The Last of Us: Part 2 is seen by many as one of the most prominent games of the last generation. The reason for that is simple enough: most gamers loved this game’s writing. They loved the story, and they empathized with most of its characters. There were a bunch of naysayers too, but every game has its critics.
Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann put a lot of work into this sequel. Not just its story, but its dialogue, its music, and its motion capture—every element of this game screamed perfection. Besides being a perfect example of an excellent action survival horror game, The Last of Us: Part 2 was also full of numerous references. But one of them hit harder than others, and there was a huge reason why the developers included it in the game.
Here’s why Neil Druckmann included that memorable Easter egg in The Last of Us: Part 2
When this game starts, Ellie is pretty happy in her small world. Jackson is a cheerful place where everyone lives as a community and slowly learns to understand each other. People grow food, they have parties, and they also make sure this community stays safe.
But something goes awry, and it sends Ellie on a path of destruction. She is filled with rage, and she is continuously looking for people to kill. And she does find and kill a bunch of them. During that search, she reaches a location where she notices a guard just playing some games.
She is playing that game on her PlayStation Vita, and that game is none other than Hotline Miami. As she plays the game, Ellie steps in, and they have a struggle that ends with the guard’s demise. The fact that she was playing on a PS Vita and that too, Hotline Miami is both surprising and incredible at the same time.
But this was not just a reference; this game was deliberately put in this sequence. There are a couple of reasons for it. The most obvious one is that Neil Druckmann and many others on his team are fans of that game. The other reason is that this game works pretty much at mirroring the brutal actions that characters commit in this game.
“Okay, is there an opportunity here to just make some meta-statement about the kind of narrative we’re after? And we’re also just huge fans of Hotline Miami – like, I love that game. I love the engine of that game. So we reached out to those guys, and they were nice enough to let us put it in there.”
It was pretty interesting how they decided to make a meta-statement by putting a very violent game inside of a violent game. A game that Neil Druckmann loves to play.
Whatever the reason for including that game inside The Last of Us: Part 2 was, at least fans got a cool reference. One thing that will always remain a mystery is, “How did that device remain so flawless?”
The Last of Us: Part 2 fixed a bunch of issues that the first game had
While its narrative got a polarizing response from most gamers, one thing that was appreciated universally was its gameplay. Naughty Dog had transformed the linear walk, straight line, shoot, and move kind of gameplay of the first game into an interesting dynamic stealth action thing.
Players could go prone, hide in long grass, set traps, and craft silencers. If they all failed, they could set the infected and humans against each other. This game was not boring to play at all; it was a fun time for most people.
Fans cannot help but wonder if such violence will be seen in the upcoming second season of The Last of Us series too. They would not have to wait very long though; the production is well underway, and they would know the answer sometime in 2025.
