The Last of Us 2: Building Off The First Game

Fans of Naughty Dog's 2013 survival-horror thriller The Last of Us were somewhat skeptical when its sequel was announced, due to the fact that the first game ended so definitively. Sure, there was the lie that Joel told Ellie, about how she wasn't the only one immune to the infection, but the life after the lie might be better portrayed in a comic, such as Last of Us: American Dreams. However, the developers altered their focus for the sequel, forcing characters to feel sympathetic for their actions in the first game. 

Before I continue, there will be some spoilers ahead, but I will not discuss the ending of Last of Us 2. Most of the connections between the two games are revealed early on, and that is what I will focus on. Nevertheless, SPOILERS AHEAD. You have been warned.
 

The sequel starts off with an eerie parallel prologue to its predecessor. Firstly, players begin the game by controlling Joel, although the main character of this story will be Ellie. In the first game, players controlled Joel's daughter Sarah, up until her leg was injured in the car crash. However, this may have instead been an attempt by Naughty Dog to provide a sense of familiarity, as Joel was the main playable character throughout the first game. Soon after the sequel's opening, a time skip occurs, much like that of the first game. Although the first game skips 20 years and the sequel only skips 4 years, players can still sense a bit of tension between Joel and Ellie when the story officially begins. 

The time skip provides a huge plot point of how the sequel will be played out, as players encounter cutscenes from the skipped years as the story progresses. Between the events of the first game and now, it seems that Ellie has discovered Joel's lie, and is not pleased about the outcome. She claims that she wanted her life to mean something, and he had taken that away from her. However, this discovery only comes a short while before the sequel begins, so the tension between Joel and Ellie is still strong. Despite the tension, Ellie seems to still care about Joel, easily seen by her reaction to Joel being tortured and eventually killed by the Washington Liberation Front (WLF). 
 

Unlike the first game, the reasons for each event are not instantly revealed, but rather discovered over the course of the game. As players begin to edge into Abby's shoes, we learn that Joel had killed her father during the events of the first game, as he was the surgeon who was about to operate on Ellie. Because Joel basically murdered all of the Fireflies during his escape with Ellie, the group is disbanded. The remaining members are furious with Joel for taking away the only cure for infection, but have different ways that they want to continue life without a cure. 

For one group, later dubbed the WLF, the logical way to live was to build a sort of military, eliminating the infected around them as soon as possible. As part of this military group, Abby is well equipped and has a sizable team with her when she discovers Joel being chased by infected. Despite the fact that Joel and Tommy had saved Abby's life, he still was the man who had taken the cure from them, as well as the only man who could have performed the surgery. After Abby's revenge plot is over, she returns to the civil war between the WLF and the Seraphites.
 

The Seraphites are the remainder of the Fireflies, the ones that refused to militarize themselves for survival. Instead, this group has reverted to simpler technology, using bows and lanterns over guns and electricity. The reasoning for this comes from a martyr that the Seraphites worship, a woman who taught them to be thankful for what they had. Because the WLF took all of the guns, the Seraphites were only left with natural elements like wood and rope. Although it is not clear how the Seraphites feel about Joel, they clearly do not want to deal with the Infected in any way, and set their camp on an abandoned island, free of humans and Infected alike. However, this return to simplistic living does not make them any less dangerous or merciless, as Seraphites are hunting WLF and Infected alike later in the game.

Although the story from the original Last of Us raised the bar pretty high for an engaging, immersive story, its sequel does a bit more. Not only does the sequel build on events from the first, but it makes players sympathize with the villain, allowing them to play as Abbey for a significant chunk of the game. Additionally, the sequel takes players back in the past, showing Ellie celebrating her birthday with Joel at a science museum, as well as her discovery of the truth about the Fireflies. While these events may seem small in comparison to the rest of the story, playing through them brings a stronger connection to Ellie, and her motives for the latter events of the sequel are fleshed out. The story of The Last of Us 2 is not without conflict, heartbreak, or disappointment, although it does have its moments of happiness. When the screen fades to black, Naughty Dog leaves you with a feeling of what it's like to live through the apocalypse, losing both friends and enemies along the way.
 

Kieran Mouritsen
Editor, NoobFeed