Neil Druckmann Explains The Use Of The Golf Club In One Of The Key Scenes In The Last of Us Part II
The director of The Last of Us Part II, Neil Druckmann, explained the choice of weapons in an important plot scene in an interview with The Washington Post. Be careful; there are serious spoilers in the text.
We will remind you that the plot of The Last of Us Part II begins with the fact that the heroes of the first part – the smuggler Joel and his young companion Ellie – stop in Wyoming and enjoy the community’s benefits with other survivors.
The emerging idyll is disrupted by Abby’s arrival, who, as it turns out in the first hours of the game, is aimed at killing Joel. The heroine fulfills her intention with a golf club tucked under her arm.
The episode was released to the public thanks to leaks back in the spring of 2020, almost two months before the release of The Last of Us Part II, and instantly became the subject of heated discussions by fans who were not indifferent to Joel’s fate.
Despite the excitement around the stage, the reason for choosing the golf club as the murder weapon remained a mystery: until recently, Druckmann had no one even interested in this matter.
According to Druckmann, the developer stopped at the sports equipment because of a story from his youth: at the age of 16, a game designer accidentally hit the head with a club. The incident was “imprinted” on the skull and required 30 stitches.
“My friend was fond of [golf]. He invited me to the training ground to teach the basics. I stood in the back and got it while he swung. There was blood everywhere, ” Druckmann recalled.
Simultaneously, over a certain period of development, it was assumed that the heroine would not use a club but a knife to kill Joel, but this option had to be abandoned.
“For a long time, Abby stabbed Joel’s back and then paralyzed him by turning the knife. But [this weapon] was more associated with Ellie, and we needed something different, ”said Druckmann.
The Last of Us Part II was released in June 2020 exclusively on PS4. As a result, the project lost to the first part in the average rating on Metacritic but became the record holder for the number of Game of the Year awards.
Sales of The Last of Us Part II are also doing well: 4 million copies in the first three days after release, the title of the fastest-selling PS4 exclusive, and the sixth place at the end of 2020 in the American region.
