The Last of Us has always been a story of tender, somber grief. Many other themes are interwoven into that underlying atmosphere with varying degrees of happiness and optimism peppered throughout, but it’s largely about how individuals cope with loss against the backdrop of an apocalypse. The Last of Us demonstrated how two people who had already lost so much could connect and find purpose in one another as someone to fight with and for, while The Last of Us Part 2 demonstrated how the disruption of that connection created further challenges and immense grief.