Review:Why you play as Abby in the Last of Us Part 2(Spoilers)

When I played the first third of The Last of Us Part 2 I thought I was in for a classic tale of revenge as Ellie tracked Joel’s killer through Seattle in the hopes of killing her. That isn’t what I got. While the first few hours of the game follow that trajectory pretty closely the feelings of the player change significantly when you start playing as Abby in Seattle.

Like most players I was confused and mad when I started playing as Abby I didn’t care about the character because she killed Joel. I don’t think the game needs you to care about or sympathize with her. It wants you to understand her.

Nowhere is this more clear than the first fight between Abby and Ellie. Long story short Abby has Ellie and Dina beaten to a pulp and could easily kill both of them, but she doesn’t because of Lev. This only works because you played as Abby. If Abby spared them and you hadn’t played her adventure with Lev and his sister, that decision would have made no sense given Ellie’s and Abby’s past actions.

Now, the actual time when you play as Abby it doesn’t actually feel interesting or important because many of your interactions are with characters we know are dead. But that time is important because during it we see her go from what seems like a ruthless killer to a real person who actually cares about her actions who wants to be a good person.

The feeling I got from Abby is that killing Joel wasn’t the fix-all she was hoping it would be. She thought her life could go back to normal after that. Ellie’s actions show us it can’t, but I think Abby learns that earlier on. I think she is drawn to go back for Lev because she wants to offset the bad she has done with something good; helping some kids.

After finishing the game it seems like she has become that person she wants to be, while Ellie has taken the opposite path and kept becoming more and more ruthless throughout the game. When she finally decides to spare Abby, she is starting on the same path Abby had been on since we first play as her.