The Last Of Us Voice Actor Breaks His Silence On Leaks

If you're a person who enjoys movies, TV shows, or video games, you'll probably agree that spoilers are a scourge. They pop up when you least expect it, and they ruin your best-laid plans for experiencing the content in question with a fresh mind.

We've seen spoilers hit TV watchers really hard the past few years, as blockbuster shows like Game of Thrones became water cooler discussion topics, and Bob in accounts payable wouldn't shut up about what happened in the books. No one cares that you read the books, Bob. No one.

Now, thanks to leaks, video game spoilers are really starting to come on strong. A recent hack showed us quite a bit of what we might see in The Last of Us Part 2 when it arrives next month. But Troy Baker, who voices Joel in the series, doesn't seem all that concerned about it.

"Doesn't matter," Baker said in an Instagram Live response to a question about dealing with spoilers. "If you think that game could be spoiled by a couple screenshots... really?"

While we appreciate Baker's approach here, we have to wonder if he's not entirely filled in on the situation, or he's just playing down the incident. There were more than just a few screenshots leaked for The Last of Us Part 2; the released content included, as Forbes put it, "an enormous amount of cutscenes."

With everything that was leaked out, you could pretty much put The Last of Us Part 2's plot together without ever having played the game. To that effect, calling the leak "a couple screenshots" is pretty inaccurate. In fact, this may be one of the more substantial leaks to ever hit video games, short of an entire game getting out ahead of schedule.

Still, Baker seems pretty convinced that the wait for Naughty Dog's next magnum opus will be worth it, despite what's come out so far. The voice actor went on to talk up Naughty Dog's "pedigree," noting the numerous awards the studio's won over the years. And he went on to say that watching video clips won't be the same as going through The Last of Us Part 2 yourself.

"It's a game," Baker emphasized. "You have to experience it."

That may or may not be true, depending on the type of gamer you are.

If you're someone who appreciated The Last of Us for its stealth gameplay and light puzzle solving elements, some story spoilers won't do much to tell you what's coming. Shadow of the Tomb Raider, for instance, fell short in the story department but made up for that with its gameplay. A spoiler for that title wouldn't necessarily make tombs less fun to explore.

The same could be said for The Last of Us Part 2. If you loved the gameplay in the original, there's nothing to suggest the sequel won't deliver something equally as enjoyable.

If you dig Naughty Dog's carefully crafted narratives, however, we could see the spoilers impacting your enjoyment of The Last of Us Part 2. For you, sneaking around enemies and floating on wood pallets could just be the things you do to get to the next cutscene. With a whole lot of the game's story out in the wild now, it may be harder to play through those sections.

All of that is contingent, though, on whether or not you give in and look at the leaked material. Despite what the internet might have you believe, no one is forcing you to watch those cutscenes. And unless you are friends with some truly terrible people, you probably aren't hearing specifics about the leaked footage, either.

So it really seems like there's a whole lot of hubbub here about something that's well within your control as a gamer. If you simply can't wait another month or so, you can certainly go out, find those leaked cutscenes, and watch them to your heart's content. But that's on you, and you'll be robbing yourself of something that only comes along once or twice in a decade.

If you want to experience The Last of Us Part 2's story with a fresh mind, however, you just have to wait until the game comes out on June 19. Until then, stay away from places where spoilers run rampant. As the release of Naughty Dog's next game gets closer, we could see more of them pop up.

We'll have more news on The Last of Us Part 2 as it comes, so stay tuned.