Am I Supposed To Hate Abby in The Last of Us Part II? I Don’t

fortressofsolitude.co.za:

The Last of Us Part II seems to have divided fans – with Abby getting the most hate. But she should be key to The Last of Us 3 and the upcoming Season 2 of the TV series.

There’s no doubt that The Last of Us Part II has become one of the most hotly debated video game releases of all time. There have been many heated discussions around character design, storytelling and the game’s controversial plot. However, one element of the game seems to have divided most fans, often getting the most resentment from fans: Abby.

We’ve seen the outrage online. Gamers on Twitter are spitting venom and calling for a boycott. “This game is garbage.” “How can they do this to the fans?” “Why did Joel have to die?” They even went as far as to threaten the life of Abby voice actor, Laura Bailey.

All of the hate stems from the fact that the game’s new character, Abby, kills off one of the more popular characters, Joel. At the heart of the story, Ellie ventures off to get revenge for her father figure, killing everything and everyone in her way. At the other end of the line, gamers are forced to play as Abby and experience all the events through her eyes, including ending Ellie’s rampage.

While we initially only know her as Joel’s murderer, The Last of Us Part II shows us Abby’s motifs and backstory.

Unlike others, when I played through the game, I found myself drawn more to Abby (the antihero) than the game’s main protagonist, Ellie.

When we first meet Abby, we are completely unaware of her intentions to kill Joel. This allows us to explore the world freely without apprehension. When she eventually confronts her father’s killer, things become hectic pretty quickly.

While there is some initial strong hate towards the character, playing her side of the story does reflect the old saying: there are two sides to every story.

Joel killed Abby’s father while rescuing Ellie from the Fireflies. Once you’ve completed the game and you sit back and look at the story as a whole, you realise that Ellie and