Edtior’s Note: While we have made very effort to avoid spoilers within this article, elements of the source discuss spoilers. As such, this article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II.
A petition has been created asking Naughty Dog to “Remake the storyline of The Last Of Us Part II,” and it currently stands at over 30,000 signatures.
The game had been subjected two numerous delays, and major cutscenes from the game leaking. The latter of which made many feel the game would have an unsatisfying conclusion. After release and even in-context, this has only grown worse.
On Metacritic, the game has an average user score of 4.6 out of 10 from over 86,000 reviews. The critic’s aggregate score is 94 out of 100. There have been claims that some user reviews have been removed (with allegations stemming from supposed screenshots of the total review score dropping.
Archives of the page as of this time of writing only show the number of user reviews increasing over time; bar one instance where it claimed there were no reviews. We feel the latter is most likely to be a technical issue, without evidence to the contrary.
It is also worth noting that Metacritic’s user reviews do not verify if a user has completed or played a game. In February a user of Reset Era orchestrated the review bombing of AI: The Somnium Files, due to the user’s grudge with the game’s content (though the exact motivation was never clear).
As such, some user reviews may be submitted for reasons other than sharing their thoughts on the game; as an act of protest or malice.
These could include objecting to the game’s allegedly progressive or politically left-leaning focused story, objecting to the supposed (but unproven) driving out of former Naughty Dog creative director and writer Amy Hennig, allegations of a hostile work environment and excessive crunch-time, or simply joining in the mockery.
Now a petition has been started by a fan, using the name of one of the game’s characters; Joel Miller. The petition asks Naughty Dog to “Remake the storyline of The Last Of Us Part II.”
Editor’s Note: The following section contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II.
The petition states two issues. The first being what happens to Joel within the story, and then playing as the character who inflicted it upon him “throughout half of the game.”
Considering many were eager to learn more about the continuing story of Joel and Ellie, some players feel they are forced to play as someone they should (at least initially) despise within the context of the story.
The other issue is how Joel appears in several flashback scenes. As reported by Sp1st, some trailers show a much older Joel, while in game the scene happens with “Flashback Joel,” looking much younger. At least one trailer even showed Joel, only for an entirely different character to be in his place in the final game.
While this could be an attempt to surprise players who had seen the trailers, some have gone as far as to claim the trailers were false advertising; showing Joel involved in the game’s story more than he was.
The petition states that players “need a remake for the story or at least a DLC with a different ending. This was a massive disrespect for every fan of The Last of us franchise that had to wait an entire 7 years for the sequel. We deserve better than this, we paid 60$ and we are entitled to make a change.”
As of this time of writing, the petition has over 30,000 signatures out of the goal of 35,000. Much like the Metacritic user reviews, there is no way for Change.org to verify who has played the game, or is a genuine fan of it.
The situation bears comparison to the outcry at Mass Effect 3‘s ending. Players objected to how, despite the promise of many options and branches the story could go, all paths led to a single three-option ending. The endings were also deemed unsatisfying conclusions.
Due to poor reception to ending at launch, an Extended Cut DLC was later released; altering and expanding upon the game’s endings. While initially free until April 2014, EA later stated they would have no plans to charge for the DLC. However, when Mass Effect 3 came to Steam in June, the Extended Cut DLC was bundled with other paid DLC.
Comparisons can also be drawn to the new Star Wars film trilogy. Despite high praise from critics and varying opinions from audiences [1, 2, 3], many criticize the films for their plots, and how characters both new and old were used.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below!
The Last of Us Part II is available now for PlayStation 4.
