Last of Us 2 review round up: Sequel is one of PS4’s highest-rated games

VGC summarises every key review score

Last of Us 2 review round up: Sequel is one of PS4’s highest-rated games

The Last of Us Part 2 reviews have been published across the gaming media, with critics mostly delivering huge scores for the much-anticipated Naughty Dog sequel.

According to review aggregation site Metacritic, The Last of Us Part 2 has an aggregate score of 95, making it one of the highest-rated games on PS4.

In VGC’s The Last of Us 2 review, critic Jon Bailes calls the sequel “Naughty Dog’s greatest game.”

“In every way, The Last of Us 2 is the grand culmination and skilful refinement of all the studio has done in the last decade or so,” he wrote. “Hopefully by the last of the next generation, it will have found more effective ways to communicate its themes, and more reasonable ways to bring them to fruition.”

Read on for the key reviews from across various publications.

Last of Us 2 reviews

  • VGC (5/5) – “In every way, The Last of Us 2 is the grand culmination and skilful refinement of all the studio has done in the last decade or so. Hopefully by the last of the next generation, it will have found more effective ways to communicate its themes, and more reasonable ways to bring them to fruition.”
  • Eurogamer (Essential) – “Can a slick, mainstream action game really reckon with the violence that drives it? The answer is yes – messily, but powerfully.”
  • GamesRadar (5/5) – “The Last of Us Part 2 not only justifies its existence as a sequel most didn’t think was necessary, supplementing and elevating the timeless qualities of its predecessor, but stands confidently apart as an entirely different beast, one bearing its own fangs that bite with just as much force.”
  • Gamespot (8/10) – “By the time I finished The Last of Us Part II, I wasn’t sure if I liked it. It’s a hard game to stomach, in part because so much of who Ellie is and what she does is beyond your control. She is deeply complicated and flawed, and her selfishness hurts a lot of people.”
  • Polygon (No score) – “Maybe the most surprising thing that The Last of Us Part 2 offered me was the surety that, while the game was made with great skill and craft, we are actually much, much better than Naughty Dog thinks we are.”
  • USgamer (4.5/5) – “In this it’s not always successful, but its execution is impeccable, and its story proves an appropriate bookend to the story of Joel and Ellie. In short, it’s some of Naughty Dog’s best work.”
  • Kotaku (No score) – “So many people worked on this game for so long, and at such cost, that I want The Last Of Us II to be more than the experience I had.”
  • Game Informer (10/10) – “I can safely say this is the best narrative game I have played. I felt the loss. I felt the confusion. It is a game that turned me inside out with each twist of the screw.”
  • VG247 (5/5) – “As soon as it ended, I booted up New Game Plus and I’m experiencing it again with my eyes open, the context of the finished story imprinting new meaning into those early scenes and characters.”
  • The Guardian (5/5) – “This intense game set in a post-disaster world poses moral questions about the motivations for violence and is brilliantly acted by its human contributors”
  • IGN (10/10) – “The Last of Us Part 2 is a masterpiece that evolves the gameplay, cinematic storytelling, and rich world design of the original in nearly every way.”
  • Venturebeat (95/100) – “It is right up there with awesome titles like God of War and Red Dead Redemption 2 that make narrative storytelling the highest form of video game art, in my humble opinion.”
  • Telegraph (5/5) – “Sony‘s big budget PS4 exclusive might actually surpass the achievements of its illustrious predecessor”
  • PushSquare (10/10) – “Unparalleled presentation combines with an engaging gameplay loop that puts you in the shoes of its characters – and forces you to feel all of the tension and misgivings of its cast.”
  • Wccftech (9.5/10) – “There isn’t a single other game available on PlayStation 4 that can capture the bleakness of what Naughty Dog has created with this experience, save for the first The Last of Us.”
  • Daily Star (5/5) – “The Last of Us, Part II outshines the original in practically every way. The game takes level design, combat, stealth, AI and interactive narrative and uses each element to elevate the other.”
  • The Sixth Axis (10/10) – “The Last of Us Part II is a remorseless epic delivering in its masterful storytelling, nail-biting gameplay and unrivalled production values.”
  • Digital Spy (4/5) – “Overall, The Last of Us 2 is going to be divisive. Naughty Dog has made brave narrative choices for its difficult second album, which we massively respect.”
  • Gaming Bible (7/10) – “As a video game sequel it ticks all the boxes of being bigger and better with more to say. But as a story, as an experience following one of the most critically acclaimed tales ever told in this medium, it sits uncomfortably on a knife’s edge, waiting for the passage of time to pull it one way or the other.”
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