Ellie’s lesbian romance with Dina drives significant emotional beats and gameplay sections in Seattle, while Lev—a trans man born Leah—serves as a major supporting character whose identity and backstory receive explicit focus, including scenes addressing family rejection tied to gender. Naughty Dog’s marketing and post-release statements from director Neil Druckmann highlighted intentional diversity in casting and character identities as a priority.

These elements extend beyond incidental representation into plot centrality, with identity exploration layered onto the revenge cycle. Reception shows a stark critic-audience divide, with Metacritic user scores plummeting amid widespread accusations of forced messaging and character alterations that clashed with expectations from the first game.

X discussions frequently label the title as heavy on DEI, citing the prominence of non-traditional relationships and identities as detracting from the story’s entertainment focus. The premise would shift substantially without these identity-driven subplots and character choices.