The WhatsNext verdict
For Players seeking tense, improvisational stealth-action paired with an unflinching, emotionally punishing narrative.: Encounters dynamically swing between silent stalking and frantic, visceral survival against coordinated enemies, brought to life through extraordinary animation, audio design, and tactile environmental interactions. Tradeoff: A deliberately confrontational mid-game perspective shift and unrelenting emotional grimness can feel draining over its substantial runtime.
What it does best
A staggering level of audiovisual and interaction detail
A devastating story that makes violence emotionally uncomfortable
Every fight feels physical, frantic, and dangerously alive
Stealth becomes a tense improvisation rather than a memorized route
What might put you off
A long, deliberately confrontational perspective shift
Relentlessly bleak and punishing
The setup
What you are walking into
The Last of Us Part II is an action-adventure game set five years after the events of The Last of Us. The player traverses post-apocalyptic environments such as buildings and forests to advance the story. They can use firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus. The game intermittently switches control between Ellie and Abby, and also briefly Joel in the opening sequence. The nimble nature of the player character introduces platforming elements, allowing the player to jump and climb to traverse environments and gain advantages during combat.
Where it lives
Genre
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