Часть II «Последние из нас» – революционная видеоигра и невероятно мрачная

In Sportive Canine’s 2013 video gameTheClosing of Us, a awful disease swept the sector, the American authorities began to assassinate its enjoy electorate and survivors grew to alter into to tribalism. Seven years later, that once far away dystopia doesn’t feel so farfetched, and the game’s prolonged-awaited sequel,The Closing of Us Share II(out June 19), would possibly perhaps well well additionally fair existing a more subtle promote for even die-hard gamers at this critically making an attempt moment.

The first game modified into once a intellectual accomplishment that pushed the limits of the layout. Avid gamers witnessed the apocalypse essentially thru the eyes of Joel (Troy Baker), who escorted a 14-yr-musty named Ellie (Ashley Johnson), the handiest identified person proof against zombie bites, from Boston to a smartly being facility in Seattle where clinical doctors were making an attempt to plan a vaccine. Joel grew fond of Ellie for the length of the jog. At the same time as they dodged the undead and, scarier aloof, the residing, their banter buoyed the sad game: They discussed Ellie’s adore of comic books and corny knock-knock jokes as they explored the bombed-out stays of colleges and condominium complexes. Without Joel and Ellie’s touching relationship,TheClosing of Uswould possess been little more than a ripoff ofThe Boulevard.

Joel and Ellie’s bond proves major within the ideal chapter of the fresh game, hailed by many critics as a ideal ending, when Joel realizes that Ellie will die within the operation essential to plan a vaccine and decides to stage an escape. Once I first performed, I tried to search out ways to attach an unconscious Ellie with out brutally murdering dozens of clinical doctors and nurses. However within the destroy, I realized that killing unarmed clinical workers modified into once the handiest manner to beat the game. It’s a horrifying and subtle moment for the participant, and it’s unclear how the upcoming HBO TV adaptation, a collaboration between the game’s director and the creator of HBO’s equally harrowingChernobyl, will likely be in a design to assemble that identical feeling for a passive viewer.

The genius of the game modified into once that the account step by step constructed towards one closing moment that compelled the participant to reckon with whether the nominal hero of the account modified into once, in truth, a villain. Within the sequel, on the opposite hand, the participant is asked to commit ethically uncertain acts now not staunch once, but on a minute-to-minute basis, diminishing the capacity of what is obvious to be a controversial finale.

This time, we play essentially as Ellie, now 19 years musty and on a mission that I won’t atomize in a battle-torn Seattle. The city has change into a battleground where the militant Washington Liberation Entrance faces off against a cult that goes by the identify the Saraphites. It’s an animated world: The graphics are intellectual, the motion-gather faces gorgeously rendered. The mechanics of the freshClosing of Uswere consistently somewhat clunky and cumbersome, but provocative thru the sector ofTheClosing of Us Share IIis seamless. Weapons and tools are aloof scarce, and the game aloof encourages stealth over confrontation. Aloof, when Ellie does come to blows with an enemy, the combating is fluid yet inviting.

And battle, she does. The single-minded Ellie will shoot, bludgeon or shank someone who will get in her manner, no matter political ideology. Enemies who, in video games admirePrincipal Theft Autoor Sportive Canine’s enjoyUncharted, would dwell nameless and faceless procure sympathetic backstories right here. After you assassinate them, in reality apt one of their friends would possibly perhaps well well name out their identify in effort, compounding your guilt. The Washington Liberation Entrance makes notify of canines to hunt Ellie down, and whereas usually the participant can circumvent these animals, too continuously it be major to assassinate them too. (Peep also:Chernobyl.) The account is so dreary and cynical thatsome of Sportive Canine’s enjoy developers protestedthe direction the game modified into once taking, in conserving with Sportive Canine’s head Neil Druckmann.

However if Sportive Canine’s intent modified into once to shock, leaning so closely on the violence has the opposite effect: 30 hours into the game, it’s easy to grow numb to acts of cruelty. That terror-inducing surroundings and cautious persona-building is lost in macabre motion. And whereas the violence of the major game served a compelling lawful account, the over-the-high bloodshed ofShare IIis all in provider of a rather clichéd and dreary lesson about the never-ending cycle of revenge. The banter that elevated the major game above mere dystopian myth is long previous too, as Ellie continuously navigates this extremely-violent world on her enjoy. It makes for a lonely, depressing experience at a moment when many contributors are already feeling lonely and unhappy.

