The details of The Last of Us 2 make heights more terrifying than its monsters

When I see an infected in The last of us part 2, I keep calm. Even when it’s a jump scare or an unexpected enemy, I generally know how to deal with most of the things the game makes me kill. Heights, though? Now those make me pause.

It’s fun, because heights have never scared me in video games, most of them make you upload things, high things. Naughty Dog has a complete franchise based on climbing exciting and exotic locations. But when I play like Abby in The last of us 2I am well aware of how high we got.

It’s Intentional At first, we are informed that Abby, one of the protagonists during the second half of the game, is afraid of heights. As Naughty Dog sound designer Beau Anthony Jiménez recently shared on Twitter, the game has an elaborate breathing system that takes into account what the player’s heart rate is in relation to what he is doing. “Breathing can be an excellent transporter of emotion!” Jiménez said in the thread.

As part of that system, Abby is programmed to experience vertigo when you look over a high ledge. At these moments, Abby breathes deeply and the camera loses focus. It is an effective detail too. During a level where Abby is tasked with climbing some makeshift bridges connecting incredibly tall buildings, I had to stop playing for a second to pull myself together. It is probably the closest thing to a video game to approach a panic attack. I felt the sound pattern in my chest, and strangely, my own breathing changed alongside Abby’s. Mind you, I’m not too scared of heights in real life, but there I was, trying to calm down!

As Jiménez goes on to explain in a different Tweet thread, Abby’s animations are also manipulated to show her terror. You can see, hear and feel their vulnerability in a surprisingly palpable way, which could explain why heights scare me more in this game now than, say, a Clicker.

The level, it should be said, is one of the best in the entire game. Through him, Abby, a true rude, confronts her greatest fears with the help of Lev, a teenager who turns out to be deceptively wise. Lev gently walks Abby through all the obstacles, watching her as they go and exalting her when she doubts she can continue. It’s a great bonding moment between the two characters, one that made me worry about both of them, especially since Lev also shares his own phobias. It also helps that Naughty Dog has a great comic moment.