The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us Part II is the sequel to The Last of Us, developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. Initially scheduled to release on February 21, 2020, it was later delayed to May 29 and eventually released on June 19. Set five years after the events of the first game, The Last of Us Part II follows a 19-year-old Ellie, who has set out on a quest for revenge, and Abby, a soldier whose role in a militia is challenged by two children from the opposing faction.

The game received largely positive reviews from critics, although its story was widely polarizing for players.

Gameplay
The Last of Us Part II is an action-adventure survival horror game set in a post-apocalyptic United States. Control switches between Ellie and Abby. Similarly to Joel in the previous game, Ellie uses a combination of firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth against hostile human factions and the Infected (humans warped into feral creatures by a mutated Cordyceps fungal infection). By collecting resources from the environment, Ellie can upgrade skills via a skill tree, which are separated into Survival, Crafting, and Stealth categories. Ellie can also use "Listen Mode" to improve her spatial awareness, allowing the player to see outlines of enemies behind walls.

Ellie's youth grants her greater mobility and agility than Joel: she is able to squeeze through gaps, crawl in prone, and jump further. Listen Mode is upgraded, giving Ellie the ability to determine whether an enemy has spotted her. Enemy AI has also improved: Human enemies factions now include guard dogs, which can track Ellie through smell. A new class of Infected, referred to as "Shamblers" is included, which will attempt to charge humans and explode upon death.

Plot
Soon after the events of the first game, Joel admits to his brother Tommy how he saved Ellie. Four years later, Joel and Ellie have built a relatively peaceful life in Jackson, although their relationship is now strained. Now nineteen, Ellie has formed a relationship with a girl named Dina. While out on patrol, Joel and Tommy encounter a stranger named Abby, who brings them to a outpost run by her group, members of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) to wait out a blizzard. Once inside, Joel is attacked by Abby's group and Tommy is knocked out. Alerted to Joel and Tommy's absence by Dina's ex-boyfriend Jesse, Ellie and Dina leave in search of them. Ellie reaches the camp and arrives to witness Abby beat Joel to death with a golf club.

Both Ellie and Tommy swear revenge: Tommy heads out alone, with Ellie and Dina following soon after despite Tommy's attempts to keep them in Jackson. The two eventually reach the Seattle QZ, where the WLF have overthrown the military. They find that two of the eight members of Abby's group, Nick and Leah, have already been killed: Nick by Tommy, and Leah by the Seraphites, a brutal primitivist cult fighting with the WLF over control of the QZ. While escaping an ambush (in which Ellie kills a third member, Jordan), the two stumble into a spore-filled subway. Ellie is forced to reveal her immunity to Dina, and once the two find shelter in an old theater, Dina reveals that she is pregnant with Jesse's child. The next day, Dina's morning sickness forces Ellie to search for Tommy alone. Instead, she finds Jesse, who followed after her and Dina to help them. Once bringing Jesse to the theater to rest, Ellie tracks down another member of Abby's group, Nora, at a WLF hospital. Ellie traps Nora in a spore-filled area of the hospital, and tortures Nora for Abby's location. The act, compounded with Ellie's discovery that Abby's group are former Fireflies, further traumatizes Ellie. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that Ellie eventually grew suspicious of Joel's story and learned the truth of what happened at the Firefly hospital. After Joel admitted the truth, she cut off ties with him.

By the following morning, Jesse has deduced Dina's pregnancy. Ellie and Jesse agree to return home to Jackson for Dina's sake upon locating Tommy, and head for the aquarium, Abby's last known location, in hopes of finding him there. However, when they learn Tommy is fighting off WLF at the marina, Ellie abandons the plan to continue chasing Abby. After reaching the aquarium, Ellie finds two additional members of the group, Owen (who went AWOL from the WLF) and his girlfriend Mel. Her attempt to interrogate them for Abby's location results in both of their deaths, with a horrified Ellie discovering Mel's pregnancy mere moments later. She is found soon after by Tommy and Jesse, and the three return to the theater. As they make plans for the journey back, the group is ambushed by Abby, who kills Jesse and holds Tommy at gunpoint.

