ellie by heart.
Now, Naughty Dog has succeeded in dethroning their own masterpiece with The Last of Us Part II. A gripping, powerful, and unique narrative experience, the likes of which I have never had the opportunity of living before! From the dramatic story to the characters that come to life on the screen, to the flawless gameplay, to the gorgeous graphics, to the sublime sound, and to the inclusive and revolutionary accessibility suite, The Last of Us Part II is the best game from Naughty Dog, the best action game, the best game on PS4 and the best game ever!
No matter what you’ve been reading online, no matter what you think you know about it, or if you absurdly think this story ended with the first game, you MUST try The Last of Us Part II!
Don’t let yourself be manipulated by haters, don’t accept various rumors or so-called leaks as truth, play the game yourself, and then you can give your opinion! Those of you who watch the play-through on YouTube will have no way of understanding the emotions someone goes through when playing it with their own hands…
I’m sure I’ll replay The Last of Us Part II when I have the necessary free time and I’m convinced that I’ll discover new secrets, new small and big things that I haven’t noticed before. Things, like the way Ellie plays with her hands through her hair, sticks her tongue out at the camera or shies away when the sun hits her eyes…
Even though I finished the game a few days ago, these characters and their story will stay with me forever! All that remains for us to do now is to quietly wait for the multiplayer component, which we already know is in development, to look with confidence to the future, to the new generation of consoles, and to the new Naughty Dog projects.
Review copy provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment
Victor Dima
