9 Ways The Last Of Us 2 Was Almost Completely Different

4. Joel's Death Was Totally Different

Joel's death is by far the most important - and controversial - scene in the entire game, so it's probably no surprise that it was tinkered with over and over during the seven years the project took to make.

While there was never a version where Joel didn't die (though some team members allegedly wondered whether they'd made a mistake seeing the overwhelming response to the reveal trailer), both the macro and the micro elements of the scene were constantly in flux.

For instance, during the same anecdote where Druckmann reveal Bailey's audition tape for Abby, he also revealed that it was this key scene the producers used as a screen test. However, in this version, the character would actually torture Joel with a knife, rather than a golf club. It also would have been obvious that she was partly disgusted and left empty by her actions.

The most intriguing change happened quite late though, and concerned Joel's final words. Originally, as a result of being brutally beaten in the head, Joel was supposed to have been delirious when Ellie is pinned in front of him. Druckmann explained:

"Ellie’s being held down and Joel’s looking at her and we had this idea of like, “Oh man Joel’s brain is so fucked up at that moment that the only word that’s coming out of his mouth is his daughter’s name, ‘Sarah.'” It felt powerful, but then Troy [Baker] — to his credit — was like, “I don’t think he should say anything.”