The Last Of Us Part II Remastered

Play it on: PS4, PS5, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Learn to be more careful with my hands

Sometimes it’s probably better to leave well enough alone. Ellie had to learn that lesson pretty harshly. And it seems I do too. But whether it’s revenge or a need for answers, there are some things that just yank you into stressful, dark, and complicated situations and before you know it, you’re standing in the wreckage, the fallout of something destructive. It ain’t fun.

For the most part, I feel I’ve gotten my fill of TLOU’s various moral conundrums for a lifetime. But after a recent cab ride during which I reflected on my own bruised knuckles, the result of me punching a wall after I pursued a kind of emotional closure that was never going to happen anyway (don’t look at me that way. It’s not like I shot up a hospital or something), the first thought I had was “well, I guess it’ll be hard to play guitar for a while.” The second thought was of The Last of Us: Part II. If you’ve played that game to completion, you know what I’m talking about. At least I still have all my fingers.

To be honest, my world’s kind of on fire right now. And the focus that The Last of Us: Part II demands, especially on higher difficulties, might be what I need. And maybe I do need a lesson about repeating cycles of pain and how to stop fucking chasing something that won’t ever give you what you want anyway. I’m not quite sure if I have the appetite for the story of this game again, but I still have yet to play the remastered version’s roguelike mode. That works for me as the gameplay of TLOU was often the aspect I found most appealing. And right now I just need to shut my brain off with some video games.

— Claire Jackson