Just finished The Last of Us Part 2 and I have some thoughts (no spoilers). The media coverage surrounding this game has been chaotic, to say the least. People seem to be approaching the game's story from fundamentally different perspectives, and I think you can summarize the most common ones with these three questions:

1. Does the story make logical sense?
2. Was this the story I wanted to see?
3. How well was the story portrayed?

Some people seem very concerned with the first two, usually resulting in excessive references to "plot-holes" or specific events in the narrative being "bad". Personally, I've never really understood this form of critique. Firstly, logical consistency definitely helps with immersion, but this is always a balancing act: every story ever written has had plot holes--the question is whether they facilitated, were neutral for, or actively harmed the story and it's themes (you also tend to notice them more if it's the latter). Secondly, I'll take a well-crafted story that I didn't expect over a mediocre version of the story I thought I wanted, any day of the week. If you ever catch me criticizing plot elements without relating them to the actual story being told, just go ahead and shoot me.

All of this goes to say that for me personally, the third question is by far the most important one to answer with regards to storytelling. So how well did this game portray its story and themes? I think extremely well. The final part of the game pulls everything together nicely with regards to the overarching themes, and lends even greater poignancy to earlier moments in the story. The acting is top-notch (as usual with ND) and the music, while more subtle this time around, is still incredibly effective.

Does this mean the game is perfect? Of course not--nothing ever is. For one, it suffers from pacing issues. In the first game I never felt like environments or story-beats overstayed their welcome: as soon as I would start to become bored with a certain scene, the game would take a dramatic turn and pique my interest again. The same unfortunately cannot be said for Part 2. In fact, I would probably go so far as to say that shortening a few sections would improve the game greatly. So while the overall experience was very pleasant (in a manner of speaking--this game is brutal), it was by no means a bump-free ride. There is also a specific choice made by two characters roughly halfway through the game that jump out at me as inconsistent, even considering the overall theme and its implications.

Further thought and playthroughs will be needed to fully cement my feelings toward this game, but overall I have to say that for me--it jumps directly into the top 5 games of this generation. If you enjoyed the first game and are able to disregard the politicized meta-discussion surrounding this sequel, I highly recommend it.

This game would be fine if not for its laughably bad story and its over-long run time.

The combat is largely the same as every ND game since Uncharted 1 making the same small iterative changes but it works. The graphics and animations are AAA but... https://kotaku.com/the-last-of-us-2-easter-egg-appears-to-make-light-of-cr-1844123982 ...based on how they are produced, fluff not worth the human toil to create them!

I say some version of this in every Naughty Dog review I give, but, STILL, the "adventure" of this action-adventure is still just a tarted-up Crash Bandicoot! Bigger straight paths and more control in the animal riding segments but mostly still true! I think it may actually be a step back, there is less Ellie on a water puzzles but compared to Uncharted 4 the environments seem less story motavated.

Speaking of story, holy shit, from the macro to the micro, shiny as it may look this really is a dog turd. The laughable way it keeps shouting out random names while you kill the same 12 character models over and over again. The super simple and basic revenge story that does nothing new. The horrible pacing that added TEN HOURS instead of just ending the game!

About halfway in I started to get bored of the gameplay loop and then a few hours later there is a huge change but it only made me go from bored to annoyed to really hating this game.

The gameplay stays the same throughout but the ludo-narrative dissonance does not so much "take a dive" as Wile-E-Coyote falls down a canyon. The game makes the gore and guns and throat-slitting fun and sound satisfyingly juicy but also wants to try to critique violence? Everything just feels like it is working against everything else and what a mess!

The gross way they have a trans character and lazily making their entire arc only about being trans. If the rest of the characters were not this shallow I would have been more offended, but luckily(?) everyone is lazily written.

Ellie gets the worst of it. When you play the first one, narratively you think about how they will deal with the fallout of "Joel's Choice" and how interesting it would be to play a whole game as Ellie. WELL... what you get is another Joel in an Ellie skin and about a minute of sequel. Instead a very basic hunt these people who wronged you that could have taken Ellie out entirely and only have to change 2 flashbacks!

What a fucking step backwards in nearly every way!

A couple clarifications before we begin. If you don't like (mostly) linear games. If you don't like story based games. If you don't like survival horror stories. If you don't like slow pacing. If you didn't like the first game. then fine, you may legitimately not like this game. You may go. But in all fairness, don't be angry at a game for doing what it's trying to do and not doing something else.

