It’s one that grapples with the impact of that violence and shows players the consequences.
Yet, I’m glad I pushed through - because those dark, disturbing moments are what make The Last of Us Part II so powerful. There are scenes so upsetting that they didn’t just make me uncomfortable they made me question why I was playing this game at all. I certainly didn’t want to watch a religious zealot’s head explode into a grisly cloud because of my well-placed shotgun blast. I didn’t want to bash that lunging dog with a hammer or slice at that defenseless woman with a knife. Over the game’s 20-hour runtime, I often found myself wanting to quit because the violence became unbearable.