An Ode to the Museum Scene inThe Last of Us Part II

Weeks afterward , I ’m still entirely knocked out by it .

I ’m sit thereplayingThe Last of Us Part II , and a few 60 minutes into the biz it blink back . Not too far . The scene still takes place after the events of the first game . But Joel is taking Ellie through the wood to give her a surprise for her birthday . Eventually , they come across a museum — the Wyoming Museum of Science and History , which has has been completely covered and hidden by the woods .

Now , in video recording games , especially violent , action - base oneswhere you kill zombi spirit , a find like this is a formula for disaster . You just know this building is filled with the undead and you ’re probably plump to have to crush them under some dinosaur off-white or something . strain levels are high . fresh locations always imply topsy-turvyness . But not here . The Last of Us Part II does n’t just give the player a snorkel from all that panic , it delivers a dose of wonderment consanguineous to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July .

Seattle Day 1. The Birthday Gift.

Seattle Day 1. The Birthday Gift.Screenshot: Naughty Dog/Playstation.

After being greeted by a massive T - rex statue outside , Joel and Ellie keep to walk around the museum and actually search it . The reason storey is all about dinosaurs and , just like a steady museum , you may interpret about or see as many , or as few , exhibits as you want . It ’s interesting . It ’s educational . It ’s a legitimately relaxing afternoon out and a rare dose of normality .

Then you go upstairs .

on a higher floor there are still no zombies or humans to kill . Instead , it ’s an display about quad change of location . Again , you may search at as much or as little as you like but it ’s severe to ignore that bighearted abridgement in the middle of the floor . Ellie test to get in but Joel tells Ellie to pick a helmet . We ’ve been thinking all along that the museum was her present , but Joel become a step further . He hands her a magnetic tape with audio recording of an actual space launching .

Screenshot: Naughty Dog/Playstation.

Screenshot: Naughty Dog/Playstation.

What you have to think back here is Ellie is still a small child and all she sleep together is this world of death and destruction . She ’s never see dinosaurs . She ’s never go out a blank launch . This is all raw and gripping to her . So , as Ellie order on headphones , The Last of Us Part II leaves realness , she close her eyes and we figure her imagination . The lighting rick cinematic as the game almost becomes 2001 : A Space Odyssey , and the helmet glow with all the light her mind can muster . The music tumesce , the restrainer rumble , and we ’re all blast off into space , right in the heart of this awful world .

This scene is n’t just a serene , excited moment between Joel and Ellie ; for the player , it taps into a whole new band of emotion you have n’t been using . The Last of Us game are about concern and survival . In 2020 , we do n’t havezombies everywhere , but fear and survival are certainly relatable emotions . So it ’s adorable that for a mo , both us and Ellie can escape that reality and just … fly away .

After the spaceship , things cursorily get back to normal . Zombies . Guns . Etc . And yet , the time in the museum does n’t leave you . The whole chapter , called “ The Birthday Gift , ” takes peradventure 30 bit to nail depending on how much you explore . It ’s scarcely 2 % of the intact game , and yet it ’s a magical , unforgettable sequence , one that feels less like a video game and more like a work of art .

Pure bliss.