For what it aims to do, The Last of Us 2 does it brilliantly and with innovation unseen in gaming. It goes above and beyond and is standard to which the industry should be held from now on. Is it perfect? no. Will the premise or dialogue win and awards? no. though the dialogue is very endearing in it's down time and Ellie carries the story once again. A more mature, somewhat more jaded Ellie. But still with a playful sense of humor and a undeniable charm. (if you can watch her perform her cover of 'Take on me' and not feel delight, you are dead inside). The experience plays just like the first, with some tweaks that are only for the better and staggering amounts of ways to customize your experience. You can adjust fine details in the game play such as how well your enemies strategize, how much your own stats allow for mistakes, how much salvage you'll find , whether you want to explore blindly or have the game point you where to go, how helpful your allies are (and on that note, if you set them to be, they are an asset in battle like no game ai ally you've ever seen).

In short, if you enjoyed the first game, you will enjoy this game very much. It does everything alike, down to the story beats and the pacing, but much much better. It is a natural progression of the story and formula of the Last of Us 1. This is undeniable. If you say you liked the first game and you do not like this one, you are a liar (and there are so many liars out there when it comes to this game) or you need to take a good long look at yourself.

I'm trying to understand why people hate The Last of Us 2. This is one of the best sequels I've played in my entire life. Last time I got sucked into a story like this was with Red Dead Redemption 2 and LOU2 stands toe to toe with it.

I loved the first game and I really thought that a second part was unnecessary. ND's biggest challenge was to justify the sequel's existence and GODDAMN they did it! I love it even more. It's hard to find anything negative about it. Even the soundtrack is fantastic and I really thought they wouldn' top that. Well, they did that too.

For starters, this is the most beautiful game of this generation. The level of detail and animation technology here is stunning. Part of the reason why you get so convinced in getting involved with the characters is because of how they talk, move, laugh, cry, talk and just react to things. What the devs pulled here was a work of art. A phenomenal graphical powerhouse that paves the way for an incredibly elaborate story.

The gameplay's still very reminiscent of the first entry, but much more improved. Combat and stealth are gruesome, intelligent, challenging, intense and breathtaking. You may not have the level of flexibility of MGSV or the improvisation possibilities of Uncharted 4, but you can ACTUALLY plan how you're going to face encounters and recover from bad decisions, turning the tide to your favor. It's almost flawless. I mean, even the enemies react to what you're doing. They communicate with each other and scream in agony when their comrades die in battle! Upgrading your character also feels a lot more rewarding now. Looking for supplies and saving bullets and items matters a lot more, this time. Oh and the environments are GORGEOUS! Not only to look at, but to explore. They felt scary AND charming at the same time.

But the true driving force of TLOU2 is the story. The acting and writing is at its best. I've seen few things like it in a video game. Without getting into the infamous heavy controversial spoilers, I felt like EVERY decision made in its plot was masterfully done and well justified. It's weird when they break the tale's climax to change the perspective, but when you get further into the script, you just get it. You root for both characters. You may even hate them both. It makes you question MANY things about society, revenge, choice, family, humanity and love. All of these things backed by the strong portrayal of amazing actors, great writing, precise details and impressive animations. Can't remember the last time I cried and laughed this much as I did here.

I guess the bad parts of TLOU2 are in its structure. Like I said, it is extremely justifiable, but it takes a while to justify it. The story is massive and beautiful, but they break it with many flashbacks and perspective moves. Pacing kinda drags, especially with the "Can't Go This Way, Let's Find Another One" moments. It definitely did not trouble my experience, but I get that it can be bothersome. The third act, albeit VERY impactful, can kinda feels rushed. Specially since they just throw a new group of enemies at you without any background. The stealth, when facing the infected, doesn't always work. Maybe it's on purpose, but I went through some frustrating moments when dealing with them. Also, your companion's AI sort of... Sucks?

It's really hard to give this game anything different than a 10. It might not feel like it in the future, but I really see almost no flaw in it. I had fun, I got sad, angry, happy, frustrated and felt challenged by TLOU2. Challenged not only by the gameplay, but also by the story. The game's biggest challenge is to see both sides and to deal and accept that, well... Tomorrow begats tomorrow. Wether it's a good or a bad one. A brutal or a beautiful one. A bloody or a peaceful tomorrow. Your decisions will make it or break it, for you and for others.

