A new update for The Last of Us Part II Remastered lets you play through the game’s story in chronological order. That means instead of how the original game is structured, where you play through Ellie’s three days in Seattle, followed by Abby’s, you’ll crisscross between them, jumping back and forth from Ellie to Abby in chronological order.
Anyone who has played The Last of Us Part II will know that this significantly changes how you experience the story. Controversial as it was, part of what made The Last of Us Part II a memorable game was how it challenged players to reflect on their feelings towards Abby in its back half, and to see her as more than just Joel’s killer, which is all you know about her from the beginning of the game’s story up until you swap to playing as her after the end of Ellie’s third day in Seattle.
There’s also an extremely significant scene between Ellie and Joel that takes place in Jackson, the day before he dies, that makes for an extremely impactful moment at the end of the game when it is revealed. Now, that scene will come at the very beginning, and like everything else that is getting switched around, it’ll be interesting, to say the least, to see how many of the game’s powerful moments retain their strength, or lose it, due to this new order.
“Those who have already played will know its story is told non-linearly, as Ellie and Abby’s motivations, realizations, and emotional stakes unfold across myriad flashbacks and present-day storylines,” writes Jonathan Dornbush, editorial manager at Naughty Dog in a PlayStation Blog post announcing the update.
“While this structure is very intentional and core to how our studio wanted Part II’s themes and narrative beats to impact players, we always wondered what it would be like to experience this story chronologically. And now finally, we can answer that question.”
“Through the new chronological mode, we believe players will gain deeper insight into Part II’s narrative. Players will be able to see how Ellie being gifted at guitar flows so neatly into her learning to play, for example, while the journey through Seattle will showcase the fascinating parallels between Ellie and Abby’s crisscrossing journeys. You’ll see just how close they come into running into each other, how their actions impact each other, and more.”
The update is out today, on PlayStation and PC, and also includes a number of bug fixes and performance updates. It also includes new skins for Joel and Tommy for the game’s No Return mode. Joel gets an outfit making him look like Nathan Drake from Uncharted, while Tommy gets to don the look of Nate’s brother, Sam Drake.
If you’re like me, and don’t understand who would want this in the first place after playing the story as it was originally intended to be experienced, then you don’t have to fret, since it is an optional mode that you can ignore whenever you return to The Last of Us Part II. And if you’ve never played The Last of Us Part II before, Naughty Dog still recommends you play it the way it was originally developed, before diving into this new mode.
“It was no small feat to bring The Last of Us Part II’s story chronologically together, given that Part II’s story is so meticulously put together. We’re grateful to the developers both at Naughty Dog and our partners at Nixxes to make the chronological mode as smooth as possible. And while we of course recommend players still new to the game to play through Part II’s story as was originally developed, the team’s hard work has paid off with a fascinating new way to enjoy this chapter.”
You can jump into this new mode once you’ve downloaded the update, or, if Naughty Dog’s history is anything to go by, you can wait until the seemingly inevitable The Last of Us Part II Remastered: Chronological Mode Remake is announced and play it then.
