WARNING: MAJOR spoilers ahead for The Last of Us Part 2.
Naughty Dog has revealed that one of the scenes in The Last of Us Part 2 was originally different during the development stages of the game. The Last of Us Part 2 was released earlier this summer and the game has received a lot of praise from critics, making it one of the most highly rated games ever made.
It's no secret that The Last of Us 2 had a controversial launch, with a number of incidents hampering the game's initial reception. Naughty Dog had imposed a number of embargo restrictions to ensure that the game's reviews don't contain spoilers. Owing to that, many critics expressed their disapproval against Naughty Dog's policy since it hindered them from properly dissecting the game. On top of that, there were a number of rumors making the rounds on the internet about Naughty Dog Creative Director Neil Druckmann's self-insert in the game, which were eventually refuted by him.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, Neil Druckmann reveals that one section of the game was changed to make it more impactful. In the scene where Joel dies, the team initially thought that he should utter his daughter Sarah's name before dying. The scene is pretty brutal, and considering Joel's attachment with his daughter, it was initially thought out to be the most obvious thing he would say on the brink of death. However, Troy Baker, the actor who plays Joel in The Last of Us Part 2, insisted that Joel shouldn't say anything at that moment. Neil further reveals that they shot both the versions, and eventually went on with Troy's advice since it felt more impactful that way:
"There are so many emotional parts of the game that for a long time didn’t land, and every time it’s so daunting to make them work. So often it’s just the iterative process of creation and cutting out a bunch of stuff that we realized wasn’t necessary. What comes to mind right now is Joel’s death. In the first edit of that scene, you felt nothing. Ellie’s being held down and Joel’s looking at her and we had this idea of like, “Oh man Joel’s brain is so fucked up at that moment that the only word that’s coming out of his mouth is his daughter’s name, ‘Sarah.'” It felt powerful, but then Troy [Baker] — to his credit — was like, “I don’t think he should say anything.” We shot both versions, and Troy was right. The scene was stronger without it."
The Last of Us Part 2 emphasizes a lot of mature tones, and the game is not short of unsettling moments. Joel's death is one of the most melancholic moments in the game, and the way Naughty Dog pulled it off is worthy of praise. The Last of Us predominantly emphasized on Joel's character development as a father figure for Ellie. If the scene actually featured him uttering Sarah's name when Ellie is being held down by enemies, it would have been pretty counter-intuitive towards their relationship.
A number of scenes in The Last of Us Part 2 have incited controversies, with players expressing their disregard towards how their favorite The Last Of Us Part 2 characters were depicted. It should be noted that Naughty Dog has always emphasized the human aspect of its characters, however, and that includes ditching the power fantasy which is prevalent in a majority of video games. From that perspective, Naughty Dog tackles some daunting themes in The Last of Us Part 2 and still manages to drive their points home, and perhaps no scene is a better indicator of that than the one that depicts Joel's death.
Source: IndieWire