The Last Of Us Part 2 Review: 10 Ups And 2 Downs

3. Environments Are STUNNING (And Scary)

The Last of Us 2
Sony

Exploration and environments are a standout highlight as well. Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic version of Seattle is hauntingly beautiful, and full of imagination. While you'll start out with the familiar, overgrown suburbs, libraries and streets, you'll eventually venture to parts of the city you'd never expect to.

And even the familiar is given new life with the developer's jaw-dropping graphics engine, helped massively thanks to the stunning lighting system, which transforms the landscape depending only on the weather.

There's a great sense of scale to the environment, and the level design sells you on being trapped inside a towering city. Interiors thankfully hold up as well, with some genuinely terrifying, survival-horror influenced sequences sneaking around infected nests. These enemies are still as unpredictable and scary as ever, and Naughty Dog hasn't shied away from the game's horror roots.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.