The Last of Us Part II almost had a game where you painted Abby’s face, but it was swapped for a shooting mini-game, for good reason.
In The Last of Us Part II, Abby participates in a game where she attempts to outshoot fellow survivor, Manny. It’s a cool little scene, one which is trickier than some to win. However, that mini-game was almost very different.
According to Anthony Vaccaro, a principal environment artist at developer Naughty Dog, the mini-game originally had you, as Owen, painting Abby’s face. He doesn’t specify whether he means face-painting or painting a mural – presumably it’s the latter. Though we’re still going to pair this article with a picture of Abby painted up like Alice Cooper.
However, when the mini-game was tested outside of Naughty Dog, someone decided to draw a swastika (we’re assuming it was the Nazi variety) just to see if they could. Shortly after, the game was swapped out for a shooting game. Yes, people are terrible and their awfulness robbed us of a painting mini-game.
Though, to be fair, it’s extremely difficult to police a drawing mini-game. If it wasn’t that symbol, it’d have been wall-to-wall dicks, especially given how negatively some people reacted to Abby’s presence in the game. And you can bet the mainstream press would have pilloried Naughty Dog for it.
Abbys painting was to be a mini game where Owen started to paint Abbys face but then had the Player finish up the painting using the joystick as your paintbrush. First outside playtest someone drew a swastica to see if they could 🙃 We swapped to the bow and arrow mini game ha
— Anthony Vaccaro (@vaccaro3d) February 2, 2023
So, that’s why The Last of Us Part II has a shooting mini-game instead of.. something else. We can’t honestly say we’re surprised – maybe The Last of Us Part III will at least let us mess with LEGO.
Abby Cooper – get it? Never mind, we’re going home.
