The Last of Us 2 teaches us that the real monsters are ourselves
If we were to imagine transposing The Last of Us 2 into a novel, the first aspect we would like to highlight is what we have tried to summarize in these few lines, the same around which both games revolve: who is the real monster in a world folded by a pandemic? Naughty Dog offers us a fair variety of dangers in our revenge journey but once again, and with greater emphasis than the first chapter, it underlines how much monster is an extremely subtle concept in a reality where humanity is collapsing, reduced to its most low instincts to survive. Of course, someone is only looking for a new peace, a way to start again, yet as The Walking Dead has already shown the human being is the worst beast of all: there is, in his actions, a calculation that cannot be found in animals nor in the infected themselves - which focus on a primordial cause / effect reaction.
Monsters still too human escapes No one really to this logic, not even Joel and Ellie . She is indeed the epitome of such ferocity, of violence, yes it is responding to a primitive instinct, and, however, is not without control: a lucid madness , if you will, that affects everyone without distinction. Why The Last of Us 2 is to demonstrate that good or bad are labels without meaning and being in the right is just a matter of perspectives. We, the spectators, and at the same time, the architects of a history about which we do not have morally no control, we have only been able to see the obvious differences between fighting an infected and a human: in spite of a manifest danger, the first are simple creatures, limited in their behaviour, from which they draw their greatest strength. Nor is it a question of the herd, because as much as they can, sometimes, be many and to call each other if we discover it, do not act according to this logic.
starting from the most common Runner , balancing the have kept the view in this first stage of the infection with uncertain movements, and the lack of a hearing developed, up to the Clickers who are blind but sensitive to the slightest noise, and exploit a newly introduced approach to echolocation (i.e., produce sounds with which to track the surrounding environment and identify if we were exposed), all lack the strategy refined, which distinguishes the human enemies. Paradoxically, it is much easier to avoid entering into conflict with them, not only direct, but also very quiet: despite having Ellie by your the advantage of a knife to "infinity" (unlike Joel) with which to get rid of them, ignore them, sometimes it is the simplest solution. Already, the situation could complicate more with the Stalker , and treacherous because of their weakness prone to wait in ambush and not to be taken to the shoulders - as well as to make a noise and attract unwanted attention. However, the blindness and the search for obsessed of prey that motivates them (such as all the infected) makes it easy to bring them in deception, and get the time and space of manoeuvre is useful to move away. The Shambler have been introduced to counterbalance the agility of Ellie: big and very strong, are able to generate a cloud of corrosive gas if put on the alarm, but they represent a real danger only if combined with a Runner or Stalker. There are also a couple of cases that will not be mentioned here in order not to spoil the surprise but the focus of the infected is that there is no to get of the way the sticks between the wheels: are the grotesque result of a nature that has taken control, a fauna/flora fierce that responds to a single instinct - hunger - and on the basis of the one reacts, without distinction or malice. There is no calculation in them.
on The other hand, we have a humanity that, instead of facing a common threat, he wanted to cannibalizzarsi according to the law of the strongest. From WLF , the group reactionary favored by the survivors for his fight to PHAEDRA at the end he acted just like one who has fought, to the cultists, better known as Serafiti , each one craving its own piece of the world - and is ready to tear it to anyone by any means. The first is a force for militarized guarding of the areas in the vicinity of Seattle, but also a community that expanded: the civilians living in safe areas and contribute to the maintenance of the same. It is not Jackson, that gives me more the idea of a real town, but the two may have much in common. Armed with all point and with the help of trained dogs that enable them to track the prey (whether it is Ellie or an infected or a Serafita), act, compact, and coordinated, making it difficult to avoid a collision or surprise, without another notice. When they are on patrol tend to check the surroundings with meticulous care, they call each other to make sure they are still all there, not allowing themselves to be mislead by the launch of a brick, and you look almost always the shoulders so as not to discover the next. In a conflict directed search strategy to gather, but the fact of communicating it out loud makes it possible to react accordingly. On the contrary, the Serafiti use whistles in the code that makes them more predatory and difficult to anticipate. Their greater complexity compared to the infected and the characterization of texture that allows us to examine them from multiple points of view highlights how it is not the nature, wild and out of control, the danger of the most heard of a world like that of The Last of Us.
Naughty Dog exploits the concept of the post apocalyptic world in order to test the human being, describing it through a lens that shows him for what he is: a beast, the cruel choice, a representation of the monsters under the bed, there are more. Now they walk next to us and if we do the event at our reflection we can see the same lucid madness.
