The Last of Us Part II Review: Moe Gives It a 8.8 / 10

The Last of Us Part II is the meanest story a big studio ever shipped, and I mean that as a compliment with an asterisk. Naughty Dog takes characters you love and makes you sit in rooms with the consequences. Halfway through, the game hands you the other side of the knife and dares you to keep playing. A lot of people could not. I respect the swing even when I hated where it landed.

As a game, it is the best thing Naughty Dog has built. The stealth is tense, the combat is ugly in the right way, and Seattle is a rotting playground built for bad decisions. The accessibility options set a standard the whole industry should have copied by now.

The game hands you the other side of the knife and dares you to keep playing.

Why not higher from me? The pacing sags in the back half, and the story's structure asks for patience it does not always repay. It wants you to feel exhausted, and brother, mission accomplished.

An 8.8: a technical monster with a story I admire more than I enjoyed, and a game I still think about years later.