Given that Uncharted 4 were both developed by Naughty Dog Studios, it’s not surprising that The Last of Us: Part 2 borrowed certain elements from the Uncharted franchise. There are clearly things the game developers learned from Uncharted 4 that weren’t in the original, and also ways in which The Last of Us: Part 2 improved upon the treasure hunting series’ fourth installment.
For one, Ellie had more freedom in of The Last of Us 2. The game debuted a jump button that wasn’t featured in its original, and the animation at times is reminiscent of how characters go up and down in Uncharted 4, including everything from the specific arm movements to the sound of the playable character’s grunts. Since this wasn’t present in the original Last of Us, it makes the animations more closely resemble the newest Uncharted game.
Moreover, Ellie’s style of fighting is nimbler, whereas Joel’s was bulkier and slower in the original game, making for a difference in gameplay and character feel. In fact, Ellie’s movements sometimes mimic the nimbleness of Uncharted’s Nathan Drake, once again drawing parallels between the two games. Ellie and Nate can rely infinitely on melees but Joel, on the other hand, struggles to quickly deliver a flurry of punches and stabs. Perhaps the biggest similarity between the two games is the fact that they both create the feeling of an open world environment without giving players full freedom.
Uncharted 4 & The Last of Us 2 Have An Open World Illusion
Neither Uncharted 4 nor The Last of Us: Part 2 is open world, but both games do a good job of giving the illusion they are during certain moments. In Uncharted 4, for example, the environment was so expansive during Chapter 10: The Twelve Towers, when Nate and his companions use their Jeep to navigate to the volcano, that there is barely anything guiding players the correct route, making it easy to get lost in the expansive Madagascar terrain. At any point, the player can make Nate get out of his vehicle and walk around. They can spend as much time as they want driving aimlessly around or can get straight to the next part of the mission, allowing players to feel as though they are in control even though they’re still subjected to the story.
The Last of Us: Part 2 took this up a notch by giving players the ability to explore and discover things not central to the game’s main story. The moment in the game with the most open world feeling was in Chapter 9: Downtown Walkthrough, when Ellie and Dina first make it to Seattle. Though players can easily speed through the chapter by finding gasoline at the Dome and Courthouse, The Last of Us: Part 2 offers players countless opportunities to interact and explore. Players can literally spend hours on this chapter and not necessarily find everything. The map of Seattle that Ellie discovers is reminiscent of the journal entry Nate must use to get around in Madagascar. Similarly, The Last of Us 2 switches out a Jeep for Ellie’s horse.
The game sets itself apart from Uncharted 4 by the fact that it offers many more collectibles to discover and things to interact with. Driving a Jeep around aimlessly gets boring, despite the beautiful scenery, as there's not much to discover within the Madagascar ruins. In The Last of Us 2, however, each building offers something new to discover, many of which include Easter Eggs and nostalgic references to the first game. Clearly, there are important elements that The Last of Us 2 borrowed from Uncharted 4, and in some ways, even appeared to improve upon Naughty Dog’s other franchise.
