The Last of Us Part 2 garnered criticism for its depictions of violence and some story beats, and at least one reviewer received an unorthodox followup from Sony over his criticisms. Despite the issues pointed out by some reviewers, The Last of Us Part 2 received mostly glowing reviews upon its release, earning perfect scores from dozens of different outlets, Screen Rant included.
While The Last of Us Part 2 was extremely well received critically, its user scores tell a different story. From the day of its release, the game was hit with a massive review bombing campaign, with users flooding Metacritic with 0/10 reviews, in many cases before they could have even played it. While most of these reviews don’t have much specific to say about the game at all, many cite disappointment in some of the twists in The Last of Us Part 2’s story as their main complaint. As disappointing as it is predictable, critical takes about the game from players are also laden with explicit and veiled homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny.
The review bombing campaign of The Last of Us Part 2 may be little more than a front for bigotry and entitlement, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t valid critiques to be levied at the game. Among other criticisms, Vice’s review says that “there is practically nothing here we haven’t seen done repeatedly throughout previous Naught Dog games,” and “the characters’ motivations...are increasingly less compelling as the game drags on.” As Polygon reports, the review’s writer, Rob Zacny, was contacted by a Sony representative who he said told him “some of the conclusions I reached in my review were unfair and dismissed some meaningful changes or improvements.” Zacny said that the exchange was pleasant but “unusual.”
It’s not unheard of for publishers to reach out about inaccuracies in reviews, but contacting critics about their conclusions is a very different subject. Particularly when a developer that just released one of the generation’s best-selling games questions the judgment of an outlet that’s previously called out its alleged labor abuses, it gives the appearance of a powerful company flexing its muscles to try to quash dissenting voices. That’s certainly the tone that comes across when director Neil Druckmann has entered into arguments on Twitter to chastise writers for joking about the effusive and sometimes over-the-top praise the game has received.
Any AAA game as anticipated as The Last of Us Part 2 is bound to generate disagreement, but in this case, that disagreement has looked more like an ugly brawl. There’s always room for disagreement in subjective evaluations of games, but that space shouldn’t be taken up by bad faith arguments from players or meddling from developers.
The Last of Us Part 2 is available now on PlayStation 4.