Summary
The Last of Us Part 2has a remaster arriving later this month and the base game itself isn’t the most exciting part of its bundle. The remaster is neat for anyone who might not already perceive the sequel as meeting the standards of current-gen capability, but what it packs in with cut levels, developer commentary, and a whole roguelike mode is more than enough reason to return toPart 2.
No Return has had a lot of the pre-release limelight due to it being an entirely new game mode forPart 2, though a recently shared clip fromPart 2’s cut Jackson levelshows how thoroughly these levels were developed before they were ultimately dropped, and that’s truly exciting.
The clip in question shows a brief part of the Jackson level where Ellie is interacting with a group of children in the town. The child nearest to her at the beginning of the clip is persuasively pretending to be a clicker in their movements and Naughty Dog lead game designer Banun Idris’ developer’s commentary narration in the clip details how clickers and the infected are taken seriously, but are also naturally embedded in the childrens’ livelihood and the games they play. This made for a fascinating mini-game inThe Last of Us Part 2that players never got to see until now, and that’s a shame since it’s a poignant look at the children’s lives and would have delivered another great moment of ingenious gameplay.
The Last of Us Part 2’s Lost Level Reveals a Clicker Tag Game
The Last of Us’ Best Gameplay is Usually in Its Softer, More Creative Levels
The child pretending to be a clicker is part of a mini-game where players would have their visibility significantly diminished and have Ellie pretending to be a clicker while trying to locate and snag a child running about. The children can be seen running in faint silhouettes in total blackness as if players were perpetually in a pitch-black listening mode. The reasons why these kinds of gameplay sequences resonate so well are because they afford a creative and often one-time mechanic or interaction, and they help to differentiate fromThe Last of Us’ core gameplay loopof stealth, gunfights, and scavenging.
The Last of Us’ Left Behind DLCwas saturated with these kinds of moments as Ellie and Riley explore an abandoned Boston mall and whilePart 2is largely overwhelmed with brutality and grief it is great to see respite and relief peppered throughout, even if one of those moments had been cut before making it to the final product. How the narrative meshes with gameplay is usually a standout in Naughty Dog games, and so a moment as specifically crafted as a mini-game of clicker tag is unfortunate to see left on the cutting room floor.
EvenPart 2’s snowball fight was somewhat of an introduction to stealth and bottle- or brick-throwingon a much smaller scale and a game of clicker tag would’ve been phenomenal in flipping the idea of sightless infected creatures and giving a glimpse into their perceived echolocation-exclusive perspective. However, this perspective shows that while there is a sense of security and comfort within Jackson’s walls, there is also a firm acknowledgment of the horrors that hail beyond them, too.
Clicker Tag Shows How Morbid and Desensitized Jackson is in The Last of Us Part 2
Clicker tag doesn’t insinuate that every child’s life inThe Last of Us’ Jacksonhas been burdened with dread, but it does suggest that the children are all made strategically aware of what dangers are out there. Anyone who played the originalLast of Usalready has an idea of how fearsome packs of runners can be or how haunting a room full of clickers can be, butPart 2also leans more heavily into the infected’s horror tone with the encounters that are laid out.
Of course,The Last of Us’ franchise frequently makes a point of how other people pose the biggest threat. Still,Part 2does a wonderful job of expressly demonstrating how awful and nightmarish the infected are betweenrunners, stalkers, bloaters, shamblers, and clickers. The fact that Jackson’s child demographic can impersonate a clicker authentically is evidence that at least a number of them have seen clickers—or at least had someone act out one to give them that insight.
Rather, because they are happy to play tag while behaving like clickers it is also suggested that they’re accustomed to them and have become desensitized to clickers and potentially other infected stages, as is mentioned in the developer’s commentary narration. Players don’t get to see much of Jackson beforeEllie and Dina head out in pursuit of Abby, for example.
Therefore, finally getting to see another slice of what life was like there is already incredibly eye-opening from the clip Naughty Dog has shared from one of thethree Lost Levels inThe Last of Us Part 2’s remaster. If this is the level of polish and creativity that can be expected from the other Lost Levels, then it’ll be more than deserving to experience them in order to see what could have made it into the sequel.
No Return will have greater longevity due to it actually being a game mode with roguelike progression. That said, the Lost Levels will likely carry with them a lot more charm, character, and personality, as well as paramount insight into how these sequences were developed or why they were decidedly cut from the experience.
The Last Of Us Part II Remastered
WHERE TO PLAY
EXPERIENCE ELLIE AND ABBY’S EMOTIONAL JOURNEYS, REMASTERED FOR PS5 Play the winner of over 300 Game of the Year awards, remastered for the PlayStation®5 console. Relive or play for the first time Ellie and Abby’s story, now with graphical enhancements, new gameplay modes like the roguelike survival experience No Return, full DualSense® wireless controller integration, and more. Five years after their dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have settled down in Jackson, Wyoming. Living amongst a thriving community of survivors has allowed them peace and stability, despite the constant threat of the infected and other, more desperate survivors. When a violent event disrupts that peace, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey to carry out justice and find closure.
