Pivotal The Last of Us Part 2 Moment Inspired by Real-Life Incident

When it comes to The Last of Us video games from developer Naughty Dog, it should come as no surprise that many of the moments and scenes are extremely deliberate, given the emphasis on how the folks making the video game put on the meaning of its narrative and plot. It's no secret that the franchise has been imbued with the experiences of those developers, at least in some part, to make it what it is. And when it comes to a pivotal moment in The Last of Us Part II, there is actually a connection directly to a real-life incident in the life of game director Neil Druckmann.

Warning: minor spoilers follow below for The Last of Us Part II.

In the video game, Abby ends up using a golf club to kill Joel as part of the inciting incident that sets the whole plot in motion. According to an interview with The Washington Post, Druckmann actually had his own inciting incident with a golf club at a young age that seems to have inspired the use of the golf club in the video game. When he was 16, a friend accidentally struck his head with a golf club, leaving a wound that required 30 stitches and a permanent dent in Druckmann's skull.

"My friend was into it," Druckmann told the outlet. "He invited me to go to a driving range. He was showing me the ropes. I stood behind him, and got smacked on the back swing. Blood everywhere."

Even so, according to Druckmann, the golf club that Abby uses wasn't always going to be the way Joel went out. Until a latter part of the writing process, she was set to use a knife to paralyze him after stabbing him in the back. ""But knife felt more like an Ellie thing," he added. "We wanted something different."

The Last of Us Part II is currently available on PlayStation 4. A PlayStation 5 patch is rumored to be in the works, though nothing official has been announced as of yet. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the video game sequel right here.

What do you think of the new information about the controversial scene in the video game? Does it make you reconsider the arc of the game's story at all? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!