Going hand in hand with its pitch-black narrative, it’s fair to say that few video games deal in the currency of violence quite as generously as Naughty Dog’s seminal opus, The Last of Us Part II. If violence is a sin, then the devil is most certainly in the details since while a cursory glance at the third-person combat of The Last of Us Part II might suggest freewheeling, unrestrained savagery, the truth is that such visceral chaos is just the tip of a very large, very clever ‘murderberg‘. Here is how developer Naughty Dog has managed to perfect the art of third-person combat in The Last of Us Part II Remastered.
Hybrid Combat Done Perfectly
Arguably more so than any of its survival horror stablemates, The Last of Us Part II presents players not just with a veritable visceral kaleidoscope of weapons and attacks to choose from, but a near-endless way to combine them all too. Certainly while just pulling off a devastating headshot with a carefully aimed handgun, or using Abby’s powerful hand-to-hand strikes to wreck an enemy are both highly satisfying, there’s nothing quite like mixing up the employ of different weapons in a violent encounter to take down your foes.
Taking one of the main protagonists, Ellie, as an example, she can use a firearm to pop a bullet into the knee of her enemy and then land a killing blow to the side of the head with her trusty knife. In another scenario, Abby might pick up a discarded bottle or brick and instead of using it as a distraction tool, turn it into a skull-shattering projectile that stuns her enemy just long enough for the highly trained soldier to bludgeon them into the shadowlands with a series of highly destructive strikes. The zenith of The Last of Us Part II’s approach to hybrid combat though, is in how it provides players with sufficient capability to string together scenarios – such as those previously mentioned – into a single, momentum-charged ballet of violence.
Just picture it. As Ellie, after being discovered by some enemy soldiers, you take one of them hostage and use the precious couple of moments of shock experienced by their partner to shoot them in the head, before then executing the first soldier and then leaping off a ledge and plunging your knife into the neck of another unsuspecting foe and while laying prone, you take out the knees of a final incoming enemy before putting them out of their misery with a well-aimed headshot. There’s just nothing quite like it.
State Of The Art Animation
One of the biggest aspects of The Last of Us Part II Remastered which contributes to its stellar third-person combat is the state-of-the-art animation which underscores its violent delights. Governed by the mathematical process of inverse kinematics which calculates the joint angles needed to move appendages to a desired position – and thus make character models move in the environment in a much more realistic way – every gunshot, every right hook, every swing of a machete and every concussive blast from a shotgun all have eerily realistic outcomes. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that on PC The Last of Us Part II Remastered has never looked better too, with razor-sharp 4K resolution visuals, stunning levels of visual fidelity and sky-high frame rates to boot.
Violence That Feels Truly Physical
Neatly dovetailing into The Last of Us Part II’s superlative animation is the environmental physics embedded into every nook and cranny of the game world, solidifying the authenticity of its many savage encounters. Whether you’re Abby and slamming the spine of an infected against a shop counter, or as Ellie, blasting a mercenary through the jaw with a pump-action shotgun only to see him crash through a glass cupboard, every single physical action that you commit within The Last of Us Part II’s numerous violent skirmishes carries a sense of weight that serves to further reinforce the heft of their authenticity. We’re far beyond the lifeless Havok physics ragdolls of yesteryear here.
Wildly Different Enemy Types
As good as the combat is in The Last of Us Part II Remastered, it only soars as high as it does on account of the many different enemies that exist in the game world and the remarkable artificial intelligence which underpins their combative behaviours. Though the standard infected enemies will mindlessly charge toward you once they’ve spotted you, the terrifying Clickers are completely blind and instead rely on a sort of echolocation to work out where you are depending on the noise you’re making.
If that wasn’t bad enough Clickers are also largely impossible to fight in melee combat without some sort of stun employed beforehand, since they employ a deathly grapple that sees them tearing out your jugular if they get close enough. Even worse still are the shambling Bloaters – a massive, awkward moving mass of fungal flesh that can toss suffocating gas bombs at range, has health for days and can instantly kill anybody at close quarters. Further afield, more lithe infected variants known as Stalkers not only hide around corners and behind cover to avoid detection but use their agile frames to actively dodge and evade your melee attacks too.
Beyond the myriad horrors of the infected enemies in The Last of Us Part II Remastered, its numerous human adversaries also provide players of all skill levels with a steep challenge, to say the least. Not only will human opponents seek cover to shoot from and attempt to overwhelm you with higher numbers, but so too will they call out to each other to relay your position to begin flanking manoeuvres and other tactics. Brilliantly, some enemies communicate to each other in a code that doesn’t involve words at all – but without spoiling things, I won’t go into who they are here. Needless to say, learning the various elements of their language and then using that to head off an ambush, or prepare one of your own proves to be a hugely satisfying turn of events.
Also in something of a nice, but ultimately macabre flourish, just about every human enemy you meet has their own name and friendships with other closeby folks and this is something which is evidenced in combat. Should you kill an enemy and their death is either witnessed or their corpse discovered, you’ll hear their friends become distressed and angry as they shriek “Oh no – they’ve killed Dave! I’m going to find ’em’!”. Or, y’know, something like that.
A Bit of Old School Ultraviolence
The heir apparent to Rockstar’s Manhunt in many ways, not least because of its penchant for superbly grisly stealth kills, The Last of Us Part II Remastered is arguably one of the most violent and gruesome video games to be released in years. Gunshots leave gooey craters in skulls and gaping wounds in torsos, shotguns and explosive traps can remove whole limbs and organs, while bladed weapons can messily hack into bodies and get stuck for a second or two before being pulled back out in the most painful way imaginable. With a nearly endless amount of toe-curling dismemberments and decapitations, together with abundant reservoirs of gushing claret, had The Last of Us Part II released back in the ’90s or early 2000s, it would certainly collect the same ‘video game nasty’ style labels that Manhunt did all those years ago.
Ultimately, The Last of Us Part II Remastered elevates third-person combat to an art form, blending visceral violence with highly refined mechanics and animation. Naughty Dog’s attention to detail in crafting fluid, tactical, and emotionally charged encounters ensures that every fight feels both intense and purposeful. The game’s impressive array of enemy types, each with its own unique behaviours, keeps combat fresh and challenging throughout, while its brutal realism leaves a lasting impact on players. With its perfect fusion of gameplay, story, and visual fidelity, The Last of Us Part II Remastered redefines what it means to engage in third-person combat, delivering a thrilling and unforgettable experience.
If you’re ready to experience the heart-pounding, visceral combat of The Last of Us Part II Remastered, don’t miss your chance to dive into one of the most critically acclaimed games of recent years. Whether you’re revisiting this masterpiece or playing it for the first time, head over to Green Man Gaming and grab your copy today!
