# *The Last of Us Part II Remastered* Notes *The Last of Us Part II Remastered* is a welcome, but semi-sorta-kinda unnecessary port for the PS4 original. The game itself is a masterclass in "on the stick" design and ambition. A rare title that never fails to impress me. If you'd like my original, spoiler-filled review, [[The Last of Us Part II Review|here you go]]. If you want the podcast form, [[S0E2 - The Last of Us Part II|I got that for ya too]]. > [!warning] > Spoilers below! ![[The Last of Us Part II Remastered Chronological Notes.pdf]] ### Stats - Started Playing: 9/1/2025 - Beat: 10/19/2025 - Total Playtime: 20:46:23 ### Legacy - I mean, this game’s legacy is unprecedented in some ways. From the leaks to the HBO adaptation, this game’s legacy is a broad and messy one. The game itself rises above the cacophonous gaggle of discourse. ### Overall - This will be my fifth time through. Going chronological mode this time, so these notes will reflect that experience. I also will have the commentary track on, which I have never done. - Okay. As much as I love the commentary, I have to turn it off. This playthrough’s purpose is to experience the recut story. I have to sink in. Not geek out. - Hillcrest might be a perfect level sequence. The Boris storyline, the mounting oppression and isolation, encounter design, the truck chase. So so so good. - Chronological mode is a treat to those familiar with the story who want to inject a fresh element to the game without having to necessarily ramp the difficulty. It is as standard a chronological cut can be: No retiming or recut scenes, no interposing/interjection of scenes for timing. A fun, free mode that satisfies a curiosity. Certainly unnecessary. ### Story - A painful juxtaposition with the Abby and Jerry opening and Joel’s confession. Feels like a cold open. - Okay. The guitar transition from Joel to Ellie is killer good. Joel plays future days and gives Ellie the guitar then we cut to Ellie practicing the guitar on the birthday camping trip. - I like the intertwining of the flashbacks between Abby and Ellie. - This does make the start of this type of run very cutscene heavy/slow. It’s certainly not feeling game-y at this point. - Maybe HBO should have just cribbed this structure. - With a little restructuring and title cards, there is a version of this story that works. Kind of intriguing to experience it in a way. - I wonder then, since the flashbacks are out of the way, if the game will feel more intense, “in the trenches” with no reprieve from the violence. - Kinda funny that a Bloater is the first major gameplay encounter. - I am *very* curious if we see Ellie trying to forgive Joel *before* he is murdered. Chronologically, we should, but given that the cutscene is inside the cutscene at the *end* of the game, will we see it? - And we do. This should change feelings at his death. - There is the brutal weight of it and knowing they were going to mend. Does it put us more in Ellie’s shoes or our own as an audience? - I am getting antsy amped to get in Seattle. I want to feel the intensity. - I need to recheck the order of Joel’s ambush and Ellie in the manor. - I like this. - Day 1 (at the start at least) doesn’t have too similar of pacing. I think it is because Ellie is that open Seattle area. Abby is ambushed. More combat. I suspect they come more in sync has the “days” go on. Curious where cut points are. Abby’s first cut was to after the train yard, so obviously not a major cut in the day cycle. They are chunky more than I’d kind of expected. - These cuts in Seattle create TV like tension. When Ellie and Dina blow up off the horse, we get a cliffhanger instead of straight into the school encounter. This could build well. - Found Vita girl at the FOB! And, of course we saw Bear. I wonder if this addresses NakeyJakey’s complaints... - So Dina is asking about who/why someone came after Joel. In a normal first run, we know and aren’t sure if Ellie does. In a chronological run, both we and Ellie know. The lie and subtly in the relationship is more prominent. Ellie and I have the same knowledge. - Each chunk shows how similarly paced each character’s arc is. Ellie builds to the theater. Switch to Abby. Build to Scar captivity. What is it going to feel like when we get to the theater encounter? - Ellie finds Jesse and then we go to Abby and Lev to the hospital. I continue to love the shake up. - We get to see the hospital before Ellie destroys it. I know Jakey complained about this. It’s a nice touch this go. - I don’t know if I like Abby doing the Rat King before Ellie gets to the hospital. Fans know they can hear the Rat King scream during Ellie’s decent in the hospital, so killing it before she is there feels out of sequence. - You see the parallels to Ellie and Abby more clearly when they are back to back. Ellie’s “we have a lead” hits after hearing Abby’s “It’s a lead. I have to see it through.” and then Owen *just* rubbed that salt in her wound on the boat by mocking her lead line. It’s good. - As I enter Day 3, I feel a stronger desire to keep playing. The rising action and mounting tension is effective as always, but sorta amped now that the two are in lock step. It’s fun to see this restructure. - And, if you know the game’s structure, a normal playthrough has a bit of a deflation at the halfway point, since you are ostensively starting over. But this chrono cut, it’s all rising action baby. Hillcrest, Hospital 2X, aquarium, island, theater. - The aquarium hits different. Seeing Mel and Own *means* something in this playthrough. Not because I already know what is going to happen, but because I have seen their dynamic and story play out *with* Ellie’s plot. It’s no longer this rise to the aquarium, theater, then starting over. It’s rise to aquarium and then keep climbing to the island and *then* the theater. - Never noticed before, but Ellie loses allies by Day 3 and Abby gains them. On the Island, Abby has Lev and Yara at one point. Ellie is alone in her push to the aquarium. - I guess Yara doesn’t stick around long though...😅 - The Haven sequence is pure violent chaos. A perfect culmination. - Unfortunately, but expected, they didn’t rework the theater scenes. Ellie’s first—in full—then Abby entering the theater. It makes sense given the whole game so far, but man, there’s a version of this that’s structured *just* right. - I suspect the rest of the game plays out just like normal. Has to really. - Sure does. ### Gameplay - The open Seattle area is still good. Reminds me of when I thought the game was like this the whole time/I’d go back to that area. - The combat is as fluid as ever. Death comes swift if you aren’t reacting right. - I’m semi sorta kinda trying to shake up my stealth exclusive gameplay. A lil bit - You get a good sense of how in sync the two campaigns are this way. Leveling up similar timing. - Some of these encounters are so well designed. Multi-route, multi-playstyle. Layered and tight. - Resource management is not really a struggle, even on hard difficulty. The Rat King went down in like 30 seconds. Have to play on Survivor or Grounded for a challenge. - Same with the Bloater in the arcade. It is too easy. - I did do that boat, Scar, Wolf encounter in a sick way. Used their conflict to rush the Scars, sniped from the train. One shot went off with a crack of thunder. Pretty cool. - Really upped my aggression by the end. Was pushing, blowing up, abandoning stealth. Made it different. ### Music/Sound Design - These songs live rent free in my head. I know them so well. Gah Gus is so good. - I kinda like the DualSense vibration in sync with the dialogue. Kinda. Takes getting use to. - The low drums as Abby goes deeper in the hospital is sublime. ### Graphics/Performance - Sure is pretty on PS5 Pro. 4K60 dream baby. - Might be the best eyes in gaming. Sheesh. - I have experienced my first major visual glitch! Maria T-posing in the bar, no NPCs around, then Ellie couldn’t squeeze through. - My PS5 Pro kept bugging this go around. Maybe because I left it in rest mode so long? CE-108262-9 ### World - Seattle is *so* wet. I feel cold and soaked to the bone just playing the game.