The Last of Us: Part 2 : Journey Series - Part 2 (Up Until Seattle Day 2)
Spoilers Ahead
On my first part of the journey series, I remarked about how TLOU2 started off a little slower than the first game that hooked you in before the title card was even shown. This sequel takes a little longer to get going as there needs to be some backstory filled in. Around two hours in, the chalet scene happens, right where the first leg of our journey ended, and it becomes clear this is what the slow beginning was building towards.
Once the table has been set, the journey begins for both ourselves and for Ellie and Dina who decide to make their way to Seattle based on limited information. You are also left asking a lot of questions about what just transpired at the chalet and why Tommy and Joel were so well known. How did these outsiders know their names so well? Is it as simple as what happened during the first entry while Joel was trying to get Ellie to the hospital? Was it all the people that he killed escaping with her? Has something bigger happened over the past four years? In the end you reap what you sow but I am just hoping that this question gets answered.
No surprises but the game remains gorgeous in this new, lush biome. It’s always the little details that make a game truly rise from good to great and separates the eights from the ten’s. Making your way through the dense foliage there are all types of plants but it’s the ferns that really caught my attention and the way that there are dead leaves sporadically throughout rather than just a perfect palette of green copy and pasted. A little detail like trying to make a jump and missing it and wondering if you can actually make it but then Ellie says “come on, I can make that” or even something like opening two lockers and hearing different effect instead of the same canned audio.
Upon reaching the semi open world of Seattle you start to see the Matrix that is Naughty Dog and how TLOU2 is a culmination of everything Naughty Dog has been working on for the past ten plus years. Riding on horseback through Seattle echoes driving a Jeep through Madagascar in Lost Legacy, solving trolley puzzles is reminiscent of Sam and Nathan working together in Uncharted 4 and everything from The Last of Us has been expanded upon.
Once in Seattle, you find a map which you can then find clues throughout and mark up your map if you want to explore but you can also just go to areas that are likely to be points of interest to further the story. Throughout some of these buildings are many safes that require a certain combination that provide you with items needed for crafting and levelling up Ellies skill tree, which is fairly simple and linear although it does open up if you find training manuals through exploration, I think this is a very smart and realistic way to expand the skill tree by implying that Ellie is learning just as everyone else learns.
As for getting into the actual safes, the combination can usually be found close by with a little light exploration and you might even encounter some fun Easter eggs. If by chance you are unable to find the code near then you may have an alternative option. I thought to myself this game is trying to be realistic and I should be able to move the knob very slowly and hear difference in the lock and sure enough I only had the first two numbers to the safe but listened for the third. Its moments like this that make you fully appreciate good game development.
Playing on moderate, combat encounters quickly make you realize that you won’t be able to dodge your way through the whole game and that stealth is a necessity. You become quickly overwhelmed by just two early stage clickers and end even faster if you have a fully developed clicker. You will die and most likely die a lot. However, upon dying in some games, the immersion can be broken when the loading takes too long and you are likely to pick up your cell phone or take a break but the loading times are surprisingly short as you are almost instantly back in the action as it provides you just enough time to get your head straight.
As we make our way through the Serevena Hotel, looking for the wolves aka the Washington Liberation Force aka the WLF, we find that someone else has the same idea as us and is also looking for revenge against the WLF. Ellie and Dina have a suspicion of who they think it might be but I get the feeling it’s not. Getting into combat scenarios with actual resistance forces and not clickers feels very different as you would expect. Stealth can still play a vital role but they will be aggressive and push if they think they have an advantage or try to flank but the good news is Dina has decided to help again.
Story threads are starting to get pulled as Dina and Ellie have questioned how the WLF would have known who we were. It seems possible that Tommy and Joel might have done some stuff that they never shared with Ellie. I'm am also questioning why some people were left alive at the chalet? Why wasn’t everyone killed? I feel like there is something bigger happening behind the curtain.
As I make my way out of the subway, I have discovered a few new things about this world. Clickers have evolved and now come in numerous forms and there is another faction that is hunting the wolves called the scars. Little to nothing is known about them at the moment other than they also don’t like the wolves. After escaping some wolves and finding solace at an abandoned theatre, Ellie gets some news that will likely have large repercussions throughout the rest of the journey. During a flashback we are transported to a simpler time during a birthday of Ellies from years past. Its a nice break from the constant tension of wondering what is around every corner.
This is the end of this leg of the journey and so begins day 2 in Seattle. I hope you to see you on the next one.