Highlights
- The Last of Us 2 explores Ellie's transformation and the consequences of her desire for vengeance, which has deeply changed her as a character.
- A potential time jump in The Last of Us 3 could address the mistakes and lives taken in Seattle, pushing Ellie towards redemption and exploring her growth in her mid-20s.
- While the character changes in The Last of Us 2 provided a fresh perspective, the narrative could have benefited from more scenes and explanations to better understand Ellie's development.
Amid the chaos, the heart of The Last of Us is about two people coming together to fulfill an impossible task, but as the story develops it becomes clear that the journey is far more tonally potent than the destination. PlayStation gamers fell in love with the pair as their complexities bled into a second game seven years later, but that takes a new direction that few saw coming.
The Last of Us is set 20 years after society fell following the rapid development of the Cordyceps fungus, resulting in people all over the world becoming infected, and some having to survive in harsh conditions. Joel and Ellie are two such people, discovering a bond as they fight to stay alive. The Last of Us 2 shatters that connection and picks up years later as Ellie is on a new quest in the Pacific Northwest. The time jump is jarring, but nothing that the series hasn't seen before, so if a potential third game decides to be liberal with its use of time, there are some clear benefits and drawbacks of doing so.
Time Jumps Can Facilitate Character Growth
In The Last of Us 2, Ellie is far from the person she was in the first game. There are glimpses of who she used to be that can be seen scattered through the journey, but her overwhelming desire for vengeance fundamentally changed who she was, and a great deal of character development is centered around understanding if this shift is temporary, or something that is now essential to who she is. 'If I ever were to lose you, I'd surely lose myself' is a canary in the coal mine, and the sudden, sharp contrast between who Ellie used to be and who she had to become is one of the reasons why those who love The Last of Us 2 are so enamored with it.
Providing another time jump could deploy a similar idea, albeit in a different direction. The Last of Us 3 could pick up when Ellie is in her mid-20s and would be interesting if it decides to address the mistakes made and lives taken in Seattle to push her back into the light in a quest for ultimate redemption. It may be too rushed to explore this angle that close to the end of the second game, and the breathing room of a time skip could help significantly. A significant time jump would also give the potential for more substantial flashbacks, something that The Last of Us 2 used frequently and largely effectively.
Ellie is Nearly Unrecognizable in The Last of Us 2
However, while the changes to the characters between the first and second games provided a new perspective, it often felt like a lot of essential scenes were omitted, and Ellie's growth could feel shocking at times because players were only offered glimpses of how she got to that stage. The conclusion of 2013's The Last of Us left off with a desperate lie that Ellie accepts, and the weight of that falsehood surely taking its toll on Joel. The Last of Us 2 picks up on the same topic as Joel explains his decision to Tommy, and in doing so the time jump initially doesn't feel entirely justified.
The Last of Us 3 has the freedom to experiment with its narrative and setting as the first two games are truly beloved and commercially successful. Playing around with time is a risky game and one that can either make a story shine or fall apart entirely. The second game's narrative was more ambitious, but not as seamless as the first, and time skips played a role in its inconsistency. The Last of Us 3 might be shocking regardless, but time jumps may or may not be necessary to tell a story deserving of a third entry.
The Last of Us Part 1 is now available on PC and PS5.