The story switches to Abby's perspective, revealing that she is the daughter of Dr. Jerry Anderson, the Firefly surgeon in charge of Ellie's planned operation, who was killed by Joel in his rescue of Ellie. Abby's actions in Jackson have raised tensions between her and other members of the group, particularly Owen (her ex-boyfriend) and Mel. On the day of Ellie's arrival in Seattle, Abby is informed by the WLF's leader Isaac that he plans to launch a full assault on the Seraphites to fully wipe out the cult and end the war. Simultaneously, she learns that Owen has gone AWOL, and it is suspected that he defected to the Seraphites. When Isaac refuses to let Abby search, Abby sneaks off to look for Owen, but is captured by Seraphites. She is saved by Yara and Lev, siblings and teenage Seraphite apostates, and the three escape together before Yara's injured arm forces the siblings to stop. Abby continues onward, finding Owen at the aquarium. Owen explains he's become disillusioned with the fighting, and plans to go to Santa Barbara to investigate rumors of the Fireflies regrouping. The two argue briefly, but their fighting escalates into a night of passion.

The next morning, Abby returns to Yara and Lev. With Yara's condition deteriorating, Abby brings the siblings to the aquarium, finding that Mel has arrived in her absence. Mel determines Yara has developed compartment syndrome, but lacks the equipment to safely amputate the damaged arm. Lev guides Abby to a hidden Seraphite shortcut to the WLF hospital, from which Abby can retrieve surgical supplies in time to save Yara. The two encounter Seraphites along the way (who refer to Lev as "Lily"), and Abby's acrophobia causes them to take a more perilous detour, but they reach the hospital. After going alone and finding the supplies in the infested lower floors of the building, Abby returns with Lev to the aquarium, where Mel successfully removes Yara's arm.

Abby wakes the next morning to the siblings arguing over Owen's to accompany him and Mel to Santa Barbara. Unwilling to leave his mother behind, Lev runs off in hopes of convincing her to leave the cult. Abby and Yara pursue him to the Seraphites' island: they find him in the siblings' old home, where he has accidentally killed his mother in self-defense. Meanwhile, the WLF begins their assault on the Seraphites. The three are caught by Isaac's squad, and Yara is shot. Abby betrays the WLF to protect Lev, and Yara sacrifices her life to kill Isaac, allowing Abby and Lev to flee. Abby and Lev fight their way through both the WLF and Seraphites to escape the island, only to find Owen and Mel dead upon their return to the aquarium. The two track Ellie's group via a map Ellie left behind. Abby cripples Tommy and overpowers Ellie and Dina. At Lev's insistence, Abby spares them, leaving Ellie with a final warning.

Several months later, Ellie and Dina are living on a farm outside of Jackson, raising Dina and Jesse's son JJ. Despite their relatively idyllic lifestyle, Ellie is haunted by post-traumatic stress. Tommy arrives one day with Abby's whereabouts: after initially declining, Ellie leaves the farm to pursue Abby despite Dina's pleas to stay. Meanwhile, Abby and Lev get to Santa Barbara, and manage to contact the regrouping Fireflies. However, before they can join them at Catalina Island, the two are ambushed and enslaved by the Rattlers gang. Ellie arrives in Santa Barbara and reaches Abby and Lev, finding them weak and emaciated. Despite initially freeing them, Ellie forces Abby to fight by threatening to kill Lev. In the resulting brawl, in which Abby bites off two of Ellie's fingers, Ellie emerges victorious. However, before she can kill Abby, Ellie has a change of heart and spares her. Abby and Lev take a boat to the Fireflies, leaving Ellie alone.

Ellie returns to the farmhouse, finding it empty save for her belongings. After attempting to play Joel's guitar with her damaged hand, Ellie recalls her last conversation with Joel. She leaves the guitar behind, and leaves.

Development
Development of The Last of Us Part II began in 2014, following the release of The Last of Us Remastered.

Editions

 * Standard Edition
 * Collector's Edition
 * Special Edition
 * Ellie Edition

Reception
The Last of Us Part II received acclaim from critics, but its story was met with a polarized response from players.