If you love video games, play this one.

It’s way too early for me to coherently summarise my feelings about this sequel.

In terms of gameplay, it somehow feels identical to the first but also a thousand times better. In general, the formula established in part one is still very fun and has only been polished to perfection here.

Visually it is a given at this point that every new Naughty Dog release will be breathtakingly spectacular. This is no exception. And in terms of set pieces and fascinating world-building, this game is chock full of amazing stuff!

The hard part to address is the story. I think Naughty Dog have shot themselves in the foot somewhat by falsely advertising huge elements of the narrative. It doesn’t suprise me that a lot of people are hating on this. In my opinion, it might be one of the boldest and most ambitious story efforts of any video game. In some ways it really pays off, but cohesively it is a bit wonky in certain areas.

The performances are generally top notch and I found almost every character to be a pretty enjoyable addition to the cast. It’s just a shame that certain character arcs feel a bit non-commital, while I think others are probably just a bit too challenging to get the average player on board with (at least in the way Druckman has constructed them here). It’s hard to really sum it up without spoiling anything, but this game is asking a lot of its audience...and I’m not really certain the game does make it fully worthwhile in the end.

Any fan of the first should give it a try. The gameplay is crazy satisfying and the world building alone is worth the ticket price. Is it a masterpiece in the same way part one was? Maybe not. But this is still a very, very good video game; probably one of the best of this generation.

At the very least, it is a sequel that is more than a little interesting!!

This game will be remembered for decades. After playing again part 1 and part 2 ( new game plus), i have come to some conclusions. This game cannot be understand by explaining the thematic and philosophical ideas behind it to the public. You have to be invested and be 100% focused on every aspect, idea, theme etc. Any game that can make me feel like these 2 titles, is 10/10 for me. This, it's a huge landmark in gaming industry and it set a new standard in terms of story telling, gameplay, graphics. This game is ahead of its time and people are not honest with themselves and think that writers or content creators must create what the public wants. HAHA, this is not how art works:). Oh and one last thought. It's interesting to see how many people take games so personally that they resort to violent messages to content creators and even actors that are just doing their job:). Brilliant game, so powerfull that i don't think i can enjoy other games. We can now see more clearly, a new type of people.

P.S.: Saying goodby is hard for everyone but life, is just a series of experiences that come and go all the way till the end:) and all what we have in the end, are our memories, the taste from our past experiences:)

This review contains HEAVY SPOILERS.

I've been a fan of Naughty Dog since the first time I played Uncharted 2 maybe ten years ago. But they really hit it out of the park with The Last of Us. I don't usually touch horror games, but it was recommended to me by so many people that I needed to try it; and as predictably horrific as it was, it immediately became one of my favorite games of all time. But also a game I would never want to touch again, that made me feel relieved once the credits rolled, because I simply hate being chased by hordes of zombies, a sometimes inevitable scenario that I often struggled with even on the easiest difficulty setting (that I absolutely switched to and stayed with at some point).

The Last of Us Part II's ending is different. It's emotionally painful, not relieving. And that despite a rather dragging last 20% or so of the game. After I had finished half of it I already thought "okay, when will the credits roll?" and there you go: TEN HOURS of gameplay as the antagonist you just spent a good amount of time chasing as the protagonist. Probably more for me since I'm a slow and careful gamer, especially with something as visually striking and photorealistic as this game. I will make sure to do as much as I can; heck, I even read most of the notes I could find! Not something I would do in virtually any other game.

Before I describe more of the good stuff... here are two things that bothered me that ultimately bring the rating down to a 4.5 for me:

STORY

This is a biggie and it has been criticised so much, I don't really have to explain it, but for the sake of this review's completion I will sum it up:

Pretty much both protagonists are not very believable, their motivations are hard to grasp. Elllie going on a careless killing spree just to get to Abby even though she's mad at Joel for saving her by going on a killing spree himself, that is bad enough; but then we play as Abby and late in the game she somehow starts killing... everybody? Even her own people? For some girl (eh... boy!) that just saved her, but she won't really say she's helping her because she literally saved her life, but "just because"? And her end goal is to go to Ellie and kill her, too. We end up having a fight as Abby (another very bold move by Naughty Dog on top of already forcing us to play her for a huge portion of the game), and the winner is: Nobody. Abby disappears and years (!) later Ellie decides to go on a journey of finding and killing Abby. The penultimate scene of the game is Ellie convincing a now much slimmer, almost dead Abby to fight her. We fight, this time as Ellie. Winner? Nobody. Ellie sees a flashback of Joel playing the guitar and decides to let Abby live. She goes back home and her lover, who doesn't have a lot of people around her anymore, decides to leave (admittedly after threatening to do so).

