The Game Focuses on Hate
Sony unexpectedly blew everyone away when a new trailer for the highly anticipated The Last of Us Part II debuted at the publisher’s Paris Games Week media showcase yesterday. Though fans may have thought that the game was set to appear during this year’s annual PlayStation Experience in Anaheim, Naughty Dog once again subverted expectations, introducing would-be buyers to an interesting glimpse into the game that chooses to eschew Joel and Ellie in favor of casting the spotlight on a handful of new characters facing a dire situation.
The predicament keeps very much in line with what Naughty Dog Creative Director Neil Druckmann discussed with fans upon the game’s reveal late last year – that the game’s theme will focus on the concept of hate. This is to serve as a departure from the first game, as that title dealt with accepting love. In The Last of Us Part II, players will take on the role of Ellie and see her hatred manifest itself in a what will no doubt be brutal fashion, if the two trailers released so far serve as any indication.
The fact that Joel is no longer playable has led some to believe that the character is dead in the sequel. After all, the grisly man walks into the blood-soaked house through a brightly lit background and talks at a distance from Ellie when he speaks to her in the bedroom. This theory would explain the girl’s motivation for hunting down what presumably are the Fireflies with intent to “kill them all.” However, according to the YouTube description of the second trailer for the game, PlayStation EU seemingly confirms that Joel is alive, as it reads, “The Last of Us Part II is still very much about Ellie and Joel” and that players will have to wait and see “how all of this fits into Ellie and Joel’s next story.” It could be that there’s another reason for all the hate. There’s not a lot to like about the apocalypse, after all.
