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The Last of Us Part II is finally here, and after a long wait, players can finally continue the story they started in 2013 with the first game.
Neil Druckmann, at PSX 2017 explained that they will be making significant changes to the game in terms of its gameplay. It was further put on display in the gameplay reveal of the game, showcasing far more freedom of movement than the first Last of Us.
However, those were not the only changes made to the game and the sequel plays significantly different than the first game.
Here we look at the biggest changes made to the game in The Last of Us Part II from the first game.
Biggest Changes in The Last of Us Part II
1) The Semi-Open World and Larger Areas
The big debate surrounding open-world games vs linear games has been raging for years ever since the popularity of open-world games has skyrocketed. Neil Druckmann, the director of The Last of Us and its sequel stated that Naughty Dog will continue to deliver linear narrative-based game.
The approach that Uncharted 4 took with the semi open-world in the Madagascar area was very well received and gave the players a hint at what an open-world Uncharted would be.
The Last of Us Part II takes a similar approach with Seattle, where the player is given a map, and several different locations spread throughout Downtown Seattle that they can explore as they wish.
Apart from the Downtown Seattle area, the game's level design is significantly on a much larger scale than the first game. Whereas there wouldn't be too many ways to tackle a situation in The Last of Us, there is plenty of room to manoeuvre in the sequel.
The game areas are much larger compared to the first game and make for some really exciting combat and stealth sequences.
2) Mobility
Mobility is essential to an action/adventure/ stealth game like The Last of Us, and Naughty Dog has revamped the movement system drastically, but not too much to scare off old players.
The game has a dedicated jump button (X) to traverse ledges and gaps, and also adds a Prone feature (Holding Down Circle) that allows Ellie to crawl under cars and spaces in the wall, etc.
However, these are not the only changes, as the characters while also being agile and fast, have significantly more weight in their movement. A sprint feels extremely fast but also feels like Ellie commits to the movement a lot more than the first game.
The Quick Turn feature comes into play a lot more in The Last of Us Part II, as players will need to turn around quickly to avoid damage from enemies.
3) Combat
The combat has also seen a significant step-up from the original Last of Us and has more depth and layers to it. The Dodge feature is much appreciated as it adds more layers than just mashing the Square button to kill enemies.
Players will need to dodge oncoming attacks and execute strikes more efficiently. Simply button mashing the Square button will often lead to your character taking more damage.
The combat animations and the number of animations in the game have also been improved and each blow feels significantly heavy and brutal as it should.
4) Upgrade Trees
The upgrade skill trees in the Last of Us were fairly simple: you would collect Supplements to boost character abilities and collect Training Manuals to upgrade item efficiency.
However, in the sequel, collecting Training Manuals will unlock different Character Upgrade branches such as Stealth, Explosives and Crafting. Then, you can use supplements to further progress in each branch.
5) NPC Interaction
A small addition that ultimately has a lot of impact in the game, the NPCs have a lot more personality in the game and interaction with the protagonist is much higher.
Each NPC has their own name, and when you take them out, you can hear the rest of the NPCs call out their name in anger and will hunt you down more aggressively.
Each death feels much more personal in the game, and little things such as them pleading to you to spare them can have a lot of impact.
One tiny detail that can be missed is if you injure and leave one NPC alive after killing their group, they will either ask you to end their suffering or plead for their life. You can then approach them and do you as you wish.
