The popular Playstation 4 video game “The Last of Us II,” a survival horror sequel to the 2013 original, has been met with groans from some segments of its fanbase for pushing an obviously woke agenda, from LGBTQ themes to the denigration of masculinity.
Writing at Evie Magazine, Zoey Carter, a self-professed gamer, explored the game’s various plot threads and how they ultimately lead the player to conclude that the makers had a political agenda to promote extreme moral relativism by having all the likable characters end up dead, maimed, or alone while the unlikeable characters get away scot-free. Interspersed between this long and arduous journey, players are treated to overt LGBTQ sermonizing over genuine storytelling with a side of man-bashing.
**SPOILERS**
According to Zoey, early in the game, the writers feature the positive and beloved male character Joel dying in a horrific manner that is completely out of character, leading her to conclude the makers had something up their sleeve.
Joel is gruesomely beat to death with a golf club by a masculine, ripped woman named Abby, a name that will live in videogame infamy. Joel had rescued her from certain death just moments before she murders him.
Not only are you forced to play as Abby right before the brutal scene… not only is Ellie forced to watch… but after Joel’s dead body is mangled on the concrete floor, a character whose face is modeled after Neil Druckmann, the director of the game, SPITS on Joel’s corpse. This moment is infuriating, but worse, anyone who played the first game knows it’s completely out of character for Joel to follow a stranger to a hideout full of people he doesn’t know. Later on, we do see Joel again in flashbacks, which are arguably some of the best scenes you experience while playing as Ellie.
Beyond the death of Joel, nearly every male character in the game suffers death or is humiliated beyond repair, such as the character Tommy, who “ends up partly paralyzed and blind, and his wife leaves him.” With the denigration of masculinity comes a helpful serving of LGBTQ sermonizing.
“Abby is not technically confirmed by the studio as transgender, but there is another character who is notably trans,” writes Carter. “Of the three new supporting characters, one was trans, one was lesbian, and one was also presumably transgender. Not to mention, Ellie, the heroine, is a lesbian. In the post-apocalyptic world, you don’t see any American flags, but you do see LGBTQ pride flags in Seattle.”
As Carter noted, the critics and gamers have been virtually split on their receptions of “The Last of Us II.” On Metacritic, the game enjoys a 94 rating among critics versus a score of 4.8 among gamers.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.