Aloof, it’s a rare AAA video game that can make a choice any effect of threat — and Sportive Canine takes a good deal of risks. For some, this would possibly perhaps well well be price enduring dozens of hours of harrowing gameplay to experience a blockbuster game making an attempt to interrupt the mold, whether or now not most avid gamers are gratified with the ending. Antiheroes aren’t original to video video games, but Sportive Canine pushes the understanding that to its edge, transferring the participant’s standpoint in compelling, if usually tense, scenes.

And it’s no cramped thing that Sportive Canine decided to essentially relate this account now not with the conventional white, straight, male antihero, but a homosexual lady. Ellie’s bisexual girlfriend Dina and a trans persona (whose identification I’m now not accredited to atomize) also play major roles. The females within the game don’t possess the buxom our bodies aloof in vogue amongst many game developers, but realistic and various builds. This effect of differ is aloof radical for a mainstream video game, even supposing the core solid of characters stays essentially white, and the game avoids any acknowledgment of the glaring racial divide in this country, which would possibly perhaps well well now not merely dissipate in a post-apocalyptic world.

Aloof, explorations of sexism, homophobia and transphobia within the game delivery up original avenues that possess largely been missing from mainstream video video games. A concerted effort by the #gamergate motion has pushed again against any video game company that dares to amplify its standpoint in these ways. At the same time in addition-known feminine-led video video games possess impressed followers and critics (including recent triumphs admireHorizon Zero Morning timeandControl), little progress has been made. Closing yr, the rep space Feminist Frequencystumbled onthat the alternative of video video games with feminine protagonists at the E3 Expo (the premiere video game expo) modified into once lower in 2019 than it modified into once in 2015 when the #gamergate motion caught fire.

Unsurprisingly,TheClosing of Us IIhas garnered its magnificent allotment of trolls even earlier than its delivery. After a trailer that featured a kiss between Ellie and Dina dropped in 2018, outrage began to brew amongst a cramped but loud contingent of followers online. Just a few weeks earlier than Sportive Canine modified into once living to delivery the game, photographs and major aspects of the distance leaked. As space twists went viral, Sportive Canine’s social media channels and workers’ non-public accounts were flooded with sexist, homophobic and transphobic slurs, forcing the corporate to disable commenting.

Some toxic YouTubers and Reddit posters possess advocated for boycotting the game for a bunch of suspect reasons. Some are sad that they’d possess to play as a uncommon 19-yr-musty lady in desire to a grizzled center-ancient man they know and adore — a complaint that mirrors followers’ outrage over the loss of life of Luke Skywalker and the ascendence of his protégé Rey within theHuge identify Warsseries. Others possess balked at what they designate as Sportive Canine’s innovative political agenda, which they claim modified into once influenced by feminists they name SJWs (social justice warriors). These arguments are continuously wrapped up in complaints about Sportive Canine’s valorous plotting choices, and it’s hard to untangle the accurate gripes about account from political agenda.

These trolls are following a smartly-light playbook: They bully someone connected to an musty property, once dominated by straight white men, that has since evolved. The tense thing is, they continuously expend: After offendedGhostbustersfollowers protested the all-feminine reboot by lobbing racist and sexist slurs at comic Leslie Jones, the studio greenlit a brand originalGhostbusterssequel that ignores the existence of the film starring Jones. After trolls harassedHuge identify Warsactress Kelly Marie Tran to the purpose where she left social media, Tran bought all but written out of the closing installment ofHuge identify Wars.

Unlike the film studios that possesscapitulated to fan demands, Sportive Canine, to its credit ranking, has refused to inch on its dedication to all aspects ofTheClosing of Us Share II. On the game’s press tour, Druckmann has repeatedly mentioned that diversifying the account’s characters has allowed them to plan a more attention-grabbing account — even supposing he’s also warned followers that this particular account would possibly perhaps well well additionally now not be “comfort food.” If of us that embrace it are within the destroy let down by its unrelenting bleakness, they cannot lower than make a choice coronary heart within the possibility that it’s paved the manner for something staunch as groundbreaking — and somewhat more optimistic — to practice in its footsteps.

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