The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered turns the original game into a cruel punch line
It was a sunny spring day in 2020, amid the social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, when I beatThe Last of Us Part 2. As its long credits rolled, I paced around my small apartment living room unpacking what transpired. I adored the sequel’s first two acts and its multifaceted discussion of cyclical violence, but I found myself critical of its California-set finale. It seemed to backtrack on all the nuance of Ellie and Abbey’s struggle by introducing a definitively evil faction that I wouldn’t feel bad about shooting with a machine gun. It was a discordant note at the end of a symphony, but I was determined to dig below my surface and try to understand what Naughty Dog was going for. It had earned that.
That’s when I was hit by the one moment of the game I’ll never forget. As I was deep in reflection, the credits wrapped up and a final bit of text splashed on the screen. As a reward for finishing the brutal story, I had unlocked New Game+ mode, which would encourage me to replay it again with all my upgraded guns. The benefit of the doubt I’d given Naughty Dog went out the window; did the studio even understand its own game?
When I import my old save file in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, that question gets blown up in 50-point font. That familiar endgame splash screen once again pops up, but it’s now three times as absurd. I’m encouraged to blow through the story as fast as I can in a Speedrun mode and rack up kills in the rerelease’s bloody roguelike add-on, No Return. The violence must continue to keep the series relevant between long development cycles.
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As a double-dip built for superfans, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is a fine (though inaccurately titled) collector’s edition with some valuable archival material.
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