Why The Last Of Us 2 Is The Most Important Video Game Of This Generation

It Takes A Nuanced Dive Into Well-Worn Tropes

For a small piece of praise well-deserved, creating something fresh in a field where originality is near impossible is a feat in itself. TLOU2 manages to raise its Cordyceps-infested head above the masses of similar titles.

The Last of Us Part II, at its heart, is a post-apocalyptic zombie game. That means it follows all the tropes, conventions, and routine imagery one has come to expect from the sub-genre - we're in a broken world full of broken people, and the monsters that have taken over the world are nothing compared to the monsters we become in order to survive. It's hard to break away from this formula when we've seen it so many times before, so TLOU2 doesn't. And it absolutely works in its favour.

Instead, this game digs into the emotional gravitas of what this world is on both a grand and individual scale, unflinching in wielding a world we know is a hellscape even in its softest moments. It takes a real knowledge and appreciation of the zombie playbook to be able to manipulate it into something new like this.

Against the odds - considering quite how popular and oversaturated cinematic post-apocalyptic media is - Naughty Dog embraces the template and colours its own world of horror within the lines.

Set in Seattle, nature has reclaimed what was once an impressive city, and mushroom-headed monsters lurk around every corner. The game's survival horror trappings lay the groundwork for what builds to be a project of massive scope, with each in-game character thoughtfully considered, and their impact noticed. From rickety bridges leading through skyscrapers to heartfelt notes telling a tale of woe, the consideration for what everyone could contribute to this strange new world is played out to a natural, logical arc.

And this makes the game important on a different level. It proves the insane attention to detail we're bombarded with matters, that human life matters, that telling a story which walks on a road we've travelled before doesn't have to be cliche. It's a feat of narrative as much as it is a technical fireworks display of human achievement with every breathtaking, fluid pixel.