It’s hard to argue at this point that The Last of Us Part 2 is not a great game, even if there are a number of valid criticisms to be made about the otherwise popular title. While there are critiques that hold little water and dip into being problematic, some complaints about Abby can hamper the enjoyment of players and hurt the overall message of the story, leading to recent controversies with Naughty Dog and The Last of Us.
To discuss this issue in The Last of Us 2, the following will quickly be diving into Major Spoiler territory, so any players who still haven’t had the opportunity to play through the game blind should read at their own discretion. The issue that comes from this character is in the way that she is presented, acting as the lead villain for the first half of the game before becoming the leading protagonist through a storyline that attempts to redeem her for the events of her initial introduction.
This is a critique that some players simply couldn’t get past, though plenty were still able to see the quality of the character and the game beyond this single aspect. From there, the negativity for Abby in The Last of Us 2 began to snowball, with some who were upset about her character exaggerating their criticism into petty issues. However, one key change could help ease the initial criticism and let the ambiguity of Abby’s character work more fluidly into the narrative, as opposed to attempting to make up for Joel’s brutal murder.
One of the first things that Naughty Dog shows the player, after quickly establishing the events of the previous game and the new relationship between Ellie and Dina, is the viscous and bloody murder of Joel at Abby’s hands. This surprisingly brutal opening is responsible for most of the negativity towards the game, including the infamous video of a streamer snapping The Last of Us 2‘s disc. Still, most players had either seen this coming from the ending of the original game or were able to simply let this fuel the Ellie section of the narrative as she sets out on a revenge mission to both bring Tommy back and hunt down and murder Abby right back.
As a generic villain, this introduction is incredible by taking a beloved character and having the antagonist come and kill them for understandable, but ultimately condemnable, reasons. The player can understand who Abby is in The Last of Us 2 right away, and the motivation to hunt her down is brilliantly established, while also implying that there might be more to her character than what is first shown. This is then made infuriating for some players when the point of view changes and what should be the climax of the game and quickly grinds the pacing to a halt to begin controlling Abby as she slowly walks through the WLF base.
A major update that Naughty Dog can implement to make the intended ambiguity of Abby work much more fluidly is to simply start the game off from her perspective. Instead of opening up the game with the recap of what Joel and Ellie did at the end of the previous title, it would be interesting to open up The Last of Us 2 with Abby and no mention of Joel and Ellie at all. This way, players will be introduced to a protagonist who seems to have a recent regret that her friends are constantly talking about, combined with nightmares that lead up to the reveal that her father died somewhat recently.
Making this change would keep Abby as mostly a blank slate before being slowly defined in the Last of Us 2 by characters around her, and then being given subtle reveals throughout the narrative. This is close to what was done with the 40 year old Joel and his new surrogate daughter in the first game, as new information about their pasts is drip-fed to the player. Then from here, players can relate and develop a connection to Abby before being devastated by the truth behind how her father died, and what she did to Joel in response to it, leading to catching up with how Ellie suddenly arrives at the end.
There is still a chance for a recut to be added to the game, especially considering that Naughty Dog is still actively working on the game. There is still an upcoming multiplayer mode coming to The Last of Us 2, and some players are excited to see if a DLC campaign in the vein of Left Behind from the first game. So, there is still a chance that a new Abby-cut might be included as a new mode to play in future updates, especially considering the support the developer has continued to show the characters.
Players may not want to hold their breath for this mode to be added to the game, as it’s more than likely that after the multiplayer is finally implemented, Naughty Dog may move quickly to work on The Last of Us 3. Additionally, it might be too late to get some players that disliked Abby so much to change their perspective on the character. However, it could still be a great way to better represent the protagonist who might become a leading player in the series moving forward.
The Last of Us 2 is available now for PS4.
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