The best bits of The Last of Us Part II have nothing to do with zombies

A word of warning for those desperate to play the game this Friday...

On the walk home from dropping the kids at school last week, my wife had an admission to make. “I had a terrible sleep,” she said. “I dreamed I was murdering monsters with axes and listening to their screams.”

There’s a good reason for this. Over the past couple of weeks, while everyone in our house is in bed, I’ve been playing The Last of Us Part II into the small hours.

It’s the only time I can find the time to play it - and it’s a big game, around 30 hours, about twice the length of the 2013 original, a game many consider the best ever made.

The sequel is bigger, a gruesome and grueling beast of a game, one that often made me feel pretty damned terrified thanks to all of the constant carnage.

When you put victims in chokeholds, the camera zooms in to watch their dying breaths. When you stab Runners and Clickers - the names of some of the zombie infected - blood splatters down your sleeve.

If you get caught by one, they’ll pull tendons out of your neck with glee. At other moments, I ripped someone’s ear off with my teeth, caved in a chest with a huge pick axe, and stomped on a zombie head until its skull caved in.

So yep, it’s violent. I’m not surprised my wife had bad dreams just from hearing it play out down the hallway. It game me nightmares too.

Many fans will love Part II because of that violence, and I have no problem with that. Some people play video games to get engrossed in stories. Others play them to rack up their kill count. You do you. Live your best life.

But the best thing about Naughty Dog’s massively anticipated sequel isn’t taking out members of the Seraphites, a clan full of murderous zealots. Nor is it clearing areas full of toxic gas-spitting Shamblers, the advanced-stage zombies that resemble a deep-fried Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. And it’s not delivering a perfect headshot with an explosive crossbow, no matter how satisfying it feels at the time.

The best bits are the quiet times, the moments you get space to search through abandoned urban areas without being heckled by infected. Because those areas are bloody beautiful.

If you’ve every gotten addicted to searching for things like #decaynation and #abandoned on Instagram (as I have, many times), you’ll know what I’m talking about, because Part II absolutely nails its depiction of apocalyptic city wastelands.

I’ll give you an example. One of your first big missions as Ellie in the game is searching through several downtown blocks of Seattle on horseback. You’re given a map and several tasks to carry out, which are all pretty simple. It’s basically the game’s training area in disguise.

During this time, there are a whole bunch of mini missions that send you across the city searching for certain supplies, like finding a container to put gas in, then looking for a tank so you can fill put the container with gas, then using that gas to get a generator going so you can open a gate, that kind of thing.

But if you take your time and really drink in your surroundings, this version of Seattle, one left to rot and decay for 20 years, with buildings left in disrepair and stairs that are crumbling and a motorway bridge caving in on itself, is really quite something.

Out of all the things that happen in The Last of Us Part II, and there’s a tonne, most of which reviewers aren’t allowed to talk about yet, this might be my favourite part of the game. Meandering along roads overgrown with weeds. Climbing onto awnings to get into dusty office blocks. Picking through shops full of empty shelves and restaurants with tables and chairs still in place. Searching through a church looking for supplies.

It’s eerie and serene at the same time, and I spent so long drinking in Seattle in decay that the game bugged out and kept trying to make me push a button so I’d get back to Ellie’s main mission. Sorry, but I just wasn’t ready.

There are plenty of other opportunities like this in the game, so, on Friday, when you’ll be able to play this beautiful beast for yourself, don’t speed run it, don’t rush through it, don’t try and do everything as fast as possible.

Take your time. Turn around and look behind you. Stop on rooftops and check out the scenery, or walk over to clifftops and enjoy the view. Pretend you’re taking a trip and become a tourist.

Hell, call up photo mode and snap a few pics at the same time. Treat it like a holiday. After all, when was the last time you were able to take a proper break anyway?

• If you liked this, you might like to read my interview with The Last of Us Part II’s co-game director Anthony Newman, or check out my full review of the game. Roll on Friday!