Last Of Us 2 Ending EXPLAINED - Why It's Dividing The Fandom
All the controversy and hate? It's intentional.
-- FULL SPOILERS WITHIN --
The Last of Us 2 is an ugly game.
It's disgusting, sickening, stomach-churningly violent and filled with regret. There are many shards of light punctuating the darkness, but Naughty Dog are pulling no punches with their bleak exploration of human violence.
Currently sitting with almost 20k negative scores on Metacritic, the reality is a project made to provoke a response and ask questions.
Why do we find it so easy to hate? Is it worthwhile on a human level, to be driven by such negative emotion? If this becomes all-consuming, what effect does that have on your loved ones, and your ability to be there for them? Is the only way to find peace through empathy, and trusting the "other" will do the same?
These are huge, incredibly important themes, and ones that video games were yet to touch on to such a powerful degree.
To dissect why it works so well, let's break down this 25+ hour game and provide a counterpoint to the ongoing vitriol that surrounds it online. It's plainly obvious that entire portions of the fanbase don't realise Naughty Dog have instilled the exact reaction they planned for.