The Ending of "The Last of Us Part 2" Changes the Game (Literally)

Let’s finally talk about it.

"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves," the old dictum goes. That’s also the moral of The Last of Us Part II, though in this case, you wind up discovering both graves are for yourself.

Spoilers ahead. 

Now that the highly anticipated game has been out for more than a month, we feel as if we can finally discuss the big twist that was embargoed in early reviews (and consider this your final warning if you have not reached the 'Seattle Day 3' chapter during your gameplay: serious spoilers for the end are coming).

The Last of Us Part II picks up several years after the dystopian original, in which your player Joel rescued the zombie virus-immune teen Ellie from a group known as Fireflies who were planning on killing her to make a vaccine for mankind. The chickens come home to roost early on in Part II, when Joel is discovered by Abby, a new character we eventually discover was the daughter of the Fireflies’ primary doctor. Abby brutally murders Joel as payback for killing her dad during his raid on the Fireflies’ hospital, sending Ellie on her own journey of violent retribution, risking what’s left of her humanity along the way.

This time around, you play as Ellie, except for a short sequence near the start in which you inhabit Abby. At first, you figure that the developers at Naughty Dog are simply letting you play as Abby as she seeks out Joel to save us from having to sit through another cut scene. (My main complaint with the 2013 original was that it tried so hard to be like a movie that it often felt like a game you didn’t play, but instead watched happen to you.)

It turns out that Part II has actually learnt from the original’s mistakes, and instead of trying to be a 'movie game', it goes ahead and does something only the medium of gaming could allow: it keeps flipping the perspective from protagonist to antagonist, letting you see and experience their opposing perspectives, challenging the very idea of what it means to be a 'player' participant. That means you wind up hunting and fighting yourself, almost literally—a uniquely powerful metaphor for the cycle of revenge. And as you rollick towards the challenging climax, you are armed with enough empathy to want to stop both Ellie and Abby from doing something they (and you) will regret forever.

You spend the early stages of Part II as the haunted, tempestuous Ellie, hunting down Abby’s friends and co-conspirators while remaining hot on her trail. At a certain point, specifically following the level 'Seattle Day 3', you indeed come face to face with Abby, though she has the upper hand, and it seems as if she’ll shoot you dead where you stand.

And then… you flashback to 'Day 1', this time once again as Abby, and you come to understand her, as a wry and often vulnerable figure, as well as the circumstances that are fuelling her vengeance. You work hard to keep her alive as she faces even more harrowing circumstances than Ellie did as she traverses a beautiful, ravaged Seattle. (Have we mentioned the 'Rat King'? We really hated the 'Rat King'.)

By the time you return to 'Day 3' from Abby’s perspective, you find yourself suddenly chasing down Ellie and trying to kill her, and even wondering if this would be a 'happier' ending, relatively speaking (though you spare her life). Later still, you’ll return to the controls of Ellie, and will wind up in the game’s dying moments rescuing Abby from a near crucifixion, only to try and beat her to death in shallow water. There is no option for you to have mercy. All you can do is fight to stay alive—submitting to defeat only restarts the sequence—wishing for the game to take back the reins and make the right choice. 'No one needs to die today,' you think, wanting to pardon both these characters who are far from villainous, even if they're capable of terrible violence. And when, while playing a video game—or watching a revenge movie—have you ever thought that?

What Naughty Dog has done here is miraculous, as far as game-making and story structure goes. Some reviewers felt that The Last of Us Part II was little more than misery porn, particularly in the way that you as a player wind up killing people (including a pregnant woman) only to hear their loved ones call out their names in a panic, and have to stab/shoot/crossbow multiple dogs just to keep from being sniffed out from your hiding place. Some also suggested that flipping the point of view also snuffed out any potential enjoyment a player might have gotten as Ellie or Abby in their individual pursuits of justice.

What’s truest is that the game is fun and thrilling and moving and radical, not simply for being a blockbuster game with a queer female hero and a primary transgender character and an explicit sex scene with Abby, but for its manipulation of the player for ethical means. It also, never forget, has a zombie Rat King that you have to kill with a flamethrower. The Last of Us Part II changes the game, but it’s also still a game, and thank goodness for that.

5/5

The Last of Us Part II is now available on PS4.

Header Image: Naughty Dog