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The Last of Us Part IIis the worst video game Ive ever heard.
And you would be right.
However, likeThe Walking Dead, it isnt the afflicted that represent the real horror.
The game does this in two ways.
The most direct is by regularly presenting the player with situations where fighting is the only way forward.
Those scenes are among the most brutal in a modern video game.
In video games, combat is a puzzle, a maze with shifting hazards to navigate.
The Last of Us Part IIis perhaps the biggest, and most anticipated video game this year.
Its worth understanding why.
You work at Naughty Dog because you want to make games that are best in class.
Naughty Dog makes best-in-class games because everyone involved is willing to go the extra mile.
For those who know to look for it, the Naughty Dog difference is dazzling.
Weapons are painstakingly replicated, and you could watch characters break them down on a workbench.
To the layman, that may not seem like a big deal.
In the world of mainstream games, popularity and quality are often considered interchangeable.
At this point in the mediums development, games play people better than people play them.
Except the game isnotunlikable.
And that belies the games central cynicism: it makes the violence central and unavoidable and generallyfun.
Thats not what the game spends 30 hours on, though.
Yet it still cant imagine a world without dividing lines.
The world is full of other people.
