Sam LaBelle

Not sure why this game has gotten a lot of hate from users. Yeah, there are a couple of plot points that might not sit well with players but I think Naughty Dog did a great job of telling a story that shows that things aren’t just black and white, there are tough choices that individuals have to make and those choices have consequences, intended and unintended. *Notice most of the negative reviews target including a trans character and call Abby trans as well (not that it matters, but she’s not) I found the story to be great. While it was frustrating having to play as Abby at first, by the end of the game I empathized with her and really enjoyed playing her. This game did a great job of building on the character development in the first game and providing a new purpose while improving the gameplay and combat itself a lot. Enemies aren’t as dumb, crafted items aren’t as lethal, you have to really make your shots count and that’s half the fun with this game. Naughty Dog has yet to disappoint and that’s still true with TLOU2. This game is probably my second favorite game, only behind RDR2.

I really wanted to like this game but it just... isn’t good. The environment is very pretty but the up close graphics/details are pretty mediocre. The game feels clunky, lots of tight areas that are hard to navigate, prompts aren’t very responsive, movement isn’t that fluid. The lack of HUD is nice for viewing the environment but having to rely on wind for direction gets old very fast. It’s often hard to determine where your current objective is which is frustrating. The story is bland, there are way too many cut scenes that offer little to contribute to the narrative. The combat is very repetitive and leaves something to be desired. I’ve seen many reviews saying this was better than TLOU2 which blows my mind. This game was such a let down after completing TLOU2 which I thought was an excellent game.