#2. THE LAST OF US PART 2
Following up on one of the greatest games ever made is not an enviable task, but it’s one that Naughty Dog were up to. And rather than playing it safe and making a game that would ride on the coattails of its beloved predecessor, with The Last of Us Part 2, Naughty Dog decided to challenge players’ expectations in every way possible- and the game is so much better because of that. It tells a story that insists on defying expectations every step of the way, and delivers one emotional gut-punch after another, all of which is propped up by the high production values, excellent writing, and memorable acting performances that you expect to see in a Naughty Dog game. What’s surprising, however, is that The Last of Us Part 2’s gameplay is just as good as its story, if not better. Its stealth is dynamic and open-ended, its combat is tense and scrappy, its level design – which constantly leverages a much wider range of movement options – is sheer genius. All of this is grounded in a world that feels relentlessly brutal, and yet incredibly believable. Suffice it to say, any questions we – and others – had about whether a sequel to The Last of Us should even exist have been conclusively put to bed.