In the end it's all humanly unrealistic, but it isn't entirely the worst thing on the planet. It adds to the emotional part that I will get to later, and it helps make this game truly unique in a way I haven't experienced before.

Now to the infamous Abby part: I gotta say I didn't hate it. But it was predictable what it wanted to do: Make us feel for her and realize Abby's not that bad, she just happens to look badass. Ellie is truly the "bad guy" in the story, she just happens to be the much better looking and sweeter protagonist. So a hate for Abby develops into empathy for her, and then it all gets very conflicting in your head once you have to fight Ellie in the theater. It's the cherry on top to show a much skinnier, weakened and clearly traumatized Abby who has lost all her muscles at the end of the game, which removes the visually displeasing aspect that would instinctively make the player hate her just by seeing her. So ultimately making her so morbidly muscular made total sense in this game!

Now, should it have been as long as it was? I think not. It's clearly too long. I eventually almost dreaded going to the aquarium and back, and back to the aquarium once again. It's also where the environments started to repeat themselves just a little, and the world got less open compared to Ellie's part.

Oh, and I forgot to mention... of the one hundred pieces of paper Ellie has in her backpack, she happens to drop her MAP at the most vulnerable place, ultimately revealing her location to Abby? Come on. This is just lazy writing.

All in all it's actually quite a simple story, but that musn't be a good or bad thing in itself. It's all about how that story is told.

DIFFICULTY

This is not a super big deal but a rather personal problem. As already mentioned, I hate zombies. I mean sure the spookiness is thrilling, but I want a healthy life that isn't too thrilling. I don't watch a ton of horror movies, let alone play horror games. I can handle the jumpscares and ugly monstrosities, but what I cannot handle is setting this game to "Very light" in every possible setting just to run out of ammo against a big zombie that kills you immediately the moment he catches you, no matter what difficulty you set, and it takes a gazillion fcking shots to kill him. Oh no, you don't actually kill him, just a part of him, a somehow overpowered stalker unglues himself so now you have to keep running away from two fcking zombies in a small room, while trying to figure out, while your heart is racing, what gun could be more effective than your now empty flamethrower and shotgun with explosive bullets.

And, generally, I like to be able to sneak instead of being confronted by scripted events where there's a dozen zombies running at you, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it but to waste all your precious ammo.

Now to some more of the good stuff!

EMOTION

I work in the film and video industry and one thing I have learned that is absolutely crucial to know for this game is that you have to separate story and emotion. The latter is actually more important. Yes, the story of this game might be rather simple and feel a bit... stupid when it comes to some character's motivations, but I know exactly how almost every gamer felt once the credits rolled, no matter who they are. A sad and bitter feeling, utterly confused by what just happened; not only in the final few scenes, but in the entire second half of this game, really.

Throughout some missions I felt genuine joy. Walking up that tower with Abby and her new scar buddy was fun and lighthearted; a relief, actually, after all that action in the game. But then you fall down and jump right back into it, with a rather dreadful, zombie-filled descend. An almost literal emotional rollercoaster. Well, at least you get to find a badass flamethrower.

But one of the worst things was probably killing a dog as Ellie, then building an emotional connection to that dog during Abby's gameplay, then returning to the location and seeing that dog dead again. It's just one of several examples, and actually kind of symbolic of how this game treats you while you're somehow thinking it's a good idea to torture yourself by playing through it for many hours.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay is absolutely top-notch and so freaking polished. You can tell while going through every level that a lot of playtesters were hired and every bit of the journey was designed meticulously to bring you this constantly gripping experience. Heck, I played this game on the easiest difficulty setting and still stealthed my way through most of it because it is so fun! While it might not be true for the "very light" setting, I did play with normal difficulty long enough to realise how good the AI is. Sometimes scarily so. Naughty Dog has definitely improved this further from their latest title Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. You don't have those A to B to A walking NPCs anymore. They react much better to changes in the environment, but also have unpredictable paths they walk. It wasn't very often that I saw patterns, so you definitely have to be constantly careful when sneaking your way through an area, and be as dynamic as your opponents in order not to get caught.

