The Art of the Last of Us Part II

Product Information

Art books are so important when it comes to things like games. While not all the artwork that's featured inside the book made it into the actual game, you can still tell that every single piece helped Naugty Dog to develop The Last Of Us Part II. Seeing all of the art really made me appreciate just how hard they worked to create the second game. You can see the dedication and hours of work that went into everything. When I saw The Art of The Last of Us on Netgalley I knew I needed read it. Well let me tell you, I devoured this book in one sitting. From conception to screen the detail that went into The Last of Us is truly amazing. I loved seeing the evolution of not just the world but the characters as well. I even learned a few facts along the way that in all my Googling I didn't know. So just a heads up if you haven't played the game yet you might want to do so before reading.

The game is set about 20 years after cities have been left to those who have been affected by a plague, and plants are taking over urban areas. There are safe zones that have been protected with traps, and there are environmental issues like snow. The dilapidated environments are detailed and definitely look more realistic than those on the television show The Walking Dead (who mows the lawns on that show? The zombies?!?). Care is given to the types of clothing and gear that survivors would gravitate towards, and the evolution of design for the main characters is shown. The plague victims are shown and they are scary, with fungus growing and bursting out from their once human frames. The Last of Us Part II is basically my favorite thing to ever exist and this beautiful art book does it so much justice! The art here is diverse and usually falls into a few distinct categories:

The Last of Us is a game unlike any other. In fact at this moment I'm even calling it my favorite game this year. The Last of Us combines a richly detailed world with a strong plot, likable characters and just enough Horror to create something unique, scary and beautiful all at the same time. Following the release of the massive video game sequel The Last of Us: Part II last summer, this book features concept art and graphical elements that went into creating the post-apocalyptic world that we get to know as players. I've played the first game so many times that all the artwork in the book felt so familiar to me. It was so great seeing how the beautiful art of my favourite game was developed over time. It's obvious how much work and planning went into the game in regards to figuring out how things were going to look. It made me feel so grateful to Naughty Dog for working so hard to create such an awesome game for us. Some of the concept art for the world was nice, although again, after a while, its just overgrown city picture number 47. Although I cannot play these games (I am both terrible at playing them and also they give me migraines) it does not stop me from admiring and appreciating the art that is created from them.

Este libro de arte me ha vuelto a transportar a cada uno de esos escenarios que tantas cosas me hicieron sentir, y recalca los mensajes que la historia quiso transmitir. También muestra algunos bocetos iniciales de aquellos años en los que el juego estaba en desarrollo y como se llegó a los diseños actuales. This was cool! The art is gorgeous but more than that it really made me appreciate the kind of ground up creation that goes in to making a game like this. Seeing the dozens of iterations for characters, infected, set pieces… it’s kind of mind boggling. Every little detail is crafted with such care and I find it overwhelming to even think about how much effort is required to make something this beautiful and detailed.I was also hoping to get more information on the development of the characters in regards to their personalities and how Naughty Dog researched different types of mannerisms and such for the characters in the game, but I suppose this is an art book so those things wouldn't really be talked about. Nontheless, I was still hoping for it. You may hate or love the game, but the world building is fantastic. This book features a chronological record of the game, revisiting locations, characters and scenes. It showcases atmospheric landscapes, rough storyboards and alternative ideas the studio had for how things come together. Those were the most fun bits – like, did you know there was a plan to let Abbie infiltrate the settlement and become a close companion to Joel first? It would have made for an entirely different game. One thing that I did find a little disiappointing was that there was a lot of duplicated art... well, what looked like duplicated art. I'm sure there are some differences in there, but for the readers, they're not noticeable and so just feels like we're getting the same piece of artwork shown multiple times.