20 Years Ago, Naughty Dog Made a Shocking Open-World Game — And Set a New Precedent

In 2003, nobody expected a "serious" game From Naughty Dog. But that's exactly what we got with Jak II.

[Markdn]

Those were the days,. Loved the jak and dexter games.

[Flawlessmic]

Bring it back!!!!!!!!

[rokos]

Great game one of the best sequels with a complete 180 of the main character.

[Retroman]

Bring back Jak and Daxter please!!

[neomahi]

Because they weren't caught up in political crap and Social Engineering, because it was a different time back then, more creative. Now it's about catering to everyone's woke views

[DarXyde]

1. Everything is or can be political. Literally everything.

2. It's the game they wanted to make... In case it isn't blaringly obvious, Druckmann based The Last of Us Part II on the Israel-Palestine conflict (which was part of his childhood).

It's not about social engineering. It is about telling a compelling story for Naughty Dog. Just because older games are less overt in their depictions doesn't make it less political.

And please, spare me the conspiracy theories of "social engineering". If we go with a hyper-political game like The Last of Us Part II, the extent of social engineering that occurs are narrative elements that, based on the events of the game, you feel very strongly about. Manipulating your emotions? Yes. But that's a plot device. It's a very divisive game and people have mixed feelings about the presence of characters like Abby and Lev, missing the huge theme in the need to end the cycle of violence. Druck is a bit of a hypocrite with his recent social media activity, but the message of the game and strong narrative elements get overlooked because Ellie is gay and there's a trans character. Calling it woke because it acknowledges women can be the main character, gay people exist, and trans people exist is just ridiculous.

[M0chit0]

Great reply 👏🏻 well done @DarXyde