And the sneaking itself is very fun too. The environments are quite interactive; often you can, but don't have to, crouch, go prone or sneak through a crack in a wall. Collecting loot is fun, and I assume in harder difficulty settings quite essential. For me it wasn't, but I still did it because it feels so good. And I might actually be addicted to the sound of medicine bottles shaking now. Thank you Naughty Dog.

Another thing that worked surprisingly well were the slight changes in Abby's gameplay. Stealth kills work differently and you get some new weapons that are more powerful than Ellie's, including grenades that are simply easier to use than mines. And there are new skills to unlock. It's all just refreshing enough.

ATMOSPHERE

This is a game like no other. Not only does everything look beautiful, the sound design is impeccable too. And it's all paired with such photorealistic facial animations that Ellie taking someone down can look scarier than the ugliest zombies in this game.

TL;DR: This game was such a painful emotional rollercoaster, I do not want a sequel. And it's one of the best games I have ever played, right up there with Red Dead Redemption 2.

My rating is 4.5/5, but rather 5 than 4 (Grouvee doesn't let you give out half stars). Despite my issues with the story, I think the emotional impact, the gameplay and the atmosphere of the game make it so worth playing that even a rather weak story cannot bring it down. And kudos to Naughty Dog for the bold storytelling choices that inevitably disappointed a good amount of gamers.

(Played on Moderate difficulty on a non-Pro PS4)

Gameplay:

Sometime I hate the stealth in games (I'm looking at you, most games in the Assassin's Creed series). Sometimes I like it. It really depends on how realistic the AI around that stealth is. I loved the stealth in TLOU2, and actually found it quite fun. Naughty Dog seems to have found the right balance that makes you feel like a badass ninja, taking out (or evading) all of the various fungus-zombies & human enemies. But it takes patience & planning to avoid failure.

Some gameplay elements could be communicated more clearly, though. I've heard you can do aerial attacks in this game. In 30+ hours, I was never actually able to pull off an aerial attack.

Story:

The storytelling occasionally stumbles, with upcoming "surprise" plot points being telegraphed way too hard. And the ending has the skilled execution of a wet fart. But up until that conclusion, the story was actually quite satisfying, and it had enough high points to counter the missteps. Journey before destination, I guess.

That story does get a bit bloated at times, and goes off on tangents that seem to do little but extend the game's playtime. Lev's storyline ultimately never really went anywhere, and just delayed the conclusion of the main Ellie/Abby arc by several hours. And Santa Barbara probably could have been excised completely with no effect on the overall story.

Before playing this game, I tried my best to avoid the minefield of spoilers being laid out by some of the most rancid Internet turdpeople. Luckily, the seemingly huge spoiler that I stumbled upon (in a "funny" RDR2 YouTube video, of course) was a fairly early-game event, and didn't detract at all from my experience with the rest of the game.

At times, it almost seemed like the writers had a checklist of topics that would trigger the worst of the worst capital-G Gamers, and they included them all. They checked off all of their Ls, Gs, Bs, and Ts. They had a physically strong female character to threaten the basementy-est of mom's basement residents (and no, she's not transgender). And they even had an (awkwardly reverent) synagogue scene to trigger the antisemitic crowd. The end result of this seems to have been a litany of silly YouTube videos where Gamers feel "betrayed" by Naughty Dog and whatnot. That, and fountains of venom being spewed back and forth by pro- and anti- TLOU2 gamers.

Graphics:

This game is an insane technical feat on my base non-Pro PS4. Not only does it run smoothly & bug-free, but it does so without making my PS4 sound like it's going to lift off and fly out of my home theater cabinet.

Everything, from the environments to the characters, look amazingly lifelike. The only real Uncanny Valley dwellers that stood out to me were the dogs and Abby's massive guns.

Audio:

The positional audio is superb, and sounds great on both my 5.1 speakers and through headphones. I just started another (likely short-lived) playthrough on Grounded difficulty, and you really need to rely on the audio to play this mode. The music soundtrack is great, and the voice acting is absolutely top-notch.

Summary:

Overall, this game is a masterpiece. As a general rule, I hate to replay single-player campaign games, but I immediately went in for the second Grounded playthrough after the credits rolled. My backlog can wait a little longer...