The Last of Us Part 2

Action-adventure game thriller, The Last of Us Part 2 was developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4. 

It is a sequel to the original game The Last of Us, which was released in 2013.

Since the release of the game in mid-2020, it has been a sensation in the gaming world. 

Below is an insight into the game’s storyline, gameplay, release, and review ratings.

The Last of Us Part 2 Storyline

As a follow-up to the storyline of the first installment of the series, Joel confesses to his brother Tommy his guilt of preventing the Fireflies from discovering the cure to the rampant Cordyceps fungus in a bid to save Ellie. 

Four years down the line, maintaining a worn and strain relationship, Joel and Ellie have built a life in Jackson, Wyoming.

The duo rescues a stranger, Abby Anderson, from infected beings’ legion on a particular patrol.

They return to a camp that unknown to Tommy, Joel, and Ellie’s trio belongs to former Fireflies, a part of the Washington Liberation Front (a militia group based in Seattle, Washington); Abby’s group.

Joel and Tommy are assaulted in Abby’s revenge bid against Joel, who killed her father, a Firefly surgeon.

In the meantime, Ellie and her girlfriend Dina set out searching for the missing brothers leaving Jackson’s comfort.

Ellie set foot into the camp of Abby’s group only to watch Abby beat Joel to death.

Enraged, she swore revenge.

Tommy leaves for Seattle to hunt Abby, Ellie, and Dina joins him in the pursuit.

After escaping an ambush from WLF, Ellie tells Dina her absolute immunity, and Dina reveals she is pregnant.

The following day, Ellie continues with Tommy alone and comes in contact with Jesse, Dina’s ex-boyfriend, who joins the party and follows them to Seattle. 

In her search for Abby’s friend, Nora Harris, Ellie stumbles upon a religious cult, the Seraphites.

They have been in a long, drawn turf battle for years with the WLF over Seattle’s control.

Ellie continues her search for Nora and eventually track her down. 

She torments her to get information on Abby’s whereabouts and kills the pregnant Mel and her boyfriend Owen Moore, members of Abby’s group.

In a turn of events, Ellie’s group is ambushed by Abby, who murders Jesse and takes Tommy hostage.

Three days before capturing Ellie’s group, Abby discovers that Owen is missing while investigating the Seraphites.

Her search for Owen leads her to be captured by the Seraphites.

However, helps comes in the form of two Seraphites siblings Tara and Lev, who have been branded as apostates but rescues her from her captors. Yara is severely injured.

They travel through Seattle to get medical supplies from a WLF hospital to amputate Yara’s injured arm.

The surgery goes successful, but Lev is missing. 

Lev’s search begins and eventually finds him in a Seraphites settlement where he has accidentally killed his mother in self-defense while trying to convince her to defect the Seraphites.

An unexpected assault against the Seraphites begins, and the trio flees to escape sight. 

To save herself and Lev, Abby betrays her group.

Abby, the WLF, and Yara pay the sacrifice to offer them escape.

They return to their search for Owen and find him dead alongside Mel and a map Ellie left behind that leads the duo to their hideout.

Abby impairs Tommy and overpowers Ellie and Dina in a duel.

On Lev’s pleas, she spares their lives and tells them to leave Seattle.

One year later, Ellie and Dina, living on a farm, raise Dina and Jesse’s son. Ellie suffers from post-traumatic stress.

A surprise comes in the form of Tommy’s visit, which comes with information on Abby’s location.

Ellie’s and Tommy leaves to find her against Dina’s pleas to stay. 

Eventually, they track down Abby and her ally Lev.

With threats to kill a captured Lev, Ellie forces Abby to duel with her, where she lost two fingers through Abby’s outrageous bites.

However, she overpowers Abby, but a change of heart prompt to spare her life.

Abby and Lev leave for the Fireflies, and Ellie returns back to the farmhouse but finds it empty.

Dina and her son are gone.

She as well leaves.

The Last of Us Part 2 Gameplay

The Last of Us Part II is played from a third-person perspective.

The player navigates through post-apocalyptic environments featuring dilapidated buildings, forests to advance the story. 

Firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth methods can be used by players in defense against antagonistic humans and cannibalistic creatures.

These creatures are created from people infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. 

Players control switches between Ellen and Abby’s character at a periodic time frame in the story’s advancement.

Players also control the character Joel but only briefly in the opening sequence. Platforming elements are introduced to the game.

Thus players can swing, jump, and climb to traverse the environment, giving added advantages during combat.

Specific areas in the game allow for travel by horse or boat.

During combat, players can use long-range weapons like bows, rifles, pistols, and revolvers for short-range weapons.

Players can as well scavenge for limited-use weapons such as machetes and hammers as an improvise. 

For stealth attacks, players can distract or attack enemies with little tricks such as throwing bricks, plunging bottles.

Items collected are a big bonus as they can not only be used in the upgrade of weaponry at workbenches, but also in crafting equipment such as Molotov cocktails, health kits, and makeshift silencers.

Players can also upgrade particular skillset by collecting specific supplements, which allows upgrades to attributes.

Players can choose to attack enemies openly.

However, the game also gives the option to use stealth to attack which gives the attacking character an undetected mask cover to sneak past the enemy and charge the surprisingly blow. 

“Listen Mode” allows the player to track enemies through various walls and objects with spatial awareness and a heightened sense of hearing.

The cover system allows the player to crouch behind obstacles to gain advantages over enemies in combat.

Players can also crawl in a prone position to escape opposition. 

Hostile enemies uses artificial intelligence in attacking players.

Calling for aid, taking cover and taking advantage of a player’s disadvantage situation such as a player running out of ammunition, are common attacking tactics by AI-controlled enemies in the game.

Player’s companion such as Dina, assist players in combat by announcing enemies arrival and location and killing them.

The game also features guard dogs which tracks player’s scent.

The Last of Us Part 2 Release

On April 2, 2020, Sony made an official announcement concerning The Last of Us Part II game.

It made known to the public the game was almost complete after over a year of wait.

Fans, acquainted with its predecessor version, were beyond happy.

However, in late April several videos leaked online, showing various cutscenes, gameplay, and vital plot details of the game. 

This little setback and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the release of the game as it was promptly delayed.

April 27, gamers had another reason to jump in joy as Sony announced a new release date, June 19, 2020.

Since its release on June 19, 2020, the game has been in wide consumption by gamers worldwide.

In just the first three days of release, it sets a new franchise record by peaking 4 million copies sales Critics have heap tons of appraisal to every aspect of the game. 

The storyline of the game has been described as unique and emotional shattering.

Game Informer’s Andy McNamara described the game storyline in her own words as “the best narrative game I have played and a sequel unlike any other, taking the video game to new heights.”

Sadly there wouldn’t be any Co-op/multiplayer and DLC Content for the game. Naughty Dog decided to stick to the single-player story.

Check out more games storyline, gameplay, trailers, release dates, and reviews.