The Last of Us is a Masterpiece (the HBO show is NOT)

Can a video game be considered art? The Last of Us Part II uses interactivity, emotional storytelling, and artistic direction to prove video games are art. With insights from a personal interview with Neil Druckmann, the video also questions whether the upcoming HBO adaptation can replicate the game's impact without gameplay.

If art is meant to evoke emotions and allow us to learn more about ourselves, The Last Of Us Part II has ended the debate on whether video games can be art.

"Absolutely Games can be art and I think what we do, yeah I mean I feel comfortable saying that. I feel what we do is art and that's why we care so much about it and we craft it very thoughtfully."  Neil Druckmann, Director, The Last Of Us (2020 Zoom interview with BoomTownCharlie, Cutscene Collective)

That’s from my conversation with The Last of Us game director Neil Druckmann in 2020. With the second season of the HBO series out, I wanted to share my thoughts on our conversation and whether The Last of Us Part 2 could be considered art.

Art has never been easy to define. It’s not just beauty. Or technique. Or a feeling.

Art to me is about intent and impact. It’s something made with care that leaves a mark, good or bad, on the person who experiences it.

And The Last of Us Part II doesn’t just care about what happens—it cares how you feel while those things are happening. 

Be sure to check out my other video where Neil discussed the freedoms creators have vs what fans are owed. Before we go on: obvious SPOILERS for the game and potentially the series.

Is it the brutal, unforgettable storytelling? The way it weaponises player agency against you? Or the fact that, years later, we’re still fighting about it.

Stick with me as I try to ask the question - Is The Last of Us Part 2 art? 

CHAPTER 1: WHY JOEL HAD TO DIE

Joel’s death wasn’t brutal for brutality's sake. Here’s why. The game presents it as a cutscene. Taking control away from the player. You don’t get to stop it. You don’t even get to look away.

You watch as Joel is beaten, helpless. You hear Ellie scream. You might have felt the tension building in your hands, but your controller is useless here, like Ellie pinned to the floor, there’s nothing you can do.

That’s not failure in the story. It’s by design.

That’s helplessness, coded into camera work. That’s complicity through the absence of agency. That’s interactive storytelling at its most confrontational.

Instead of a power fantasy, you are powerless. Instead of control, you get consequences. The scene doesn’t just shock. It scars.

Rage. Sadness. It made you feel something. So, is The Last of Us Part 2 art?

CHAPTER 2: WHAT IS A MASTERPIECE?

Not everything called “art” is a masterpiece. So, when The Last of Us Part 2 is referred to as one, this is what I understand they mean.

It’s a game that stays with you. It forces you to ask questions—about the characters, about the world, and about yourself.

"To me the best kind of stories or the best kind of art creates a self-reflection on  the viewer or the player, whatever the person is experiencing the art, and that's that was definitely our intention was for you to walk away from this thing and not immediately forget it and say, "Okay that was some that was a cool frivolous escape. Now let's move on to the next one." It's more like, "Okay what did that stuff mean, why did it make me feel this way, how would I have acted?" Like we hope you leave asking those kind of questions."

Some say it’s innovation in storytelling. Others say it’s technical mastery. If The Last of Us Part II is a masterpiece, its masterstroke lies in its execution… pun not intended. 

Sure, the script and acting are top-notch, but let’s give a shout-out to the wordless environmental storytelling in every corner. 

Through interaction with the game’s world, haptic feedback from your controller melds with sound design. Punches. Jumping. Wrestling. Shooting. Stabbing.

And what’s more impactful than the weight of spending 20 hours inside the minds of two women hell-bent on vengeance?

In April 2020, about 90 minutes of game footage leaked months ahead of the game’s June release. Although not ideal, Neil and the team were steadfast and confident in the narrative journey. Proof that they were serving the story and not offering fan service. 

"It's hard to spoil this game I think because it's not about any one twist. It's about this kind of slow exploration of these two characters and how they ultimately clash. So just seeing snippets of it you're not going to get that journey, you're not going to get the experience."

That’s not just good design. It’s a masterpiece in interactive art. So, is The Last of Us Part 2 art?

CHAPTER 3: THE FAN DIVIDE

When fans disagree, it is probably because they had an expectation, and when that expectation wasn’t met, they felt betrayed. But in reality, The Last of Us Part 2 just presented a question. And then asks you to live with the answer.

"The game doesn't pass judgment. The game doesn't say Ellie was right in letting Abby go or she was wrong, or that Abby was right in torturing, killing Joel or she was wrong. There's characters that feel different ways about it but the game itself is not saying anything is right or wrong. It's just trying to present a lot of different perspectives and let you interpret what is right or wrong, and you decide where you stand with these characters."

My tiny channel explored the topic of fan expectation vs creator freedom in a previous video. And maybe the clearest sign that this game is art... is that 5 years after the game’s release, we are still very much fighting about it in the comments section.

"People stand in very different places as understandably and then seeing that the game gave them enough content, enough material to look at the details and try to interpret them or reinterpret them and argue what those interpretations mean. That's the exciting stuff for me and I'm seeing more and more of that stuff."

People are still arguing over Joel’s death. Over Abby’s character design. Over Ellie’s actress. Over that final choice on the beach. 

Because art doesn’t seek agreement. It seeks honesty. So, is The Last of Us Part 2 art?

CHAPTER 4: THE SHOW IS NOT ART

If you stuck around this long, you are the elite few who want to dive deeper, because perhaps, there’s a bigger conversation to be had—one that goes beyond whether The Last of Us Part II is art.

The amazing second episode of the HBO show set the stage for its second season. But let’s be honest. Strip away the interactivity, the pacing, the player agency… And you’re left with a story structure we’ve seen before. In film alone, we’ve seen it multiple times before: Hero (2002), Vantage Point, and The Last Duel (2021).

A Rashomon-style narrative. Two perspectives. Two justifications. Two halves of a moral coin flipping endlessly through the air.

In any other medium besides video games, that might feel derivative. 

So is The Last of Us Part II only considered art because it’s a video game? Because it makes you hold the knife—makes you feel the choices instead of just watching them unfold on a TV screen?

If that’s true, then maybe what makes this story exceptional isn’t the plot itself… But the medium through which it’s told.

The game wants you to know that your enemies have names and emotional ties. It also asks the question: In a world where only pockets of society are left and fighting for their own survival, are your enemies synonymous with evil? Or is it just perspective and a certain point of view?

The Last of Us Part 2 blurs the lines and asks players to question the actions of the game's characters. The interactivity of the video game medium means you, as the player, have a hand in every death. Unlike with passive media, even knowing the ending of TLOU2 cannot sour the experience. 

Games make you complicit. Make you hesitate. Make you carry the weight of every action.

That’s what transforms this from a simple revenge story into something more—into an emotional reckoning that weighs heavily on your soul.

With HBO's The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 2 just out, will the show face familiar crossroads? Will it carry the same weight? Will it be art? Maybe. But I doubt it. Look, if you haven’t played the game, just imagine how moved you would be if you consumed the story through an active medium.

If you felt some type of way, it’s cause the game demanded your attention. Because Part 2 didn’t ask for your approval, it earned it.

So yes—video games are art. And The Last of Us Part II is one of its defining works.

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