I have transformed The Last of Us Part 2 into a dog simulator

If I knew one thing going into The Last of Us Part 2, it was that I was going to have a terrible time in regards to being forced to kill a dog. Not just one dog either, because in an effort that I’m convinced was made just to make me feel worse, Naughty Dog has introduced dogs in this game that will absolutely demolish you. It leaves you little choice but to kill them, and while you can stealth, it can go wrong very quickly.

Dogs are my favourite animals. I have two of them and they are right next to me even now as I type away. To say that I feel passionately about not wanting to hurt these lovable creatures is perhaps the biggest understatement of the year, so while I have been enjoying The Last of Us Part 2 a fair bit, killing dogs really sucks.

However, I have quickly found a solution – one that causes The Last of Us Part 2 to transform into a magical, imperfect dog simulator. I should warn you, that this will have some spoilers to the game, but if you’ve already read this far then I assume you’re up for it. If not, this is now your chance to back out. Take it.

As you may have realized, you’ll not only be playing as Ellie in this game, but Abby too. The only downside to this is that you play Abby at a time where you, playing as Ellie, have just killed everyone that Abby ever loved. This is even worse when you get to see these people, interact with them and get to know them, at the same time as realizing that they’ll die much later in the game. To say that it hurts is, again an understatement.

However, nothing hurts as much as going down to the animal pen and seeing a number of dogs waiting for you. One of these dogs is a German Shepard called Alice who will be with you for the majority of your journey with Abby, and whose ending is incredibly tragic.

The other dog in the pen is a cute little pupper called Bear. Bear won’t be going out with you, but don’t worry, you get the option to pet him. This, my friends, is where the transformation begins. You get the option to play fetch with Bear, as well as pet his head, and the best part is that the game doesn’t force you to stop. You can continue to pet Bear’s head, as well as throw his ball, for as long as you like.

It’s a very short game, and it takes less than a minute to complete but there are two different endings available. The first ending is simple to get, you either throw the ball out of bounds – because you’re a monster and want to make Bear sad for some reason – or you leave and continue on with the other important things you’ve got to do. It’s not my favourite ending and I wouldn’t recommend it.

However the other ending, aka the best ending that you can get, is to continue playing fetch with Bear until you get bored and turn the game off. It may not be the most satisfying, but it protects those good boys and girls and that’s all that matters.

You’re welcome, gamers. Check out my full playthrough of this game below.