That said, the game's violence is contextualized by and balanced out by some of the most nuanced and genuine performances ever to come out of a video game. Joel and Ellie felt more like real human beings than video game characters. Playing it is just as uncomfortable as it's meant to be. It’s incredibly well-made, but to say it’s “fun” is like calling Schindler’s List a “popcorn flick” or Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” a “real club banger.” The violence in The Last of Us was grisly and harrowing to the point of palpable discomfort killing a man with a two-by-four shouldn’t feel good, nor should jamming a shiv into a screaming, hissing fungal abomination that used to be a person. I’ve said numerous times that The Last of Us isn’t “fun", and that doesn't make me love it any less. We did do our best to uncover their identities here: Or, if Naughty Dog wants to introduce the new characters from this trailer, how about giving them roles other than punching bag and/or hammer-target?
There are so many more powerful things they could’ve shown us, like a glimpse of Joel and Ellie, and some insight into how their relationship has changed.
Either way, I’d argue that The Last of Us is a series that deserves much better than fitting into the commonly held public misconception that video games are just violent for the sake of violence, and this trailer only feeds into the mainstream media's narrative. It seems like the marketing team either thought this trailer would whet the appetites of bloodthirsty fans, or they released it to generate controversy. This trailer only feeds into the mainstream media's narrative. It’s safe to say that everybody already knows it’s a brutally violent game, and that’s fine, but the trailer presents it as nothing more than that, which only sells the franchise short.
While it's undoubtedly graphically stunning and gives us a fleshed-out impression of Part 2's darker tone, it begs the question: who is this trailer for? The Last of Us sold millions of copies, won piles of awards, and attracted legions of fans around the world.