Last of Us 2 Director Wants Players to Be "Repulsed by the Violence They Are Committing"

Sony's E3 2018 presentation showcased The Last of Us 2, and we all watched as a sweet kiss melted into footage of the protagonist, Ellie, killing several people and watching a man get disemboweled. It was a disturbing reel, to be certain, but The Last of Us 2's creative director, Neil Druckmann, wants players to feel uneasy.

"We’re making a game about the cycle of violence and we’re making a statement about violent actions and the impact they have on the character that’s committing them and on the people close to them," Druckmann told Kotaku in an interview at E3. "And our whole approach is to say, 'We want to treat this as realistically as possible.' When you stab someone—if you watch reference videos, which we have, it's gross and it’s messy and it's not sanitized like you see in most movies and games. And we wanted to get the player to feel that."

Indeed, outside of Ellie's kiss, the footage we've been shown of The Last of Us 2 has been disturbing. We've seen women's arms get broken. We've seen men hanged and disemboweled while screaming in agony. We've seen Ellie cut down enemy after enemy swiftly and brutally using several different weapons—and whatever she can find on the ground. Druckmann says the idea is "for the player to feel repulsed by some of the violence they are committing themselves. It felt like that is the most honest way to tell this story."

Our guide to The Last of Us 2 has everything you need to know about Naughty Dog's upcoming brutal and bloody adventure.