The Last of Us Part Ii Story Details! - Give it thought

What is going on you wonderful, though-having people? As always, I’m Jake from Give It Thought and let’s take a look at some story details for The Last of Us Part II. Gosh, still can’t believe I’m saying this. So, yesterday, we got the unexpected treat that was the PlayStation Experience, I mean, who knew it was going to be that good? But PSX happened and we got a teaser for the sequel to one of the most impactful storytelling games ever made in The Last of Us. Soon after that trailer blew the crowd’s pants off, Neil Druckmann, the creative director and writer for the game, came out and gave away some spares details about Joel and Ellie’s next post-apocalyptic adventure. Although, I guess it’s the same adventure because it is a continuation, so… But moving on, if you’ve watched the trailer you will have noticed that our sweet little Ellie is quite a bit older than she was in the first game. According to Druckmann, she is now 19 years old. If you remember, she was 13 during the events of The Last of Us and 14 during the Left Behind stand-alone DLC, so around five years have passed since we last saw her. It is also worth noting that she looks a lot different than her previous likeness, which was often compared to actress Ellen Page, and I’m betting that was purposeful. So, with that information, it’ll be interesting to see how the world has changed in that time-span. What is Joel and Ellie’s relationship like now? How has the fungi infection changed? And how did the Fireflies react to the ending of the first game? Because they are assumedly still around given that spray-painted stop sign. Another detail that Druckmann let fly was that “the first game was a story about love and that the sequel will serve as a ‘counter’ to that.” And clarifying, he continued: “this story is about hate.” So we could speculate about that all day and get absolutely nowhere. We do know that the first story was mainly about Joel and Ellie trying to stay together until they got, somewhere, anywhere away from the infected. So, will this story be about them breaking apart? If it is “counter” to the first game, I’m sure some of those elements will be thrown in. But, as everyone who has played the game knows, The Last of Us was way deeper than that and I’m interested to see how Joel has reacted to five more years of being out in the wilds and how that effects his and Ellie’s relationship. I will say, Ellie does not seem okay, and her reaction to Joel entering the room at the end of the trailer did not look so promising when talking about relationships. Clearly, they’re still on the same side, but Ellie seems to be a little bit more aggressive than Joel now. Just sayin’. Another detail that Druckmann spoke about was the game’s title, specifically about the Part II subtitle. He said he and Naughty Dog decided on calling it that to show that this game will be, quote, “complementary” to the first game and show that it is not a different story. He also mentioned that The Last of Us is so tied to Ashley Johnson’s Ellie and Troy Baker’s Joel that the studio wanted to move their story forward rather than going at it from a different character’s perspective. I’m kind of split on this personally. While I’m fine with this story moving forward, I’m a little suspicious. I just don’t see how it could live up to the first game, but every fiber of my being wants it to. And the final thing I wanted to talk about in this video was that Ellie is now reported to be the “star” of the game. Joel’s story was pretty well told in the first game, but a lot of focus was put on Ellie as well, so it’ll be interesting if we get a flip-flop of that structure. Maybe we’ll be able to go hunting in the snow as Joel this time? But, in all seriousness, I’m eager to get a look at Ellie’s young-adult psyche and how she has developed since the events of the first game. That’s the special thing about The Last of Us, I don’t really care where the story goes, I care about the characters and what other game can you say that about? But, that’s about all we have on story details at the moment. We do know the first game’s composer is returning so that’s also a plus. But we didn’t get a release window and this game is in very early development, so it’ll be a while before we see more. So, I want to know what you thought about this teaser. Are you excited to see a sequel starring the original characters? Or would you have rather seen the world from a different perspective? Be sure to tell me your thoughts down below.